Soupy12
06-23-2003, 03:57 AM
I just thought you guys might like to read a paper I recently wrote for a composition class. Let me know what you think!
Casino Poker is not Gambling
You are sitting down at a friend’s kitchen table with beer in hand playing a friendly game of poker with your buddies. The games may include draw, stud, and any variation thereof with a number of wildcards and house rules. The stakes are not very high and this poker game is designed to be a recreational night with your friends, not designed to make or break anyone’s bank. This is the typical image that comes to mind when the general population thinks of poker. However, another variation of poker exists and is growing rapidly in popularity. This is the poker that takes place in casinos and cardrooms around the country and includes games such as 7-card stud, Texas Hold’em, and Omaha. Players choose their game and stakes of choice and play against other players. The casino dealer deals the cards, regulates play, upholds the standard rules of the game, and in return, takes a portion of each pot, known as the rake. On the basis that this game is offered in casinos and that people win or lose money, the general population considers poker a form of gambling.
It is important to understand that poker is not gambling because of the implications it has. In our current economic situation, the unemployment rate has risen and people are out of work. There are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs available. Professional poker players can make a very good living without having another job, but only if they live in a state where poker is legal. In states in which poker is still prohibited, there are numerous underground games, however playing in these carry a risk that a lot of players are not willing to take. These games are also not consistent enough to have your livelihood depend on. However, if poker were legalized in more states, poker players could make their living in poker rooms freeing up more jobs for others. The additional dealers, floor personnel, chip-runners, cocktail servers, and security and surveillance workers required to run the poker rooms would also create new, well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree.
In order to pay these employees and make a small profit, the casino or “house” takes a small percentage of each pot known as the rake. However, even though most poker rooms are located inside of casinos, poker is not gambling, it is instead a form of investing. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, “gamble” means “to play games of chance for money.” All of the games in the casino outside of the poker room such as blackjack, slots, roulette, crap, and three-card poker are all games in which the player plays against the casino for money. In all of these games of chance, the rules or game structure is set up so that the players will lose more often than they will win in the long run. These games yield a low percentage of success on the part of the player and a high percentage of success on the part of the house, thus explaining the abundance of casinos, and can therefore be classified as gambling.
Poker, on the other hand, is based on statistics, strategy, psychology, hand-reading, and people-reading. It is a game of skill in which each player matches skill and wit against the other players in the game. The casino does not win or lose money, only the players of the game can do so. In the long run, the most knowledgeable and skilled players will win the most money, and the less knowledgeable and skilled players will lose their money to the better players. For this reason, the majority of the final table at the World Series of Poker is comprised of the same group of elite poker players each year. These players are not the luckiest players in the game, it is not chance that they do that well each year, they are simply the best in their game. Due to the fact that poker is a game of skill and not chance, poker is not gambling, as other casino games are.
Poker should be regarded as an investment of a person’s financial resources in his or her own skills rather than a gamble taken at a casino. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “invest” as “to put (money) into business, stocks, etc. in order to get a profit.” Poker more closely fits the definition of investment than gambling and is more similar to the stock market than to the roulette wheel, craps table, and slot machines. In the stock market, a person invests money into a company or collections of companies that compete with other companies to make money. If the company does well, the investor profits, and if the company does poorly, the investor will lose money. Poker follows the same concept except that the investor and the company are the same person. Eight to ten people sit at a poker table at any given time, and only some of them can win money while the others lose money. When one person at the table runs out of money, a different player sits down and puts his or her skills to the test in the market of the game. If they are outmatched, they will generally lose, and if they are more skilled than their opponents, in theory they should win money. Overall, those players who read about and study the game to become a skilled player will make a wise investment in themselves and will profit in the long run. Those who foolishly invest in their abilities without proper knowledge of the game will lose money in the long run.
One may argue that poker is gambling because there is a chance you will lose money. It is true that unfortunately, even the best poker players may experience short term losses in a session or series of sessions at a poker table, however, similar short term losses can be experienced in the stock market for even the best companies. The important fact in both the stock market and the poker room is that in the long run the best companies and the best players will show a profit.
Those few people who sit at a poker table with little or no knowledge of the game and try to compete with skilled players are gambling in the same way that a person who chooses to invest in a brand new company hoping its stock will rapidly increase in value so they can sell it for a quick profit are gambling. In either case, the person hopes that luck will prevail and they will make some quick money, but this strategy will not allow them to be successful in the long run in either market. However, those people who play poker on a regular basis are not gamblers, they are investors. They have developed a skill and are putting it to the test against the skills of others. Those who are best at the skill will win in the long run. If one consistently loses, the person must stop investing to further develop their skills to become better before investing any more money in themselves. Poker is not gambling and has little to do with luck. It’s believing that you are better at the game than those you are playing with and making a profit using the advantage you have developed.
Poker is more similar to the stock market than any of the other casino games and should be regulated as such. No state has outlawed investing in the stock market because of the risks incurred, and similarly, states should not have such laws forbidding poker. Poker players should be given the chance to capitalize on their skills without having to take the risk of playing in illegal card rooms. These players have worked hard to develop skills in the complex game of poker and should be rewarded and respected for their abilities.
Casino Poker is not Gambling
You are sitting down at a friend’s kitchen table with beer in hand playing a friendly game of poker with your buddies. The games may include draw, stud, and any variation thereof with a number of wildcards and house rules. The stakes are not very high and this poker game is designed to be a recreational night with your friends, not designed to make or break anyone’s bank. This is the typical image that comes to mind when the general population thinks of poker. However, another variation of poker exists and is growing rapidly in popularity. This is the poker that takes place in casinos and cardrooms around the country and includes games such as 7-card stud, Texas Hold’em, and Omaha. Players choose their game and stakes of choice and play against other players. The casino dealer deals the cards, regulates play, upholds the standard rules of the game, and in return, takes a portion of each pot, known as the rake. On the basis that this game is offered in casinos and that people win or lose money, the general population considers poker a form of gambling.
It is important to understand that poker is not gambling because of the implications it has. In our current economic situation, the unemployment rate has risen and people are out of work. There are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs available. Professional poker players can make a very good living without having another job, but only if they live in a state where poker is legal. In states in which poker is still prohibited, there are numerous underground games, however playing in these carry a risk that a lot of players are not willing to take. These games are also not consistent enough to have your livelihood depend on. However, if poker were legalized in more states, poker players could make their living in poker rooms freeing up more jobs for others. The additional dealers, floor personnel, chip-runners, cocktail servers, and security and surveillance workers required to run the poker rooms would also create new, well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree.
In order to pay these employees and make a small profit, the casino or “house” takes a small percentage of each pot known as the rake. However, even though most poker rooms are located inside of casinos, poker is not gambling, it is instead a form of investing. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, “gamble” means “to play games of chance for money.” All of the games in the casino outside of the poker room such as blackjack, slots, roulette, crap, and three-card poker are all games in which the player plays against the casino for money. In all of these games of chance, the rules or game structure is set up so that the players will lose more often than they will win in the long run. These games yield a low percentage of success on the part of the player and a high percentage of success on the part of the house, thus explaining the abundance of casinos, and can therefore be classified as gambling.
Poker, on the other hand, is based on statistics, strategy, psychology, hand-reading, and people-reading. It is a game of skill in which each player matches skill and wit against the other players in the game. The casino does not win or lose money, only the players of the game can do so. In the long run, the most knowledgeable and skilled players will win the most money, and the less knowledgeable and skilled players will lose their money to the better players. For this reason, the majority of the final table at the World Series of Poker is comprised of the same group of elite poker players each year. These players are not the luckiest players in the game, it is not chance that they do that well each year, they are simply the best in their game. Due to the fact that poker is a game of skill and not chance, poker is not gambling, as other casino games are.
Poker should be regarded as an investment of a person’s financial resources in his or her own skills rather than a gamble taken at a casino. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “invest” as “to put (money) into business, stocks, etc. in order to get a profit.” Poker more closely fits the definition of investment than gambling and is more similar to the stock market than to the roulette wheel, craps table, and slot machines. In the stock market, a person invests money into a company or collections of companies that compete with other companies to make money. If the company does well, the investor profits, and if the company does poorly, the investor will lose money. Poker follows the same concept except that the investor and the company are the same person. Eight to ten people sit at a poker table at any given time, and only some of them can win money while the others lose money. When one person at the table runs out of money, a different player sits down and puts his or her skills to the test in the market of the game. If they are outmatched, they will generally lose, and if they are more skilled than their opponents, in theory they should win money. Overall, those players who read about and study the game to become a skilled player will make a wise investment in themselves and will profit in the long run. Those who foolishly invest in their abilities without proper knowledge of the game will lose money in the long run.
One may argue that poker is gambling because there is a chance you will lose money. It is true that unfortunately, even the best poker players may experience short term losses in a session or series of sessions at a poker table, however, similar short term losses can be experienced in the stock market for even the best companies. The important fact in both the stock market and the poker room is that in the long run the best companies and the best players will show a profit.
Those few people who sit at a poker table with little or no knowledge of the game and try to compete with skilled players are gambling in the same way that a person who chooses to invest in a brand new company hoping its stock will rapidly increase in value so they can sell it for a quick profit are gambling. In either case, the person hopes that luck will prevail and they will make some quick money, but this strategy will not allow them to be successful in the long run in either market. However, those people who play poker on a regular basis are not gamblers, they are investors. They have developed a skill and are putting it to the test against the skills of others. Those who are best at the skill will win in the long run. If one consistently loses, the person must stop investing to further develop their skills to become better before investing any more money in themselves. Poker is not gambling and has little to do with luck. It’s believing that you are better at the game than those you are playing with and making a profit using the advantage you have developed.
Poker is more similar to the stock market than any of the other casino games and should be regulated as such. No state has outlawed investing in the stock market because of the risks incurred, and similarly, states should not have such laws forbidding poker. Poker players should be given the chance to capitalize on their skills without having to take the risk of playing in illegal card rooms. These players have worked hard to develop skills in the complex game of poker and should be rewarded and respected for their abilities.