We need a new word for "gambling"

[ChuckyB]

It's in the mail. Amazon should have it here on Wednesday.

[ChuckyB]

Hey, if the Inuit people can have a dozen or so words that mean "snow"...then we can have another word for gambling.

A dozen for "snow"...that's marrow baby.

[ChuckyB]

My organs are more ovoid than spherical

[bdypdx]

Last week, when I held KK preflop, I gambled with a raise. Flop came xx7, and again, I gambled with a bet. Turn was nothing to worry about, so I gambled and bet. River was a 7 and once again, I gambled with a bet and got raised, so I called...

Turns out that a guy with T7o was gambling as well...and he hit trips on the river....

...that's gambling...

[Carl_William]

Dear ChuckyB,

(I have read most of the replies to your post, and without reading them all, I'll express my thoughts.) I understand your point or feelings about poker being labeled as gambling. I feel what you were really trying to express was: "We need a new word for describing what people are doing when they play poker for real money." My answer is....

Over the long pull; those that win money are winners, and the rest are losers of money. This a tautological definition (true by its form alone), but it would serve your purpose with respect to your friend. The problem is that most people don't think or feel the way you, me, and many others "hopefully apparently winning poker players" think. For example, years ago I worked with a bible belt christian who felt that all gambling for money (or whatever) was evil and that poker was gambling. The guy will always consider poker an evil act of gambling -- he will never change. The funny thing was that this same gentleman felt that it was OK to play the stock market even though there is an element of chance while trying to make money in the market (and I understand his feelings).

ChuckyB, I appreciate the various replies to you post -- mostly because the replies express the various ways people think about the nature of poker. I guess labeling poker as gambling is the concise and easy way to describe what we are doing when we play poker....

[NYplayer]

Investing is a good example. #1, your retirement money may not be as safe as you think it is. #2, poker is gambling the way your gf thinks of it for 90% of the people who play. investing is gambling for a large # of investors also. they are essentially the same thing. a good poker play is just a wise investor.

[diebitter]

Gaming
Playing
disporting
fluttering
larking
Gamboling

Maybe that last one wouldn't work so well.

[Jimbo]

[ QUOTE ]
ChuckyB, I appreciate the various replies to you post -- mostly because the replies express the various ways people think about the nature of poker. I guess labeling poker as gambling is the concise and easy way to describe what we are doing when we play poker....


[/ QUOTE ]

Carl,

It has nothing at all to do with how people think, it has everything to do with the actual definition of the word gambling. If you do not understand that you are in fact gambling when you play poker you are simply fooling yourself.

[soko]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Gambling is simply putting money on an event or series of events where the outcome is not guaranteed. It should be an umbrella term to cover +EV and -EV.

[/ QUOTE ]

So is "investing". My retirement account is essentially gambled money. I could lose it all (say if a plane hits a building or an electricity company decides to lie to the world a million times.) But it doesn't really fit in the same category as craps.

At the same time I would say me if Phil Ivey were to play me heads up for $100K, his money would be about as safe as mine is in my retirement account. So that's not really gambling.

We need a new word to describe these +EV situations.

[/ QUOTE ]

You make a interesting point and I understand where you are coming from. The nature of gambling comes from not only chance but the fact that money is wagered and one person wins and one person loses. Investing in stocks is win-win or lose-lose depending on how well the company is doing. while gambling is win-lose, one wins one loses and there are odds that determine your expected return.

Also, are you saying it's impossible for you to go all in preflop with KK while phil ivy has AA and you draw out on him, you wouldn't consider this possiblity as gambling? although unlikely, it would be possible for this to happen 10 times in a row, but this isn't gambling?

Simply put, gambling is a game of chance.

[sammy_g]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, if the Inuit people can have a dozen or so words that mean "snow"...then we can have another word for gambling.

A dozen for "snow"...that's marrow baby.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, but this thread is mostly about replacing "gambling" with a less precise word like "gaming."

I don't know about you, but I want my opponents to approach the game with a gambling attitude, thinking it's mostly just luck.

Call a spade a spade. Poker is gambling.