We are the sewers of society

[TwiceShotPhil]

I agree. I agree completely.

Here is the problem: Before I played poker I was dreadfully poor. Now I am immoral and a parasite but I am very happy. I have the kind of girlfriend that would never have even spoken to me in my pre-poker life. I feel like I have been offered the opportunity to sell my soul but I have been given a very good price for it. I feel guilty but I enjoy spending other people's money very very much.

I am never voluntarily returning to poverty. There are things I would rather be than a parasite but I am a "fat and happy" parasite.

In my opinion gambling should be illegal but as long as it is not I will remain a gambler.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
In my opinion gambling should be illegal but as long as it is not I will remain a gambler.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are pathetic.

[sublime]

god i'd hate to be you

if you actually knew me you wouldnt say that [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

i think its sad that you think what somebody does from 9-5 has that much bearing on what kind of person they are.

[eric5148]

[ QUOTE ]
I have the kind of girlfriend that would never have even spoken to me in my pre-poker life.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, you may have low self esteem, but at least you've found true love.

[TwiceShotPhil]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, you may have low self esteem, but at least you've found SEX.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[Gamblor]

[ QUOTE ]
god i'd hate to be you

if you actually knew me you wouldnt say that [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

i think its sad that you think what somebody does from 9-5 has that much bearing on what kind of person they are.

[/ QUOTE ]

when was the last time a professional poker player was up at 9? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

my point was more along the lines of the anti-social mentality that seems to pervade professional poker.

i didn't mean to imply that your job is a be-all and end all of who you are... i find that there's a certain me-first mentality required to arrive at a decision that you take the fishies money for a living.

that's why i wanted to know if a lot of pros make volunteering and charity work part of their lives.

meh?

[sublime]

when was the last time a professional poker player was up at 9?

i was up at 10, today anyways [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

i didn't mean to imply that your job is a be-all and end all of who you are... i find that there's a certain me-first mentality required to arrive at a decision that you take the fishies money for a living.

there is a me-first metality required to be successfull at almost any endevour (sp? i dont care). the admirable thing about most pro poker players is that they are in the top 3-5% at what they do (made up that stat, shocker). the last real job i had was in an office type enviroment, where the majority of the people who worked there were mediocre (at best) at what they did and showed no desire to improve. usually, poker pros are the opposite of that, well me anyways (and most pros i know) constantly striving to improve thier game (insert word job skill there and all of a sudden you have a 'go-getter' in the business world).

that's why i wanted to know if a lot of pros make volunteering and charity work part of their lives.

i would say that the % of pro poker players who donate thier time or money to charitable foundations aligns with the rest of the work force.

i dunno, i rambled a lot and as usual created more typos than a drunk border jumper filling out a job application but my point is......... what you do for work should never define who you are as a person....what you do when nobody is watching, should.

[Shaun]

[ QUOTE ]
yes.

i disagree with the way that our socio-economic structure limits the ability of the poor to ever become not-poor. I dont like that big business essentially runs this country, and i especially dont like conservative christianity. However, after a few years of trying to influence people, ive come to be a bitter, apathetic bastard. Ive found a career path that almost exclusively allows me to either feed on those who engage in activities i disagree with, or really piss off some conservatives.

i dont volunteer. i will do nothing to prop up a system that ultimatly is doomed to failure. I dont really care about nameless faces, and most of the volunteering that is done occurs primarily because of the guilt associated with not being poor, and the narcissistic pleasure of helping the lower classes.

peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome post. I agree totally.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll cross post this cause it's kind of cross-topic.

As poker players, we don't earn our money. A lot of kids don't get to go extra vacations or they get cheap birthday presents because their fathers or mothers gamble away healthy sums of money. We can justify it to ourselves by saying that people choose to put their money on the table, that they can walk away any time, that they would have just lost it at blackjack etc. etc., there's no denying that if every poker player on earth were to die instantly, nothing would really be worse off. Maybe some slight entertainment value, and a few casino employees would be out of business. Truthfully though, casino employees aren't the most specialized in their skills (say, relative to aeronautical engineers) and thus are capable of finding other work in a variety of fields.

We suck money out of the economy and don't really provide anything in return. We take take and take and nobody really benefits from our existence. We are the sewers of the economy.

For some reason, I think of those who derive their sole income from the poker industry. Anyone who fits into this category feel free to respond.

Do you have a job in which you provide some benefit to someone in exchange for your income (engineer, lawyer, busboy, anything, manufacture fake dog [censored], anything)

Do you volunteer in the community?

Is money and comfort the only thing you care about? Does every decision you make first require EV calculations?

What do you do to make someone else's experience this planet better off?

For some reason, I think about a lot of the people on this forum really can't answer this, but I also think there's a good chance I'll be proven wrong.

No QLC links, please.

[/ QUOTE ]

How on earth did you find enough time between banging bitches to try and get all philosophical?

[Gamblor]

I recently started playing poker full time and had a minute in between hands to wrestle with the values I was raised on.