Smoking and Poker

With my early exit from regular Monday night live game I went outside to chat with some of the other players who had also made an early exit and realized I was the only non smoker in the bunch. Is it my imagination or are there more smokers than the norm that play poker? It sure seems like it. Here in the part of B.C I live in it is of course illegal to smoke in bars ,casinos and basically anywhere indoors except your own home. They are also making it illegal to smoke in your car if kids are in the car. You cannot smoke in doorways to buildings either. We probably have the most restrictive smoking laws of anywhere in the country and really it seems to be working as smoking has decreased. That's a good thing. I certainly have nothing against people that smoke as I grew up in a home where my dad smoked and I realize how hard it is to quit. I just would love to see more people give up the habit. I know my dad tried several times but was unsuccessful. He used to smoke cigarettes without filters and I remember his hand was stained yellow from the nicotine. I can only imagine what his lungs must have looked like. He started when he was 14 and it is what killed him(from a heart attack).

I remember when they first brought in the laws restricting smoking in bars and casinos. There was a huge cry from the bar owners that they would go broke and there was petitions and such from them and of course anybody that smoked. There was letters to the newspapers complaining that their rights were being infringed upon etc. The government didn't give in and of course the bars never went broke and the rate of smoking has gone down.

When I go to Las Vegas where smoking is still allowed in the casinos I find its hard for the first couple days getting used to the smoke. I know they have great ventilation systems in all the casinos but when you don't smoke and you regularly run I notice it right away. I can feel it in my lungs. I wonder if they will ever ban smoking in Las Vegas casinos?? Somehow I doubt it. The one good thing is that most of the poker rooms are non smoking and that's where I spend the majority of my time when I am there.

As I mentioned above I didn't last long playing last night. The hand that eliminated me I was in the dealer position with A7h and I limped in with 4 others. Flop came A,7,9 with 2 spades. I liked the flop but was worried about the spade flush draw. Everyone checked to me so I made a pretty big bet hoping to take it down right there. Everyone folded except the SB. Thought he might have A something or possibly a flush draw. Turn came a 3s. He checked so I made another decent bet and then he pushed all in. HMMMMMM. Did he have his flush or was he trying to push me off?? I was so pot committed at this time I pushed in the rest of my chips with the comment do you have the flush?? Yep he did!! He had 2,8s. Very questionable call on my raise after the flop but he caught his flush so who am I to question. Anyways I needed a Ace or 7 to stay alive and it didn't happen. Oh well another game tonight.

What is with North Korea detonating atomic bombs in this day and age??? This a country where a lot of its citizens are starving and the military leaders are spending millions on the military and for what. Who are they worried about?? It can't be South Korea. China and Russia are nearby but are supposedly its friends. It was good to see that both Russia and China condemned the testing this time. I sure hope that it doesn't escalate over there.