Grocery Run (It UP)

Had kind of a funny thing happen this afternoon.

Made a quick trip to the grocery store just to pick up some milk and a couple of other items, and as I was walking down an aisle I thought I saw a fellow pass on the other side wearing a black t-shirt with the “Run It UP” logo across the front -- that is, the name of Jason Somerville’s popular Twitch channel.

I actually doubted I had seen it at first, thinking it very likely I’d imagined it. But me and the fellow ended up circling around to meet again over in dairy, and sure enough I was right.

I had to say something. After all, I’m not exactly writing to you from a hotbed of poker, located as I am a little under 2,200 miles from Las Vegas where everyone’s attention is trained these days.

I asked the fellow if he played poker, and he said he did although considered himself more a fan than a player. He’d actually just gotten back from Vegas where he’d played some low buy-in daily tournaments and railed a bit at the WSOP. I shared with him a very short version of my poker story, and we talked a bit further about Somerville’s Twitch stream, Jason Mercier’s hot summer, the ongoing $50K event, and the upcoming Main.

The encounter made an otherwise mundane trip to the store more enjoyable, and I think he got a kick out of the conversation, too. I had to let Somerville know over Twitter, and he liked hearing about it as well.

We get so spread out -- even if we’re all connected online as we are -- it’s easy to forget how poker can provide that avenue to meeting new people and building communities (something Somerville has managed with great success via Run It UP).

Image: Run It UP Store.