What I Love Most About Poker

Having someone cap with bottom boat on a double paired board. Heaven.

[AlanBostick]

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Poker is such a joy to play. In real life, lazy ignorant people get paid to sit on their asses while others do their work for them. In today's America, the whiners, complainers and professional victims are coddled.

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How is "real life" different from poker? Lazy, ignorant people sit on their asses and play cards, taking money from others who work hard to earn it. Whiners, complainers and professional victims abound at the poker table, and they get plied with free drinks and buffet comps.

It isn't that poker is more pure capitalism than any other form; I think you like poker because here in poker you get to be the capitalist rather than the proletarian.

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How is "real life" different from poker? Lazy, ignorant people sit on their asses and play cards, taking money from others who work hard to earn it. Whiners, complainers and professional victims abound at the poker table, and they get plied with free drinks and buffet comps.


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Not sure I follow you here. Are you saying that consistent winners at poker are lazy and ignorant? I disagree, at least as it relates to the game. The people who are earning money at this are the one's who've put in the time and effort.

Also, I disagree that they are "taking money from others who have worked hard to earn it." Maybe they worked hard and maybe they didn't, but no one is "taking" their money. They are choosing to give it away by sitting down and playing.

And free comps aren't going to make up for some bum's losses.

I guess what I was saying originally is that no one at a poker table has a manufactured advantage over the next person. Connections at the local country club won't help you win. Threatening to sue someone won't help you win. Sucking up to the boss won't help you win. It all boils down to your skill, work ethic, and discipline. I find that very appealing.

I love walking out of the cardroom after a session with a big wad of ca$h knowing that the hundreds of hours of reading, thinking and hard work towards poker has paid off again like usual...

I love overhearing somebody who thinks they are good giving out bad advice with a smug look on their face because they think they are great players.

[AlanBostick]

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Not sure I follow you here. Are you saying that consistent winners at poker are lazy and ignorant? I disagree, at least as it relates to the game. The people who are earning money at this are the one's who've put in the time and effort.

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Just about the best book ever written about Gardena-style draw poker is John Fox's Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon!. I think Fox was onto something when he picked his title.

As far as ignorance goes, I'm not going to point any fingers, but it does strike me a little odd that in your original post you savagely denounce people who do nothing and get rewarded for it in one paragraph and celebrate capitalism in the next. Do you not know what a rentier is?


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Also, I disagree that they are "taking money from others who have worked hard to earn it." Maybe they worked hard and maybe they didn't, but no one is "taking" their money. They are choosing to give it away by sitting down and playing.

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When I go out in a boat with a rod and reel, those fish are choosing to try to swallow that bright shiny lure that trolls by.

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I guess what I was saying originally is that no one at a poker table has a manufactured advantage over the next person. Connections at the local country club won't help you win. Threatening to sue someone won't help you win. Sucking up to the boss won't help you win. It all boils down to your skill, work ethic, and discipline. I find that very appealing.

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Poker work ethic! That's a laugh and a half.

It sure sounded to me that what you were saying originally was that you like poker because you get to punish the suckers.

[Subfallen]

Poker is mostly luck.

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It sure sounded to me that what you were saying originally was that you like poker because you get to punish the suckers.

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Well, yeah. To me suckers are people who are undisciplined, over emotional, and put their money at risk without having an edge.

Two sides of the same coin. I like that my own hard work and knowledge pays off. I also like that lazy complainers who are just hoping to get lucky get punished.

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As far as ignorance goes, I'm not going to point any fingers, but it does strike me a little odd that in your original post you savagely denounce people who do nothing and get rewarded for it in one paragraph and celebrate capitalism in the next. Do you not know what a rentier is?

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Yes, you socialists have it all figured out, don't you? Everyone who is better off than you was lucky or priviledged. What a victim.

[winky51]

I love poker because...

Its a mentally challenging game, and I love games.
I make money when I win.
I have made over $10,000 so far in my last 2 years part time.
It rewards me for good play.
I get to use my people skills.
and...

Ok screw all that. I LOVE THE MONEY!!!

There I said it, MMM OOO NNN EEE YYY !!!!

Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money. Gimme your god damn money you fish. Fill my pockets with gold as I evilly laugh at your stupidity while I collect the pot with just a smile and friendly chatter. Let me walk out of the casino with my pocket filled with treasures like a little kid with a pocket full of toy cars.

Damn I love poker.

In actuallity Barry Greenstein is my hero. I hope I get good enough to do what he does one day. Gotta win a couple tournaments for me 1st though.

to play along, what I love most IN the game: flopping two pair, filling up on
the turn, with four to a flush on the board.

What I love most about the game:

I've actually been talking to my father about this a lot lately (he's 74 y.o. retired doctor, been playing in home games for his whole life, stud hi/lo
regular with a declare. . .).

I think that many of you have hit on some of the most appealing aspects of the game:

Ego: it is very fulfilling and confidence building to sit down at the poker table and walk away a winner. I know that that seems like the most obvious thing in the world, but I don't think most players realize quite how much this plays into their enjoyment of the game, or of a winning session.
I believe that the more one plays with absolute strangers the more this is true: that is to say, that when one sits down to play with their friends in a home game, there is much less satisfaction to walking away up a great deal (not that much less i guess, but it is much less of an outright ego stroke.)

The process of walking into a card room, putting your name on the list, assessing the competition, sitting down, and building a wining session is an enormous challenge that provides a great satisfaction when completed.

There is simply no other activity I have ever participated in which provides me with more confidence than knowing that I can outplay a full ring game for a couple big bets an hour at any given time (variance notwithstanding).

But, that all being said, I agree with winky51 above me: it's all about the money.

When Tiger wins the masters he's not jumping up and yelling "pass the sugga!", they don't fill the stanley cup with cash, after winning the super bowl apparently they all go to disneyland rather than the bank. But for all of these major sporting events the payoff is the real reason anyone really plays (give me that love of the game [censored] some other day). Poker is the only place where the money is quite simply out on the table. I'd love to see 10 million in cash at the fifty yard line of the super bowl, or behind home plate at the world series, but really we're supposed to believe that these guys are playing their hearts out just for the ring? I'm not buying it. For the 40 million in endorsements maybe, but not just the ring.

I just like how straightforward poker is. Put the money on the table. If I can
walk away with more money than you, then i beat you. Fair and square.

[AlanBostick]

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As far as ignorance goes, I'm not going to point any fingers, but it does strike me a little odd that in your original post you savagely denounce people who do nothing and get rewarded for it in one paragraph and celebrate capitalism in the next. Do you not know what a rentier is?

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Yes, you socialists have it all figured out, don't you? Everyone who is better off than you was lucky or priviledged. What a victim.

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Because this is the Psychology forum, let me introduce a psychological concept: "Projection."

Let's see now ... you start thread with a post whining about how lazy ignorant people sit on their asses and get things they don't deserve, and follow it up with a complaint about country-club cronyism ... and you are calling me a victim?

BUAHAHAHAHAHA!