ever consider your position as a winning gambler? - Page 2

I recently played some $1/2 live in Reno last weekend, and this issue sort of peaked its way into my thoughts..

Some guy was at the table, and he looked pretty fucked up (not drunk/high, just "fucked up" ). He was ~35 or so, had a wedding ring on, and some sort of maintenance worker shirt on with his name on it ("Richard", if anyone is curious). Anyhow, he dumped well over $1,100 in about a two hours. The only reason it took that long was because he made periodic stops to the ATM/cashier. He was pulling out checks and what-not. The weird thing was that he was a nice enough guy, and wouldn't get all belligerent and loud when his gutshots kept missing. But it was clear that he couldn't afford losing $1k on a regular basis as a blue collar worker in Reno.

It dawned on me that if there are people like this who go outside, and walk to the casinos to blow their rent, imagine the people who are just sitting at home on their computer? I'm not saying anyone should think twice about finding any +EV spot they possibly can (I would personally punch a baby in the face for a free hamburger), I'm just saying that I'm aware. Yes, there's the whole "someone's gotta take it!" mentality -- which is true -- but don't fool yourself into believing that you're not in some way contributing to some other person's fucked-up ass addiction..

I think we are doctors who are able to cure some of the degenerates, there is no better way to find out you have a gambling problem when you wake up the next day without your rent money, that has got to be a wake up call...

if they dont lose it to you, they'll lose it to someone else.

nuff said

so by this logic, selling crack as equally morally correct.

On May 15 2007 20:33 nolan wrote: so by this logic, selling crack as equally morally correct.

Im not the one offering the dope, its there with or without me

thats how life is, sharks eat fishes... not in poker but in a very big variety of bussinesses.

hmmm i should have scammed hansen 1300$, anyways someone else would have done it

i dont like this logic much -.-

but yea these degenrates will gamble no matter what so better be you that takes it.

If they are that retarded, they deserve whatever is coming

its not their fault if they are retarded, they didnt choose to be born retards.

There are laws to protected childrens because we know they arent fully mentally ready to take decisions(its illegal for them to gamble). But once grown up, some of them remain stupid and make retarded decisions in life.

On May 15 2007 20:33 nolan wrote: so by this logic, selling crack as equally morally correct.

good analogy.....

if u actually feel this way go ahead and quit, no one's stopping u

I think TianYuan covered it

A fool and his money are soon parted...... and it doesn't bother me.

Btw, I think I deserve some sort of charity award for my massive "downswing".

Being broke is hardly the worst thing that can happen to you... You and me know that even if we find ourselves on the street with nothing, but the clothes on our back, we will make it. Because we've mastered ourselves to some degree. We are financially independant, because we are abe to win money, not because we have them. Those "poor people" will always be financially dependant, even if they have all the money in the world, because they can't take care of themselves.

We can't really hurt those people more than they hurt themselves even if we wanted to.

Alright, why don't we tackle world hunger while we're at it? After lunch we can do poverty.

It's Chris Moneymaker's fault, not mine.

It bothers me a bit. Its the same deal within any commercial sector though, if you look at any big company trying to sell products they are often trying to sell it to the people who don't really have the money for it. We're selling a good time, that sometimes this isn't worth it for our clients is part of this. There are very few ways of making money where you can really say what you are doing doesn't hurt anyone. For example professional athletes are often the reason of riots between fans, usually sponsored by companies that are involved in shady business (that would be just about any multinational), but does this mean a person with passion for football should put this aside because he is potentially harming other people? These are tough questions.

There are boundaries for everything and everyone has to decide for himself whether poker crosses these lines. Often you hear people saying it is not a respectable job because you take money from others that might have gambling problems. I usually shrug this off because most of them are saying this out of jealousy and incapability to do the same, without them even realizing it. Put them in a situation where they actually are making lots of money and maybe things will change. Guys of whom I know they would be good at poker but still choose not to do it I really admire, other people pursuade careers in sectors purely out of selflessness and the will to help other people. Those people are real heroes, in the meanwhile we continue to work on improving our lifes.

A person often is the product of his environment, and degenerate gamblers and other people losing their rent money always have a story to tell. If some guy had to go into the army and came out of it as a complete psychotic maniac ending up abusing his kids or something worse, who are we to say that it is his fault? Even though to a certain extent everyone is responsible for the route they take with their lifes it depends shitloads on what situations you have encountered in your life, and this is often none of your control. Someones capabilities or IQ is as much in their hands as is the place where they are born.

its not their fault if they are retarded, they didnt choose to be born retards. There are laws to protected childrens because we know they arent fully mentally ready to take decisions(its illegal for them to gamble). But once grown up, some of them remain stupid and make retarded decisions in life.

That's about what I mean. We have social welfare, health insurance and all those things because not everyone is equally capable (not a choice). Not everyone equally capable of resisting to gambling or drugs and even though in the case of drugs this is often a physical thing, also someones mental state is not a choice by any means. This does make me wonder about poker sometimes because it wasn't their choice not to be capable. If you want to be financially succesful or independent like Beast puts it you're going to find yourself in a lot of borderline situations and I hope we're smart enough to do the right thing when needed.

I think that especially in poker there are very few real degenerates, unlike in some other games like roullette or blackjack. Or at least in poker the degenerates are actually also the ones that are good at the game. It seems to me that this might be because poker is a skill based game so this makes it way easier to resist for the degenerates without a clue. Most of the people who go broke on poker are actually those who are good at it (I'd say this accounts for 95% of the people that go broke on this game). Sharks going broke, I honestly don't feel bad about that at all. But at the same time this is also the danger of a skill game being played for money. This means that people who have achieved some remote success will overrate their own skills and think they have an edge whenever they play.

Anyway this became longer than thought.

Live casinos are fucking awsome coz theyre just filled with degenerate gamblers and you can feel the life tilt in the air as they throw more money at the table games and slots.

There has to be some kind of natural selection. In my opinion it's no good to help this kind of people - if they were naturally born stupid we can't really expect their children to be super intelligent. It's a spiral down.

thats retarded