so what if players buy entertainment?

You know, somewhere Tommie wrote how he was hoping to win a hand so he could have a lavish time in his upcoming trip to Hawaii. Another guy wrote how he ate steak on a Friday night. All that is fun, hedonistic stuff, and makes life tolerable.


But if I'm thinking of the one thing that a lot of career poker players like doing more than anything else: It's playing poker - betting, raising, maneuvering, analyzing - even folding. So if raising 7-2o before the flop costs $19.00 but it is fun - and even more fun when you win - how is that so different from buying a movie ticket, a $5.00 tub of popcorn, and a quarter tank of gas?


I mean, since when is "saving" fun? Saving is fun, up to a point, not so much because you get a proud thrill opening your bank statement each month, but because it enables you to have money for a rainy day, and to enjoy little indulgences. So if you like playing poker, why not blow a few fractional bets loose calling and betting fun hands to cut the monotony of existence?


The only reason I can think of is if you don't like your opponent, so you'd rather give money to, like, a call-girl than to that jerk sitting across the table from you. Why wait until you rack up to go out and have a little fun? I say spend a little money on each hand, give up a little edge to keep it fun. If it makes playing more tolerable, and keeps you at the table and away from the steakhouse and vacation trips a little longer, you will have found a more efficient use of you money - investing it to make more money:)


How much are you willing to pay per day to not hate your job?


- the guy

.."virtue is it's own reward"...but by spending those bucks to enjoy (as you said) you may also get extra rewards on your better hands because of the$$$ you spent to enjoy.

Eating steak is hedonistic? I thought I was just hungry.

Players who are playing every hand and getting the thrill to draw that miracle card on the river are surely entertaining especially when they leave the table after blowing two racks and I happen to get a big slice of it.


On the other hand, I would although very rarely make such a move. For example, on my last hand on my way to the airport, I straddled (wow!) on a 4-8 game at Bellagio, announcing that I would like to buy a nice souvenir.


Got dealt red 6s with 7 callers.


Flopped A 6 J, bet, got 5 callers


Turn, rag, bet, 4 callers.


River, Rag, check, bet, call, fold, call, I raise, call, call.


Turned up my set, scooped a nice pot a bought a nice Bellagio jacket. Now, That's entertainment.

not the same ballpark by a longshot. 7-2 can win, raises don't have to be backed up by anything, and you don't disappoint anyone when you raise 7-2o. cops playing with sirens and bullhorns can cause a lot of problems, and lawyers coming in to court with shorts on is just career suicide... you can recover from raising 7-2o...

...and we all know that a straddle is one of the worst things to do with your chips!!! glad you hit.


about the only time i do this is when game is dead, sometimes this will spark a little life in the gam and get it out of the ditch,

u trying to say you rather raise with 72off than raise the roof with one of my cuties?


geesh.

yesterday two cops put their helicopter down next to crispy creme donuts for their coffee break trouble big time for them..

Rounder is right here, but there's another aspect to it. I am not a professional poker player, but it would never be fun for me to do something totally idiotic at the poker table.(Yeah, I know I do it but its not designed to be fun.) Perhaps to be a little creative or gamble a little would be fun, but how much fun is it to throw $20 away on nothing? And if you can recognize good situations to open up a little, you aren't doing it just for fun. If you know better it can't be fun. So it would be more fun to go to a movie and eat popcorn with the money. Or buy a drink and tip the single mother waitress $20. Whatever else you could do with the money would be more fun.


As far as having fun on the job, whatever your career is, fun comes from doing something you like well. It doesn't come from being a clown. Sometimes if you are good at what you do, you can identify a situation where you can do something strategically sound that is also fun. So what you suggest just wouldn't be fun for a professional. At anything.

Suppose you really like playing poker, you LOVE a good laydown, you L-O-V-E a good read! After you have gotten about 99 out of 100 easy mucking hands in a row, you might want to do a little reading for profit. Calling 72o gives you the opportunity if a 2 hits, or if an ace hits which you think is an overcard to your opponent, to read for profit.


Will you make a profit most of the time? Not unless staying in the game dynamic-wise, or not looking too tight, or cashing in your tight appearance, can outweigh calling a 72o. So you can still do well from the flop forward, and be proud of your play, you are just starting out with a handicap.


Whether a football player or a poker player, someone who is "good" or "professional" likes getting more opportunities with the ball than Lady Luck is sometimes willing to give up. Of course it is your job to win money whereas Ricky Watters' job is to self-promote, not to win games. But we are all professional "savers" away from the table as well, and surely you're not going to tell me that it just can't be fun for a thrifty person to buy and drink a pint of Guinness?


Well, maybe you are right. When I walk, I make sure each step is exactly 31 inches, unless I am turning, in which case I figure in the "arc spread." Otherise, I'll never get anywhere.


No, I don't take pride in being anal. How well I have played poker is measured not in how well I played, but in whether or not the rent gets paid - if that is my objective. But if I play simply to play, then yes, I am free to choose any yardstick for measuring how well I play. But saying some arbitrary standard you set for yourself, some silly internal yardstick, is universal and no subjective, is just plain silly.


There may be a heart surgeon doctor out there who is anal about the pattern of the closing stitches even though it has no bearing on the success of the operation. Or if this doctor is too dumb and too simple to sort between the two, then yes, such necessarily generalized habits do contrinute to his success.


enough...


- the guy

nt