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View Full Version : How to change the image of poker for ever.


Cptkernow
07-25-2004, 10:11 AM
Having become a poker player, I now know what is like to face prejudice based on ignorance.

In most peoples minds poker=gambling=bad/very bad.

You can try to explain the things that make poker unique amongst gambling activites, mainly that because you are not playing against the house/bookie there is a level playing field and therefore correct decisons and skill give you the edge and hence gaurentee profit over time.

Why bother, they dont believe you. Its only after a year of consistently winning that friends and family et al are begining to get there heads around the idea.

This is because the human mind is much more convinced by experiencing/witnessing a phenomenon than having said same phenomonen mearly explained.

So how to change the false erronious recieved ideas about poker and give the average joe a much more correct idea about poker.

This is my plan. (Not one I'll proabaly ever execute but its a thought.)

Go India (sub in any thirld world country) where the average wage is 1$ a day.

Find bright but impoverished kids living in impoverished village. Using money donated by Party Poker marketing department (One is wisely making a documentary about the whole process, to be sold onto the worlds media), biuld poker academy and teach said kids to earn say a modest 20$ a day. They now have more money and are relatively wealthy by Indian standards.

Take star pupils and get them onto an expectation of say 20$ an hour. Let them keep 80% or whatever but the rest goes back into the village to improve its schools water supply etc. This is important for media impact.

So as a result of poker charity you have improved dramaticaly the living standards of a whole village. You have given otherwise destitute individuals living of 1$ a day to earn a wage comprable with any thing in the west.

All things that conventional aid programmes have failed completly to achieve.

You now (You have been filming this whole process) push this amazing story on the worlds media.

If poker=bad how come poker = rich indians living in nice village not starving to death anymore in droughts, also check there excellent health care etc etc etc.

end of poker prejudice.

The only down side is that the idea of poker as gambling and pure luck is quite beneficial when it comes to making fish fishlike.

MMMMMM
07-25-2004, 10:22 AM
Why the heck would you want to convince the world that poker is not gambling?

The more people think it is gambling, the more fish in the games. The converse is also true.

Besides, poker is gambling--to a large extent.

Enjoy any advantage you may currently possess--it isn't necessarily going to last forever.

And get a thicker skin about facing prejudice for goodness sakes /images/graemlins/smile.gif !

Cptkernow
07-26-2004, 03:26 PM
Id like to do something like this because I would find it quite subversive.

For example.

Swap India for the Projects.

Imagine how it would feck with all those liberal do gooders heads if after all that money they threw at the projects you were able to transform a section of the community by having a structure programme to teach poker.

In the third world the west has created a whole industry of aid that whilst at times is effective is often bloated corrupt and ineffecient.

I think they would get quite spun out if you were able to achieve massive improvement of quality of live in a destitute communnity simply by the act of teaching them how to take $ off Hank and Chuck playing poker.

It might give them a kick up the arse and motivate them to get there act together.

I do also believe it would make for great "reality" tv.

MMMMMM
07-26-2004, 03:34 PM
Interesting idea.

I think it would be doomed to fail, though, because most people simply will not be winners at poker--whether they come from the projects or the country club. In fact, since there is a rake. most peoplle have to lose.

Now if you could teach them to be good at something that isn't a zero-sum or negative-sum game...

Cptkernow
07-26-2004, 03:43 PM
I disagree.

Earnings at poker are defined by your skill level in relation to your competition.

The benefit of going to the thirld world is that you only have to teach raise someones ablity yo the level where they are making 10$ a day. (As 1$ a day is the average wage).

With proper training anyone of reasonable intlelect can beat the .5/1 at party for that amount. If without training one could nopt beat the .5/1 at party I would have to conclude that one were of insuffecinet intellect.

Yes most people do lose at poker but not the products of the KERNOW POKER ACADEMY.

cardcounter0
07-26-2004, 03:56 PM
If you really want to change the image of poker, just show more ESPN footage of that Sousa guy playing in the WSOP.

"Hey Eskimo, Wot youse got in dat dere hand?"
"Wat a guy. He's really nice and all smiles when he wants sumpin'"

Snarfing his shrimp cocktail at the table in his loud print shirt -- That guy should make poker players look like a real class act the world over.

MMMMMM
07-26-2004, 04:00 PM
I don't think the average person can sucessfully be taught
to win at poker.

If you disagree, look to your local card barn and guess what percentage of players are actually beating the game long-term.

Winning poker requires not only a certain intelligence, but psychological traits such as remaining disciplined in the face of adversity. Most people just don't have what it takes overall to beat poker--plus, it is a negative-sum game which pretty much ensures that most people have to lose in the long run.

Good luck with your academy, though.

Cptkernow
07-26-2004, 04:13 PM
How many of those in the local card room are being taught ?

To win at poker you only have to be better than the guy sitting next to you. Of course you have to be better "enough" to beat the rake also. But as all the indian kids would be signed up as my affiliates /images/graemlins/wink.gif I would give em 5% back to help with this.

Put it this way. If you are of average inteligence and so is everyone else at the table, the act of having been taught to win will give you a disceranble edge that in the long term will resolve into hard $.

I think you are way to pessimistic about how beatable the .5/1 at party is. In fact I would say all the way upto 2/4 tight ABC poker will turn a profit.