Golf and Poker

I returned to the links yesterday after a nine-day hiatus. My golf game was a victim of circumstance. Niece and nephew-in-law came visiting this past week from their home in Houston with their fourteen month-old daughter -- my grandniece -- whom I met for the first time. (Naturally, she's the smartest, most beautiful child presently toddling the earth, but that's a blog for a more appropriate venue...) The weekend before, I played in a Texas Hold-em tournament in central New Jersey, an all-night affair that knocked me out for days afterward. (I'm here to brag that I was the last rounder standing in the forty-six player field, but that, too, is a story for another time and place...)

Several of the poker players I'd spoken with at the tourney last weekend played golf on at least a semi-regular basis. A much larger percentage of duffers with whom I'd been grouped on busy days at the local publinx told me they played regularly in poker klatches and/or Hold-em tourneys. On a higher level, PGA tour regular Rocco Mediate this year plunked down his $10k entrance fee for the World Series of Poker at Binion's in Las Vegas. (Don't ask how he did; I can only tell you that, along with over five thousand other disappointed entrants, he didn't make it to the final table.)

I'm absolutely convinced there's a connection between the lures of golf and poker. (Evidently, certain casinos are, too, as golf + poker weekend tournaments are becoming the hot new getaway. Play golf all day and settle down to a Hold-em all-nighter. Booze optional, bring your own cigars. Women are welcome, but only if they're driving a club car or serving table drinks in high-cut shorts and low-cut tops.) I can't put my finger on the connection, but I have given a great deal of thought to the subject during contemplation periods on various men's room stall seats, and have come up with the following tidbits:

To be competitive, golf and poker both require high levels of skill. One can rely on luck for short periods of time in poker, but eventually, a lack of skill will betray you; in golf, a lack of skill will downright embarrass you.

Golf and poker both require a high level of nerve when winning is on the line. Convincing your poker opponent that your hand is better or worse than it actually is is tantamount to convincing yourself on the course you can green a chip or sink a putt. Tossing in a winning hand is the poker equivalent of the yips in golf.

Golf and poker both require a high level of self-discipline. Release control of your emotions at the poker table and you allow your opponent to read your hand and manipulate you. Release control of your emotions on the golf course and you allow the course to control your shots. Laying up rather than going for the green is like folding a pretty-looking hand that would probably have cost you a lot of money had you played it.

Golf and poker both require a high level of management skills. In poker, it's table management; in golf, it's course management. Either way, it's the difference between a good player and a respected player.

Golf and poker are pastimes that women don't, in the main, look forward to playing. They participate to be social. Men daydream at their work computers or in meetings about the upcoming round of golf or poker get-together. Social? I suppose. But in both cases, the game's the thing. The possibility of an ace or an eagle, or more realistically, a round in the 90's, provides my mental escape from the daily chores at the office. Walking/riding the course again with my son is icing on the cake, an added bonus, if you will. Exchanging stories with the poker gang is the side dish to the entree of going home with their money in my pocket.

I love 'em both, golf and poker. Thank goodness one's a daytime activity and the other works best at night. This way, I'll never have to choose betweem 'em.

But those hiatuses -- oy vey!