Hollay
12-07-2005, 02:31 PM
Vote for your favorite submission and the person who's entry receives the most votes wins a tournament ticket that can be used for the Michael Woods Celebrity Invitational or the Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic.
Also, you could be randomly drawn as the winner of Hollywood Poker gear just for voting.
Next week's topic is posted at the bottom of this post, so just scroll down to see what it is and send your submission to hollay@hollywoodpoker.com. If your entry is chosen as a finalist, you could win a tournament ticket! :dance:
Entry #1
DESOLATION
Verily, Verily, I say unto you, the time is drawing nigh,
When players will moan, and wring their hands and cry.
A terrible pestilence will sweep throughout poker land,
Lead by hoards of rabid reformers and their zealous band.
A plague of legislation will be loosed on every poker room,
Leaving behind a silence reminiscence of a burial tomb.
The death of online poker will soon become the norm,
Dying much quicker and quieter than when it was born.
Casinos will be reduced abruptly to barren wastelands,
And unbearable cravings will be visited upon taste glands.
Despair and suffering will fill every hour of your new life,
And an endless ache of misery will cut deeper than a knife.
There will be no escaping this rampant, ridged rule of law,
And no mercy will be forthcoming from its legal claw.
One pious law of restriction will quickly begat the next,
And each will be hidden secretly beneath noble text.
No screaming alarms of warning will alert you or me,
That the forces of opposition are gathering quietly.
They will come at us stealthily, as thieves in the night,
Lead by a charismatic crusader encouraging the fight.
No mystical Messiah will save us from this hungry hoard,
For they will cut and bleed us often with a legal sword.
When their deed is done, and we’re faced with our fate,
We will realize then we should have acted ‘fore it was too late.
Make no mistake about it; the time is now to join the battle,
For there are certain groups who want to treat us like cattle.
The fanatical forces of tyranny are amassing even as we speak,
and will surely bring about our doom if we continue to sleep.
Do not deceive yourself that it could never happen to us,
For history is strewn with victims who had misguided trust.
We can’t afford to wait ‘til our freedoms are deprived,
Then cry out forlornly when we could have survived.
Salvation is at hand if we truly treasure our right to play,
And don’t concede victory to those who want the final say.
We must be ever diligent against the forces of restraint,
And never allow our voices to become silent or faint.
Life is simply too short to meekly surrender to this fight,
And become complacent when the enemy isn’t in sight.
They have always been among us, and will continue to be,
And the only ones who can combat them are you and me.
~one eyed cat
Entry #2
A normal person once asked me if I would have a normal life without poker.
I wondered, ‘What is a normal life? Does a normal life mean going to college, getting married, having kids and buying a house?’ If that is the case, I guess there has to be a huge percentage of people that play poker who fit in this category.
Then I wondered, what is a normal person? Is a normal person someone who does the above and spends the rest of their life wondering, ‘What the hell did I do? What was I thinking? Surely there has to be something more than a piece of paper on the wall calling me a graduate and stating my worth! How about an inattentive spouse telling me all my faults! Not to mention screaming, complaining, ungrateful kids. To top it all off, I own a house that really owns me, because I will have to spend the rest of my life paying it off only to finally retire and break even’. I guess also there has to be a huge percentage of people that play poker who also fit in this category.
Then I thought, ‘Do I think too much?’ Ha! Tell me a poker player that doesn't!
I guess that's why we play. It helps us deal with normality, it helps us deal with stress, it takes us to another world where nothing else matters but being in the moment. It brings us to a place where people speak another language with sayings like "runner, runner", "you check you lose" and "dueces never looses" - a language that only a true poker player understands.
When I am playing I live in a world where a sweater is something human and does not always keep me warm. I live in a world when on any given day a total stranger down on his luck can turn into an overnight millionaire and become an instant celebrity. I live in a world where I can sit at a table with a total stranger and feel his/her pain when that bad beat hits. I live in a world where no one has a mortgage, screaming kids an inattentive spouse and a boring job!
Then I realized I already have a normal life and I am a normal person and a life without poker would just plain suck! What would I do with an extra 30-40 hours a week without poker? Is 30-40 hours too extreme? Who cares! Would I hang out with my spouse’s friends and pretend I am interested in what they have to say? Would I ask my kids to hang out with their uncool parent doing something that they would not appreciate anyway? Would I read a boring text book trying to educate myself for another piece of worthless paper. Maybe I could spend hours slaving away in my backyard building a deck to bring up the value of my home. I don't think so! A world without poker - is there anything worse? I think not!
So to all of you other people out there without poker I send my sympathies.
I hope one day you will have a chance to leave that world we call reality and get a chance to live in a world where dreams do come true.
~adamxy
Entry #3
A WORLD WITHOUT POKER
A world without poker! How 'bout a world without partisan bickering politics, multi-player video games, "The Mind of Mencia", swimsuit issues or ultimate fighters matching wits and kicks in the octagon. Poker is matching wits without suffering a bloody face. Just the mud on your face as you call raise after raise, trying to catch a flush on the river.
What a great world we live in. You can play poker online all day, all night or an evening at your buddies, enjoying cheap cigars and cold beer. After all, what is more exciting than snagging that winning flush on the river and raking in the chips? "Nice hand", "way to play", "lucky S.O.B." - the compliments reluctantly and belatedly pour in on your good fortune while your heart pounds from the excitement. And you just know the next hand will be a pair of kings sticking to your sweaty palms.
If you're truly a good sport, the next best thing is watching a friend catch his own winner, just when you were sure you had him. After all, (and it's true), the only thing more exciting than winning, is losing (almost).
Besides, the nights are long this time of year, what the hell else will you going to do except play against someone halfway 'round the world until you're too sleepy to realize you don't even have a pair on the table. You just say "good night honey", boot up the Dell, try to remember your password, log on, check you account balance and find a table. Play loose, play tight, just play. You'll learn a lot about yourself.
~Brewsdoes
Entry #4
In a world without poker …
A river is just water, a bluff mere landscape, and your hands will never be the same.
In a world without poker, there’d be no sound.
No sound of nervous stack-shufflers, echoes of bad beats and no chip-scraping laughter.
In a world without poker, there’d be no smell.
No scent of victory, no hint of weakness and no aroma of sweet, sweaty cash.
In a world without poker, there’d be no sight.
No picture-perfect flops, no towering chip stacks, and no vision of the future.
In a world without poker, bankrolls earn simple interest, and a silent army is left to scrape the empty pots of suburban life. No matter how hard you try, Brownie Points never stack up.
In a world without poker, a hundred dollar bill is just a piece of paper.
Drop a Franklin on the table, all you get is dinner and a breath mint.
A world without poker would become a world without proof.
Because in the end, we all want the same thing …
To get up from this table of life, and walk out a winner.
~xslacker420
Next week's topic: Poker & Fashion. :silly:
Also, you could be randomly drawn as the winner of Hollywood Poker gear just for voting.
Next week's topic is posted at the bottom of this post, so just scroll down to see what it is and send your submission to hollay@hollywoodpoker.com. If your entry is chosen as a finalist, you could win a tournament ticket! :dance:
Entry #1
DESOLATION
Verily, Verily, I say unto you, the time is drawing nigh,
When players will moan, and wring their hands and cry.
A terrible pestilence will sweep throughout poker land,
Lead by hoards of rabid reformers and their zealous band.
A plague of legislation will be loosed on every poker room,
Leaving behind a silence reminiscence of a burial tomb.
The death of online poker will soon become the norm,
Dying much quicker and quieter than when it was born.
Casinos will be reduced abruptly to barren wastelands,
And unbearable cravings will be visited upon taste glands.
Despair and suffering will fill every hour of your new life,
And an endless ache of misery will cut deeper than a knife.
There will be no escaping this rampant, ridged rule of law,
And no mercy will be forthcoming from its legal claw.
One pious law of restriction will quickly begat the next,
And each will be hidden secretly beneath noble text.
No screaming alarms of warning will alert you or me,
That the forces of opposition are gathering quietly.
They will come at us stealthily, as thieves in the night,
Lead by a charismatic crusader encouraging the fight.
No mystical Messiah will save us from this hungry hoard,
For they will cut and bleed us often with a legal sword.
When their deed is done, and we’re faced with our fate,
We will realize then we should have acted ‘fore it was too late.
Make no mistake about it; the time is now to join the battle,
For there are certain groups who want to treat us like cattle.
The fanatical forces of tyranny are amassing even as we speak,
and will surely bring about our doom if we continue to sleep.
Do not deceive yourself that it could never happen to us,
For history is strewn with victims who had misguided trust.
We can’t afford to wait ‘til our freedoms are deprived,
Then cry out forlornly when we could have survived.
Salvation is at hand if we truly treasure our right to play,
And don’t concede victory to those who want the final say.
We must be ever diligent against the forces of restraint,
And never allow our voices to become silent or faint.
Life is simply too short to meekly surrender to this fight,
And become complacent when the enemy isn’t in sight.
They have always been among us, and will continue to be,
And the only ones who can combat them are you and me.
~one eyed cat
Entry #2
A normal person once asked me if I would have a normal life without poker.
I wondered, ‘What is a normal life? Does a normal life mean going to college, getting married, having kids and buying a house?’ If that is the case, I guess there has to be a huge percentage of people that play poker who fit in this category.
Then I wondered, what is a normal person? Is a normal person someone who does the above and spends the rest of their life wondering, ‘What the hell did I do? What was I thinking? Surely there has to be something more than a piece of paper on the wall calling me a graduate and stating my worth! How about an inattentive spouse telling me all my faults! Not to mention screaming, complaining, ungrateful kids. To top it all off, I own a house that really owns me, because I will have to spend the rest of my life paying it off only to finally retire and break even’. I guess also there has to be a huge percentage of people that play poker who also fit in this category.
Then I thought, ‘Do I think too much?’ Ha! Tell me a poker player that doesn't!
I guess that's why we play. It helps us deal with normality, it helps us deal with stress, it takes us to another world where nothing else matters but being in the moment. It brings us to a place where people speak another language with sayings like "runner, runner", "you check you lose" and "dueces never looses" - a language that only a true poker player understands.
When I am playing I live in a world where a sweater is something human and does not always keep me warm. I live in a world when on any given day a total stranger down on his luck can turn into an overnight millionaire and become an instant celebrity. I live in a world where I can sit at a table with a total stranger and feel his/her pain when that bad beat hits. I live in a world where no one has a mortgage, screaming kids an inattentive spouse and a boring job!
Then I realized I already have a normal life and I am a normal person and a life without poker would just plain suck! What would I do with an extra 30-40 hours a week without poker? Is 30-40 hours too extreme? Who cares! Would I hang out with my spouse’s friends and pretend I am interested in what they have to say? Would I ask my kids to hang out with their uncool parent doing something that they would not appreciate anyway? Would I read a boring text book trying to educate myself for another piece of worthless paper. Maybe I could spend hours slaving away in my backyard building a deck to bring up the value of my home. I don't think so! A world without poker - is there anything worse? I think not!
So to all of you other people out there without poker I send my sympathies.
I hope one day you will have a chance to leave that world we call reality and get a chance to live in a world where dreams do come true.
~adamxy
Entry #3
A WORLD WITHOUT POKER
A world without poker! How 'bout a world without partisan bickering politics, multi-player video games, "The Mind of Mencia", swimsuit issues or ultimate fighters matching wits and kicks in the octagon. Poker is matching wits without suffering a bloody face. Just the mud on your face as you call raise after raise, trying to catch a flush on the river.
What a great world we live in. You can play poker online all day, all night or an evening at your buddies, enjoying cheap cigars and cold beer. After all, what is more exciting than snagging that winning flush on the river and raking in the chips? "Nice hand", "way to play", "lucky S.O.B." - the compliments reluctantly and belatedly pour in on your good fortune while your heart pounds from the excitement. And you just know the next hand will be a pair of kings sticking to your sweaty palms.
If you're truly a good sport, the next best thing is watching a friend catch his own winner, just when you were sure you had him. After all, (and it's true), the only thing more exciting than winning, is losing (almost).
Besides, the nights are long this time of year, what the hell else will you going to do except play against someone halfway 'round the world until you're too sleepy to realize you don't even have a pair on the table. You just say "good night honey", boot up the Dell, try to remember your password, log on, check you account balance and find a table. Play loose, play tight, just play. You'll learn a lot about yourself.
~Brewsdoes
Entry #4
In a world without poker …
A river is just water, a bluff mere landscape, and your hands will never be the same.
In a world without poker, there’d be no sound.
No sound of nervous stack-shufflers, echoes of bad beats and no chip-scraping laughter.
In a world without poker, there’d be no smell.
No scent of victory, no hint of weakness and no aroma of sweet, sweaty cash.
In a world without poker, there’d be no sight.
No picture-perfect flops, no towering chip stacks, and no vision of the future.
In a world without poker, bankrolls earn simple interest, and a silent army is left to scrape the empty pots of suburban life. No matter how hard you try, Brownie Points never stack up.
In a world without poker, a hundred dollar bill is just a piece of paper.
Drop a Franklin on the table, all you get is dinner and a breath mint.
A world without poker would become a world without proof.
Because in the end, we all want the same thing …
To get up from this table of life, and walk out a winner.
~xslacker420
Next week's topic: Poker & Fashion. :silly: