Did you ever play poker in college?I had the joy of being in college during the poker boom, and I never had a problem finding a game.
Almost every bar in town had a poker night where you would play a NL hold em tournament competing for a $50 dollar gift card. These games were often difficult to win unless you were extremely lucky. This was because many of the players were amateurs, drunk, or both.
When I wasn't playing for beer money, I was playing for real money. There was a different game going on every night of the week depending on who you knew. There were even huge tournaments held at hotels in private rooms. I am not sure how legal it all was, but none the less the games never got busted, and they were huge.
The bad thing about poker becoming so popular so suddenly was that everyone had just started to play. There were hundreds of self proclaimed poker experts calling you all in pre-flop with 6-7 suited. As long as you had enough money to re-buy a few times, you could always figure out their style of play and end up dominating.
My friends and I would play poker every day. Whether it was a heads up match or a free roll tournament
Now it seems I am just reminiscing when I'm playing at Party Poker or Sun Poker, wishing I was back in school.