A crazy holiday poker story and an ethical question (low content)

[TheMainEvent]

Any professional poker player who attempts to justify the morality of living off the suffering of others probably thinks along these lines:

When money enters the casino gambling world, that is when cash is exchanged for casino chips and wagered, it becomes a entity separate from personal assets. As long as it remains in play, it is not yours or anyone else's, it is merely a subject of the game. The only forces that can act on wagered money are the rules of the game and the luck of the draw. Because of the inequity of variance and the ability to manipulate the odds with betting, these forces are not equal for everyone, but they are fair.

So when everyone buys in at the table, they are implicitly agreeing to subject their money to this system, accepting whatever consequences may come. Nothing that happens within the game, inside the gambling forum is "wrong", no matter how unfair it may seem, or how much it seems to favor one person over another. If any wrong was done, it was in putting money at risk to begin with.

I don't know how many people agree with that, but if you do, I don't think you can in good conscience accept a "refund" after a bad beat. For the same reason that I won't take blame or responsibility for outdrawing someone, I won't look for sympathy or repayment after being bad beat myself.

You could say "hey, it's $1200, whatever reason he has for giving it to me is none of my business." but I think that is a copout. Let's say it's a live game, and you are both regulars. After you accept his "gift", could you look him in the eye next time you break him with a 2-outer, knowing full well that you aren't going to reciprocate his generosity?

For the sake of consistancy, I don't think you should keep this money.