out of the poker closet

A few weeks ago I came out of the closet at work. I was walking to the kitchen for my 3rd cup of coffee when M, a co-worker who I've chatted with a few times, walked beside me and said I looked tired, and I blurted out "I was up late playing poker". It was out of my mouth before I realized it. She said "Oh, you play too?" and then we spent 20 minutes standing in the kitchen talking about the game.

I told her that I haven't told anyone at work that I play, and she seemed surprised. And her surprise made me wonder why I hadn't. I'm not ashamed to play - I talk about it with friends and family all the time. But something about revealing this side of me to co-workers made me uncomfortable. But, the cat was out of the bag....so soon M was setting up a lunchtime game for "pride". It's an oppotunity to play with different people and I've been getting too used to the regulars in the league. Today was our first lunch time game, and it was fun!