That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto

I waited in line 17 hours to get a playstation 2. I had read everything there was about the system and had actually bought 2 games before it even came out. Gaming was fun back then.

With the holidays around, some time off, and being blitzed with ads left and right I was thinking about getting a Xbox 360 or PS3. As I looked through the lists of top games on IGN and watched some videos I kind of realized I didn’t really want to play video games anymore. Am I getting old? Nah, I was playing some Modern Warfare 2 with some friends and some brews and having a lot of fun. Are games not fun anymore? Nope, the new Grant Turismo looks good, MW2 is fun, there is going to be a new God of War soon.

So what is it? Poker, in a word. Poker is THE ultimate video game. All video games are essentially about progression, with little rewards and benefits sprinkled along the way to keep you playing. Poker is the same and there are other elements it shares:

Break it doooown:

Physical reaction time/controller dexterity – 16 tables and note taking, tell me there is a difference between this and a headshot?
Replayability – There are enough variables that essentially every hand can be different, add in different forms of poker and it can never end.
Strategy – Pages of books, countless forum posts, hours of video, we have a safe check mark here.
Story – Read NVG, listen to poker player’s stories, watch High Stakes poker or the WSOP. There are some great stories out there. It’s no Metal Gear Solid, but poker has it’s entertaining moments.
Progression system – This is where Poker really shines. I remember I got hooked on The Sims for like 2 weeks while in college. During the end of this pixelated bender I realized that The Sims was a massive time suck and kind of a waste. Why am I wasting so much time progressing a fake charcter’s life when I can do the same in my own. Well poker allows both, progression in game and progression in life. BOOM, this is why I don’t play videogames anymore.

The only thing poker really lacks that video games have is a pleasing visual element. There is no eye porno, in fact my face cards don’t even have faces so I can’t imagine which suit of Queens could possibly be a freak in the bedroom. Safe money is on hearts, but Diamonds is overly polite in public making her the most likely contrast in private life. To make up for this, the visual element, not the porn, I watch movies and TV during my session breaks. Again, BOOM, poker rules.