[einbert]

I think that deeply, you (like me) have a problem with men. Men tend to be less empathic, more competitive, and more obnoxious than women. Poker simply brings out the worst in most men. The tension of money being on the line plus the everpresent need to make oneself appear superior to everyone else causes them to go to extremes. It's not pleasant at all, and it reeks of an individualistic philosophy gone so far that these people no longer even resemble humans who are capable of love and compassion. That's why if you find me playing poker, you'll find me behind my monitor rather than at a casino. I can get my x hands per hour, analyze my game and the games of my opponents, and I don't have to listen to and put up with all the crap that goes on in a live game. Sure there is still some berating, coaching, being generally obnoxious and just rudeness, but it is a lot easier to tolerate a stream of text than a stream of loud, rude voices of people embodying a really disgusting form of narcissism.