The Seductive Brutalities of Poker

That is the subtitle of a review of Andy Bellin's "Poker Nation" in the March 18 edition of The New Yorker. Thought that the following might offer some explanation for the abusive behavior that has been the subject of a few threads here lately:


"Bellin fits the profile of the gambler as a talented person who is nonetheless unsuccessful, smart yet unable to fit into the conventional workaday world. The gambling life allows such a person to feel that he is outside the system, and incorporates a number of masculine ideals not often met in ordinary life. The notion of being beholden to no one--boss, family, lover--is vastly appealing, and gambling for a living implies fearlessness and an absence of pettiness."


Unsuccessful, smart, unable to fit, outside the system, beholden to no one, fearlessness. Sounds like a card thrower to me.