an unpleasant confrontation.

[axioma]

I was at my father's birthday party tonight and one of the guests who i dont remeber ever having met asked me what i was doing for a living now. when i told her i play poker, she reacted pretty negatively to the news.

basically, she first asked me if i thought it was ethical, which was more or less a polite way of her saying SHE thought it was unethical. when i told that i did not think this way in the slightest, the conversation eventually lead to her saying she thought it was "evil". i do not think this was due to a religeous belife, but rather something else.

i gathered that she was some kind of counciler for a living. she did not really give me any rational line of argument to support her beliefs, but rather repeatedly asked "but what about all the people with gambling problems" as if i was somehow to blame, or if not to blame, at least not helping them in any way. i told her more or less that i am not overly sympathetic towards problem gamblers anyway, and that i belive there are people far better deserving of my sympathy.

i then gave her one or two of what i thought were reasonable arguments releasing me of any responsibility towards problem gamblers, and she then resorted to asking me what i thought poker adds to society. rather than try and answer her in that way, rationally and intelligently, and as she was becomeing rather annoying by this point, my defense was more or less along the lines of 'welcome to the real world'.

normally im able to reason well with people like this, but i was taken a bit of gaurd this time.

anyone had simalar confrontations themselves?

[Cerril]

Apathy is pretty much my defense. I don't much care about the people whose money I take, and I don't much care about whether I'm curing or causing society's ills. I pay taxes, I care deeply about the physical wellbeing and happiness of myself, my family, and my friends. If I could say that was all I accomplished in my life, I would be quite content.

[chrisg]

I can only guess that she has had (because she is a councelor) some bad experiences with compulsive gamblers. She is bound to see the bad side of gambling.

Poker is obviously a form of gambling. I guess from her point of view you are making money from gambling, and so are therefore no better than a bookies taking money from people who can't afford to loose it.

Obviously, I don't agree with this view point at all. Gambling is legal - to a degree - in the UK. It is actively encouraged by the government in the form of the National Lottery.

Most games which attract the type of vulnerable person she was probably thinking of would be far more likely to go for 'quick fix' type gambling. Those where for a minimal stake you can win a shed load of cash - i.e the Lottery.

Poker attracts a range of people, but most are not out to make a fast buck. Yes, they want to make money, but most realise it will take a lot of time and patience to do this.

What were your two arguments? Would be interested to know.

[Roy Munson]

Axioma you must be dense. It was obvious that this woman wanted you in the worst way. By the end of the night you should have been knocking the bottom out of her. If you didn't she went home a very sexually frustrated woman.

[TimWillTell]

I have to agree with this woman.
If she was to confront me, I would plee guilty as charged.
If she would ask me why then I still make a living in this immorral way.
I'd say: first, it's the only thing I'm good at,
second, I make jusst about as much money as
the prime-minister of my country.
I'm curieus what she would have to say next.
I know I'll be smiling!

[TimWillTell]

And then I would offcourse be following up on the advice of Roy Munson.

[BZ_Zorro]

Roy hit the spot. She wanted it, bad. Real bad.

And she's right too. Poker (especially online poker) is unethical. And unproductive. And a definite negative for society.

[SNOWBALL138]

Don't tell strangers that you play poker for a living. They'll either say these things, or think them and not say them.

[Blackdirt12]

What comes to mind for me is the arguement about god. I can't convince certain people of the possibility that GOD doesn't exist because they don't need any logical reason to 'know' that GOD does. For what it's worth, I say the over under on her credit card debt is 6,000 pounds.

[sexdrugsmoney]

axioma, I'm suprised you told her the truth, only now do you realize that outside of us here, very few admire the professional gambloor.

In any case, the defence everyone should use for being a professional gambloor are:

Capitalism/Communism

If anyone has the audacity to berate you for choosing to make a "legal" living because they don't think it's ethical, always bring up Karl Marx and Communism and talk about the evils of capitalism and how its the Bourgeois who daily buy and sell peoples lives and souls with no regard for the Proletarian and how you are stuck in the system and everyone who stands by and lets it happen is apathetic and therefore to blame. (Mention governments and Africa too)

They will usually back off instantly as Communism and political ideas are deep concepts and most people who judge you on the surface of things won't have the apt to get into it.

On the off chance one of your McCarthiast rivals mentions the USSR or Cuba point out that Communism was never present in the USSR it was Stalinism under the guise of Communism and that Josef Stalin killed more than 20 million people and was a sociopath and made Hitler look like an amateur, but you never hear about Stalin ... hmm I wonder why?

If Fidel is brought up, you can make more character assasinations about Castro and/or blame the US for some of the atrocities they have committed towards Cuban people in an effort to get to Castro. (Bay of Pigs for example)

Cheers,
SDM