You’ve entered the game at half time or maybe it’s the 3rd day or whenever you found the time to get there and get seated.

The locals are grim, holding their position, after all…they’re defending home turf. The tourists are jovial and reckless, throwing their chips into the pots, laughing as they pull back more and stack and stack and stack. The locals are losing…they have no cheering section and each time they lose a pot, they make comments about the tourists. They’re so nasty, a referee might throw a flag on them …but there are no referees in this battle.

You hear the sound of chip clatter and table chatter throughout the room, dealers calling for fills and setups and seat open, and intermingled with it all is the groaning of the locals because they can’t believe it…like the tourists are supposed to just open their wallets and let the locals help themselves.

It’s half time break, (dinner hour), and shows are available so some of the tourists leave the playing field, planning on returning later. Now you listen to the locals expound, “I’m not going to sit in a short game and keep it going for the house!”

You’re thinking, Hey baby, why not keep it going for yourself? How the hell can you ever hope to get your money back if you give up now?

You’re smart enough to know that those tourists are coming back and nothing brings a player back to a game like a win. They think they’re invincible if they get a few wins and most of the short term players will spend more and more hours at play if they booked a few wins. Even if they leave with the win and return and lose…now they feel compelled to get their money back.

You’re watching a few of the locals limp off the field, their injuries show in the way they stack and rack up the remains of their fire power. A few of them are in good spirits but the remainder of them go out like they’re facing a firing squad.

How does it happen? They must’ve started out one time just like the tourists only perhaps they had a more solid goal in mind than just playing to play. Some of them did elect to play for a living because they started out as winners. Others elected to play because they know they have enough knowledge and skill to overcome the short term luck factor and make a $ per hour amount of money that satisfies their living expenses and life style. These thoughts run through your mind as you draw for seating in another game of the same limit.

You’ve played poker for a few years and tried to focus on the game, the mental control, discipline, awareness, assessing the human factor that always comes into play in games that don’t have a ‘house’ edge, and you’re still…after all of this time…always in awe of the local that wants to pull the flowers out of his weed garden.

The tourist comes in with a happy, excited rush…can hardly wait to play every hand and challenge everyone else on a field that makes everyone equal except for knowledge and skill. Some of them know they have a certain amount of money to spend while they’re in town and they plan on it, set it aside, so when they do lose, they aren’t shocked or dismayed. They have a job. They’re going back to it and their normal lives when they leave…they can’t help it if the local isn’t as well organized in his/her financial plan as they are.

Now the list person starts calling another game…for the same limit as the one that broke during “half time”. You see a lot of the same tourists coming back into the poker room to take a seat. Chips are being sold, the deck is shuffled and spread for each player to draw for the button and, after looking at the line-up, you know you want that game.

The locals being seated haven’t got a chance…they’re too angry, too indrawn to see the benefit of the action, the opportunity to make money, and keep the tourists coming back for more. The score as you see it is: Locals 0, Tourists 10!!!!