man, I'd be the biggest bitch ever if I quit.

I'm actually pretty happy, at least as far as quitting cigs goes. It was real rough for two months, but I'm pretty happy now after four.

Whatever, this topic is dying quickly, but I'd just like to re-state/clarify a few things: 1) I still think discussing day-one chip counts is equivalent to discussing bad beats--something that is understandable in small, spare doses, esp. from recreational players, but basically nothing that professional poker players need to be talking over with each other as a standard way to kill time during breaks 2) There are a million varieties of small talk that I enjoy, and I only think small talk during breaks becomes onerous when it's centered around poker stories that no one really cares about except for the person telling it 3) Tpir seems to get my point, but my comments were directed almost exclusively to full-time poker pros who should be focused on their own goals (do you run to tell your friends how you are doing in a cash game every hour, too?), not fans or spectators of the game who might be curious about a player's progress.

So now 90% of full-time pros either read Shane's blog or 2p2? Sorry, I think 95% of who reads his comments aren't pros.

[x] 80th attempt at reasoning for post...failed

It was a fairly abrasive post, but I think he's explained his reasons pretty well. Just seems to be something he doesn't like discussing on breaks, and people who know this should be mindful of that when they talk to him. But if they don't know, it's not a terrible thing to ask.

Now more people know and will hopefully make things easier for him. Mission accomplished IMO.

Edit: I didn't think smokes were what he quit smoking. Good job, Shane.

I cannot believe everybody thinks Shane is a douche for essentially posting "when I go to the bar after work with friends the last thing I want to talk about is work".

I can believe it.

2+2 is one fickle bitch.

Bipolar, anyone?

for a potential trade?

No, moron.

Don't read his blog if you dont like it. I also agree with him for the most part about talking about chip stacks but what are you going to do? I don't agree with the texting thing at all.

Because they don't get it.

I work in a very people oriented profession. The people I hang out with after hours are those that don't talk about our job. Sure, if I haven't seen someone in awhile (there are some staff members within our 150+ that I don't see that often - many in my department), then we talk some about our work, but it dominates only 1% of our conversation. Those that talk ad nauseum about work are those that I leave talking/muttering to themselves. I just lived the often unpleasant event that they did, why continue to be mired in it?

Chip counts are not really important until the last day at the final table. The rest of the time, it's a quest to get there. Anyone concerned with that misses the point.

I agree with Shane, not that he cares, but if we ever meet...we'll talk about something else.

YES!!