Look Mom/Dad I won 12K

[Pyromaniac]

Hank, I agree & disagree [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I agree that the father is thinking, on some level, about the "contributing something to society" aspect--in other words, perhaps, you know, "Son, why don't you do something respectable?" sort of thing. No doubt that's a big factor here. (Note how his father would feel differently if it were "chess" instead of "poker")

I disagree with that line of thinking, personally, though. I mean, honestly, he's ballparked his father's salary at 600-700k minimum. Could be much more, for all I know. A salary a tenth of that would be a good living for most folks...but would most doctors earning at that level be willing to do the same work for 1/10th the pay? Maybe elsewhere in the world--not in America.

From another angle, that six-figure (plus) salary isn't appearing out of nowhere. Somebody's paying for it, somewhere...it's a supply & demand market. His father makes that money not because he's a doctor and in a respected profession, but because he has skills/experise that few others/none have. Period.

To the OP: here's Daniel Negreanu's take on it, FWIW (no special endorsement...randomly ran across a link at Card Player and realized this was similar to the discussion here):

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_maga...199&m_id=7

[AceHiStation]

Little update...

It seems like my parents completely forgot about my poker playing within 48 hours. The next night I kind of guilt tripped him by not being real quiet at my aunt's party when he was talkiing to me. The word poker hasn't been mentioned since and I'm still playing on a nightly basis. No big cashes since but floating around even for the week.

I just want to say thank you to everyone for reading/sharing with me... and that Negreanu link is an excellent read and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't taken a glance at it yet.

Take care,
-Ace

[ddubois]

[ QUOTE ]
But she doesn't seem to understand why I can win at poker in the long run, since it's gambling.

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Tell her you'll play a game with her. You'll roll a die, and give her a dollar every time it lands on 4, 5, or 6; and she'll give you a dollar every time it lands a 1. Play ten times. Ask her if she would like to keep playing.

[silkyslim]

[ QUOTE ]
you don't need to justify it to anyone, least of all your parents.

[/ QUOTE ]
Are you stewie from family guy?

In life one thing you'll find is plenty of naysayers, some related to you some perfect strangers. If that's enough to stop you from pursuing what you really want, then you don't want it that bad. Nice win, keep playing and improving.

[ThaHero]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But she doesn't seem to understand why I can win at poker in the long run, since it's gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]
Tell her you'll play a game with her. You'll roll a die, and give her a dollar every time it lands on 4, 5, or 6; and she'll give you a dollar every time it lands a 1. Play ten times. Ask her if she would like to keep playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great idea. I'm actually gonna do this! Hope I have enough dollars lol.

[rgschackelford]

That's spot on. I played online for a month and won about $100 playing .25/.50 limit (I'm new. Cut me some slack with the limits!), and my Mom actually confronted me a few days before my first live house tournament, and TOLD me that I had a gambling problem. This really weighed heavy on me, until I won $700 that night. When I spread my newly acquired "wad" of cash on the dining room table that next morning, she was awestruck, and would listen to me telling her how poker was a game of skill, with luck involved.

Several months later, I won another house tournament for $500, and an online freeroll for $120, and told my Dad about it. He refused to believe that there was anything such as "free money", even though I explained that it was apromotion to get people on the site, and to the tables. He's pretty hard-headed, and matters are made worse that most of my Mom's side of the family are your stereotypical 40-something slot-pullers. I swear, if I have to listen to one more story about getting three double 7s on a nickel machine, and winning 4000 (whispers: nickels) I will...calm down, calm down, you're better than that, Rusty. It's just that I have heard so many damned stories about being up $80, then, down $30, then up $10, and then even and cashing out, then putting a $20 in a machine while waiting for others to finish up, and running it up to $40, before losing it all, for a grand total of winning $180. If you found a way to make double 7s come up more often, therefore tilting the odds in your favor, without the casinos knowing, then tell me! Why not just sit there and explain to me the plot of all the old shows you saw on TV Land, earlier that day! Once again, sorry. It's frustrating to have to listen to those cackel-hounds gab on about that crap at family get-togethers. Anyway, my Dad is very hard-headed, and I figure that it will take a big score or two to change his mind (say a couple of consecutive 1k scores or something of the like)..

Anyway, that's my thing.

Rusty G.