Social Networking & Poker
If there was ever a reason for a Heads-Up Challenge, it has always come down to one thing: the social aspect. Sure, the point of the game is to compete and win against, in our case, fellow poker bloggers, but the money is just one aspect of the game. I have always felt that among the online poker playing world, bloggers are generally better than your average mouth-breather. Even if bloggers as a whole are not rocking the highest buy-ins, at our buy-ins, we are better than the rest because we think about the game and process it whenever we write.
So, for me, the purpose of a HU Challenge is to mix with your fellow bloggers. With the extension of social networking programs out there, a new HU could incorporate some fun ideas, like Twitter updates alerting the rest of the competitors that one of the HU matches was about to take place, in case they want to watch. Or facebook contacts so that we can all easily share updates amongst the group.
Even beyond the HUCs, though, social networking and poker seem to go hand in hand. Probably 75% of the Twitter feeds that I follow are for poker players or poker sites like my most recent addition, 888 Twitter.
Even face-to-face social networking seems to be largely poker-based for me. Just this last week, I met up with Toronto blogger Astin and CardRunner employee and blogger LJ for dinner in town. Just speaking to the crew helped me process more about the game. When I first got into poker, I would talk about it at work, but when I realized no one knew a thing about poker (or cared) I started my poker blog as a way to socialize and network around poker. So, even if you can't find like-minded people in your 'hood, you can always go online and find a poker community, like the poker bloggers or websites like the 888 poker community.
Amazingly, poker benefits from socialization, and at least for me, socialization benefits from poker. It's no surprise, then, that social networking and poker go hand-in-hand.
So, for me, the purpose of a HU Challenge is to mix with your fellow bloggers. With the extension of social networking programs out there, a new HU could incorporate some fun ideas, like Twitter updates alerting the rest of the competitors that one of the HU matches was about to take place, in case they want to watch. Or facebook contacts so that we can all easily share updates amongst the group.
Even beyond the HUCs, though, social networking and poker seem to go hand in hand. Probably 75% of the Twitter feeds that I follow are for poker players or poker sites like my most recent addition, 888 Twitter.
Even face-to-face social networking seems to be largely poker-based for me. Just this last week, I met up with Toronto blogger Astin and CardRunner employee and blogger LJ for dinner in town. Just speaking to the crew helped me process more about the game. When I first got into poker, I would talk about it at work, but when I realized no one knew a thing about poker (or cared) I started my poker blog as a way to socialize and network around poker. So, even if you can't find like-minded people in your 'hood, you can always go online and find a poker community, like the poker bloggers or websites like the 888 poker community.
Amazingly, poker benefits from socialization, and at least for me, socialization benefits from poker. It's no surprise, then, that social networking and poker go hand-in-hand.
