Ability to Predict a Players Skill based on Intelligence.

[sherbert]

I was wondering if this would provoke any reaction. Does it say more about me? If you say so. Since you don't know me, I suspect that's a bit presumptuous, but still...

This is just my take, but after years of playing in casinos, I think that a lot of poker players - not necessarily just good ones, will take some vindictive pleasure in the discomfort experienced by the loser.

Don't forget - sadism is to a greater or lesser extent, a part of human nature. We are a very destructive species with very destructive tendencies. There is absolutely NO reason to suppose these tendencies are less likely to surface at the poker table than they do anywhere else; quite the reverse. However poker is a pursuit where they surface a lot more than say, crochet, to pick an absurd example. Sit down in a big game and watch the amount of needle that goes on.

You say the losers can hardly feel it is cruel that they are losing... well, who knows. Nor is it, per se, as you point out, thereby cruel to win. That doesn't negate the fact that poker may well bring out what could be called sadistic traits in some players. The descriptions of Johnny Moss certainly tally with a somewhat sadistic take at the table - or emotionally indifferent.

Or read a few of limon's posts. The mentality of a lot of winning players is of how to best exploit the weaker players. It's certainly not a life is lovely kind of mentality. I'm not making a value judgement here - I'm just reflecting on what I see with my own eyes. The notion of emotional indifference was I thought a good one; I just thought an extension or subset of that would be a sometimes or somewhat saidistic pleasure in the suffering of others. Let's face it - all winning players rely on people losing money. I don't think many of the losers particularly enjoy the experience - which raises a separate (to this thread) question, of why on earth they continue in this vein. It's always been a mystery to me. Masochism? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]