Death and poker

[jkamowitz]

Hello all,
I have been playing poker with the same 100 or so guys for about a year now at a local club. One of the men, Paddy was an 85 year old terrible player who over the course of the past month dropped roughly 15,000 dollars playing 1-2nl. I found out last night however that a week ago Paddy died, a night after he lost 1200 at the club. He was divorced and did not have any children.

I have been playing poker for four years, two years seriously. I am only 19. This news really hit me hard for some reason. Mostly because I do not want to end up being alone like Paddy. Some people tried to tell me that maybe Paddy wanted to play poker on his last days but I do not buy it. I have often thought about the players that I have played with in the past at other clubs or casinos and thought about the possibility of them having died or whatnot. But to experience it this close was incredibly depressing for me.

This is not meant to be anything but an open thought.