Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

All a sociopath is is someone who has a complete disregard for social mores, though dictionaries tend to lean towards calling it someone with social problems.

A sociopath would be a like a Hannibal Lecter. Someone who has their own ideas of right and wrong, and has a distaste for society's.

To a certain degree we're all sociopaths... as I would hope that people have their own ideas of what is OK or not. To copy others' opinions is probably worse than to have "bad" ones of your own. Don't feel bad.

~Duke

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

The real question, then, is whose money is it OK to take, and to what extent?

Is it 'better' to take someone's money over many years and break them slowly, instead of take a grand from a moron in a 4-8 game in one night, and then scare them away form the table forever? That's probably better for that guy than losing everything over the course of a year.

Is it even OK to take money from an inferior player who is sober? Do they have to be drunk, or is tilt enough to get someone to intervene?

You're citing a fact about the very nature of these games. Whether he's drunk or not he's worse than you at the game. Is it only OK to beat superior players out of money when they're card dead? How can you make a living doing that?

I don't see a moral dilemma in this. Take the money. By putting his money up and sitting down, he bought the right to be respected as if he were any other player. Therefore, I give him that respect. I try to break him the same as I try to break a sober dude who's just a bit worse than me.

Nobody ever gave me money back after I lost to them, or stopped me from putting another grand into a 15-30 game when I wasn't mentally capable of playing at even 50 percent.

Am I supposed to feel bad about it? [censored] that. [censored] him; [censored] everybody who looks down on me for saying so. I'll change my tune when someone writes me a check for every cent that I've tilted away over the years. Without tilt I'd be retiring by now.

~Duke

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

it can be sad, but mercy and sympathy don't mix well with poker.

"there's no crying in baseball."

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

I'm with the klingon. I have no sympathy for this behavior and will take their last penny if they sit at my table.
and I volunteer at a local soup kitchen, so I don't want to hear anything about being a heartless bastard.


I don't consider even worm to be a sociopath. I actually admire his character

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

I wouldn't say he had a "distaste" for society, in fact I think he thought they tasted quite good.

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

More valuable than any amount of money is time. Since we only have a limited time on this earth, wasting time is far worse than wasting money, in the eyes of most people.

Many people look at poker players when they walk into a casino and think how sick and pathetic they are for wasting time, and wasting their lives. Whether or not they are winners or losers they make a value judgement about it. I feel they are wrong.

In the end, each individual makes their own choices and lives their own consequences, both good and bad. That is what life is about. You can't make value judgements about someone else, certainly not someone as far removed as an unknown player on the internet, any more than I should be able to make value judgements about you.

If this keeps up, I suggest a good therapist would be a wise investment, to help you come to terms with your own issues.

What was there name?
 

I'd like to play with them.

Re: What was there name?
 

This is a fascinating thread, and it relates directly to another recent one on conscience. The critical question is whether we should take advantage of weakness when that weakness is clearly pathological.

If we can't take advantage of weakness, we should play Old Maid, not poker. Poker is a predatory game, and all predators select vulnerable prey.

But what if they are especially vulnerable because they are drunk or mentally ill? Do we players have a responsibility to protect them? Does a casino?

Let's take the casino's responsibility first. A lawsuit has been filed recently by a pathological gambler demanding reimbursement for all his losses plus damages for emotional suffering, etc. Similar suits have been filed in the past, and I don't know how they have been decided. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate a report or a reference to a publication with information.

This lawsuit is potentially as devastating to casinos as the tobacco suits were to that industry. If the courts decide that casinos have a responsibility to protect people from their own weaknesses, it could have a massive impact. Lots os people will be watching this lawsuit as it works its away through the courts.

Do we, as players, have a similar responsibility? I'll talk only for myself. If a friend is drunk and throwing away money, I'll do whatever I can to get him out of the game. Ditto if a friend is severely on tilt.

If a stranger or even someone I know, but have no relationship with outside of poker is drunk or on tilt, I'll enjoy taking his money.

I must make one last comment. The word "sociopath" was used in an earlier post. I believe that name-calling is inappropriate and inconsistent with the norms of this forum. One reason so many of us come here and avoid RGP is that we're more civilized. Let's disagree without being disagreeable.

Regards,

Al

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

I won't. I've been called worse [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Self Destructive Players Online
 

Worm's tragic flaw is that he doesn't understand how to push the envelope until it is just short of the breaking point. He always pushes it until it breaks.