An Understanding Girlfriend is Beyond Rare

Now before you get too into this a lot of you are here because you Google searches Tom Dwans Girlfriend. I don't know if the guy has a girlfriend but you should check the Tom Dwan fan site.

As aspiring poker players we're always looking for the next angle, something that gives us an edge, that one thing that separates us from the rest of the pack. I must of downloaded every poker tool imaginable, searched for the best rake back deals, watched countless poker training videos, joined forums, got involved in many poker training sites, read nearly every poker book worth reading and so much more.

The truth is that all the above will help you improve as a player but what about when you're on the receiving end of a horrific bad beat? of a miracle two outer? when you drop $500 in one hand? does the latest edition to your poker library console you? make you feel any better at the time? Well mine doesn't! My books just become more inanimate objects that I can use as a means to destroy my front room. They become metaphorical teddies that literally get thrown out of my metaphorical pram.

What about your friends and family, surly they could cheer you up? After all that's essentially what friends are for, a support network for when things are not going well and an audience when things are on the up. But truth is, if your friends really don't get the finer points of poker, they either won't understand the mathematical improbability of the situation you're talking (crying) to them about, or they simply won't care.

Step in, the most important part of playing poker for a living on any level, the understanding girlfriend. Now if you're lucky enough to find a girl that can stomach how much you rave, rant, love, hate, talk or cry about poker, then all I can say is that you're a lucky man.

Now if you manage to find a girl that understands what you're talking about not just because they're bright but because they've taken the time to learn how to play, taken the time to grasp as much about poker as they can so that they can relate to you better and build more common ground in your relationship. A girl that realises when they need to leave you to calm down, finds it in herself to forgive you when you snap at them in a tilted rage, are totally supportive of you chasing your dreams and happens to be an absolute hottie, then you've genuinely found a one in a million.

You see everything I blog about I consider +EV, another string in your bow, subjects far too important to be over looked or taken for granted. Well my girlfriend is all of the above and more. Some days she really must feel like a poker widow. I'm so engrossed in either playing poker, being coached, helping out friends, my blog and other poker related projects that she could (and quite rightly so) feel a little unappreciated at times.

If you are lucky enough to have someone like this in your life, make sure you let them know how much they mean to you and how much you really appreciate having them in your life.

When all is said and done, poker is just a game. Cards, chips and other players wanting to go to war will always be waiting. There will always be another tournament, another fish, another irresistible cash game. But a girlfriend this cool, is a little harder to come by. Food for thought.

As always.

Good luck at the tables.