Why do people LOVE poker?

[Fatdogs12]

I am curious how many people here would say that they LOVE poker? Like if you could (or do) play poker 12 hours a day 7 days a week would you (do you) want to?

Other than the money why? Is the the challenge of it? What is so interesting about it to you? Try to be as indepth as possible.

Thanks

[LINES]

I love poker for poker itself. Sure, the money that it brings me is great as well. But, the love of it outweights money 100 to 1. The majority of my day is spent at the .50/1 games, being able to call people on their cards, playing the same cards differently every hand, the math involved... everything, i love it.

Before this, i used to player Counter-Strike at a competitive level. But, i got sick of that game because the amount of cheating that new players brought along with it, was simply terribly. Skill was no longer required. And LAN events were becoming pathetic, as sponsors would do whatever they wanted to you.

I met poker, and i love it. Everything about it.

Basically, the challenge where no two hands are played the same way, the math, the power that the human mind has to go through just to understand a few hands or to put players on a hand. Money is last on my list for love of poker.

I hope that helped... Ask anything you want

[Shakezula]

mathematics, the involvement with other people, the responsibility for one's own actions, the excitement and rush that can be felt, the competition against others, the imagination that is necessary in no-limit games, and the art of deception. all these, and the secret and private pleasure one gets when winning a hand on a bluff...

[Fatdogs12]

That was interesting... Could you be more specific about what events get you exicted to play, what thoughts, what motivates you in the morning. When you have to throw away so many hands what propells you to sit there?

What about reading hands do you think? Are you good at it? I would think if someone was not really accurate they would not like that aspect of it. If you are good was there a time you were not good at it or was it natural. If there was a time you weren't good what was your view towards hand reading then?

I appreciate it a lot, thanks.

[Johnny Richter]

In regards to reading hands, I feel that you just develop your own script to run through in your head and over time and expierience, using the same script repeatedly, it becomes easier and easier to put people on a range of hands.

[Shakezula]

being a people-person, i love to watch or study others. in poker, much time is afforded towards this endeavor. i love to watch someone charge into a pot, and then see how he reacts. i like to watch others go through the same sweet agony of waiting for a hand that i go through. learning to have patience is sometimes enough of a challenge.

there are moods that a person has. sometimes one wants to watch movies, and all else is ignored. sometimes reading is the mood for the week. sometimes it is all about playing silly games. the drive to play poker comes because poker is fun. challenging. rewarding. but fun. fun. to have fun. to experience joy. to have the feeling of joy and to seek it out, even if it means having to wait, or to suffer losing streaks.

like a child with a toy, we play and play, because it is OUR toy, our own personal toy. poker depends on one's own personal actions, and like a toy it can be abandoned and returned to when the playful mood comes again. and just like a child, we can go to school, study all the wonderful literature that is available. the game is so complicated yet simple and the learning never ends. for someone who likes to learn and have fun, poker satisfies.

[jzpiano14]

Personally I like poker because it is a war, the table is our battleground. You have to out think your opposition to win. It is a pyschological battle. Sun-Tzu said "Opportunities multiply as they are seized." If you can put your opponent on tilt you have just created an oppurtunity for yourself and will be able to profit from this. I used to play chess and loved it, there wasn't as much money with that. So part of it for me is the fighting/battle aspect another is the money. Money always helps [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[iNsChris]

I love giving myself high blood pressure lol.

I enjoy the game, I enjoy reading players(Specially when sucessfull).

I ... In a strange way enjoy being on the edge of my chair.

Money is a bonus sure, but 0.05/.10 arnt going to bring in millions. Maybe pay phone bill [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Fatdogs12]

Really what gets me curious about this is how some people just have such a drive to do this stuff. Me I would rather play poker or chess for an hour or two and then watch a movie. Some people though want to play it every minute of thier concious life (not literally but you get the idea). It's like that in every endevor. Bill Gates is a Billionaire so many times over because (among other things) he loved what he did so much. I mean he dropped out of Harvard to work 24 hours straight at a time programming... It's interesting to me how people can be so motivated towards something especially so when the reward for them is in the doing and not nessasarily in the reward!

[vabogee]

I'd have to say it's the money. Yeah...it's the money.