I just spent 4 nights in Connecticut and had a great experience. It was a business trip that had an added benefit of a weekend stay-over at Foxwoods casino in Mystic, CT. The casino was huge and it had over a hundred tables in the poker room alone!

The most enjoyable part of my trip was just watching the culture differences up north. Foxwoods sits half way between Boston and New York so you couldn’t go more than an hour without a RedSox vs.Yankees conflict. I hate to make generalizations, but so many people I met up north were very uptight and seemed self involved. The whole world is passing right before them and they just look straight ahead never stopping to enjoy the things around them.

I found that an amazing thing happens when you take a few minutes to show them another way. Like for instance, I was the only person I saw that sat down and introduced myself, shook a couple of hands and even smiled. Even though we were playing low-limit friendly games, they were engrossed in the spirit of competition. One guy was so bitter that he wouldn’t tip the dealer when he won a hand. Of course the dealers were not happy (it’s the only way they make money) and the atmosphere seemed very tense. Well I decided to try a little textbook Vineyard-style servant evangelism and started tipping the dealer for him when he won a pot. A little southern hospitality and pleasant conversation changed the whole atmosphere. The whole table changed and we started laughing and having a good time. By the time I left it was like we were old friends and he had tipped the dealer and at least 3 different cocktail waitresses. I’m not sure if it was my inspiration or the 3 cocktails, but either way the next couple of hours were much more fun.

After I left I realized something interesting had happened. Every time I left a poker table (often with most of their money) those same people that seemed annoyed when I wanted to be friendly extended their hand to me first. I was shocked to here “See ya later Georgia” and “Go Braves”! I realized that people are really looking for love and acceptance but since they don’t think it is possible to get it, they put up emotional walls.

It was really an eye opening experience to me. I really think it may have changed how I interact with people. I struck up conversations with a couple more “strangers” on the trip home and I was pleasantly surprised to see the results. I swear I have grown more as a person as a result of playing poker than I have in 1 million hours of going to church. Of course if it were not for my experiences in church then I probably would look at poker completely different.