Rudy Edwards

My roommate needed a ride to our old hometown, so I took the opportunity to go see my family for a few days with someone coming along to help the ride go smoother. One of the reasons I wanted to become a pro poker player, is that it would free me up to see my family more often. It hasn't really happened that way so far, but I've taken some steps to correct the problem. I've had a cable modem installed, and bought a cheap used computer to bring to my old house. My folks haven't caught on to the whole World Wide Web thing yet, so I get a chance to show them what they're missing.

I didn't bring my database with me, so I installed a license of Pokertracker on the computer, Hooked up Full Tilt, and 4 tabled some 2/4 during my spare time. I didn't get a lot done. It's not fun returning to a single monitor 17" CRT system after having played on a good system for a time, and the hands seemed to drag by.

Then, my father came in to watch me play. I hadn't realized that he had never seen me pokering before. He last played a hand of poker in the 1960s with his army buddies, and not being a TV watcher he's never seen a hand of Texas Hold Em. I had a lot of fun explaining the basics, and learned how easily I get trapped into using lingo to describe poker.

By the end of the session, I was having reasonably advanced discussions with him about basic strategy. He got to see me get smashed by quad Tens when I flopped Aces full of tens, and picked up quickly why it wasn't a big deal and I didn't get upset. He had gotten very good at predicting starting hands that should be folded, and seemed to have a quick instinct for the simple math of limit poker. The best part is, I left some Sklansky books behind, and as I was leaving to come back to Atlanta, he'd already gotten through the first few chapters of Small Stakes HoldEm.

Some of my favorite memories in the world are of philosophical discussions with my father, and most of the life changing epiphanies I've had have come in talks with him. If he gets excited about poker, I can imagine having incredibly productive strategy dialogue with him, which has to be the best way to improve your game.

Even better, it will make going home more likely to be profitable rather than a drain on my money, enabling me to do it considerably more often.