Why I play poker

[Nick_Foxx]

why try to legitimize it?

poker is, at the end of the day, like any other form of gambling

it's an activity for degenerates

to attempt to find any socially redeeming quality in a degenerate activity is ridiculous

now if you personally have a problem with participating in a degenerate activity, then you should either stop or you should take a look at yourself in the mirror

mike

[Bodhi]

What do you mean by "degenerate" exactly? Its common use seems so relative to social in/out groups that it boils down to "what you do is lame or stupid, and what I do is respectable."

Anyway, the stock market is a form of gambling. All sorts of financial activities, poker included, have a gambling character. Let me go out on a limb here and guess that you don't think people who work on Wall Street are degenerates, do you?

Anyway, I think what you said is as bad as when a graduate student who uses the word "academic" pejoratively. It's bad for Poker, shows a lack of self-esteem and a cow-towing attitude towards herd-values. Although I do have a full time job and a B.A. from UC Berkeley (that's supposed to be respectable, right?), I would be a professional gambler tomorrow if I had the skill and knowledge to do so. It would give me the freedom to go on "degenerate" vacations when I please, read the "degenerate" books I love at my leisure, and afford me the capital to buy "degenerate" property where ever I please.

[Nick_Foxx]

obviously u misinterpreted the tenor of my post

i am using "degenerate" in a positive way

i am proud to be 1... my point is that everyone who plays poker seriously should be proud to be 1 too...

mike

[Bodhi]

I am very familiar with arguments like the one you give: "If they're going to call us such-and-such and we like it too much to stop, then fine, we accept their label, big deal, etc." [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I'm curious. If you say legitimizing degenerate activity is ridiculous, then how do you use the word "degenerate" in a positive way? I feel you're giving up way too much to the masses who are lazy in their opinions or puritanical in judgement.

[PennDenn]

It is just a great hobby.
A fellow worker got on my case about playing on line and how he would never risk his money like that.
Ofcourse he wanted to go out on his 32' boat that weekend but he had to work overtime to pay not only the payments but to fill that big sucker with gas.

[revots33]

I think it follows that if you enjoy competition you would probably enjoy poker. It has just the right mix of agression, defense, psychology, strategy, and luck to keep it interesting. I like playing to test myself and to try and beat the competition. I play for such low stakes that it is strictly a hobby - the amounts won or lost are pretty inconsequential and are secondary to the enjoyment I get from the game and the competition.

The reason poker is frowned on is because of the money aspect. Money is how you keep score in poker, just like points or goals or whatever in other competitive games. Some people just can't accept this fact, they equate any game where money is at stake as a degenerate form of gambling, on a par with a back-alley craps game or 3-card monte. What people don't understand is that, in poker, money must change hands for the competition to really mean something. It's the whole point. Anyone who's ever played poker for "funsies" knows that there are a lot more enjoyable ways to pass the time. Adding real stakes to the equation hightens the competition and makes the game fun.

For me it's an enjoyable pastime. I like the challenge, how every hand brings a different set of possibilities. I don't intend to get rich or quit my day job - but to me it's fun. If people can't accept that, it's really not my problem.

[Boltsfan1992]

Hiya -

My friends and family know that I play poker and know that I'm pretty serious about it. One of my friends, whose future wife doesn't understand, is still pretty envious my wife supports me in this game.

My parents know and they are starting to watch poker on television. They enjoy it, it looks like fun, but they won't play because they are not risk takers by nature. However, my mother will buy lottery tickets in the hopes to hit the big one...my grandfather did the same thing...if she had ever complained, I would have taught her the philosphy of the "sucker bet".

I don't look at myself as a degenerate, in fact, I can't control what others think of me so I don't concern myself with it. I know that I'm not a degenerate gambler - I have a respectable job along with friends and family, so if a stranger at a book store notices me looking at a new poker book (published by 2+2 HA! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]) and frowns or says anything...I ignore them. In fact, the words degenerate gambler only have power if I allow them to have power.

Now if you you think you are a worse person playing this game, and you don't have the issues surrounding people with a gambling problem...well...stop thinking that way! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

This is getting too long but here is a story that happened to me this summer...

I was talking with my friends about my poker exploits, and a new person, very conservative, was part of the conversation. He said, "How can you do that?!? It's gambling!"

I replied, "Poker is a lot like life. You can't control the events that occur in your life as you can't control the cards you are dealt. You have to make decisions with the random events in your life based on the information, complete or not, that you have. Betting on hands in poker is very much the same thing. If you are too careful with the situations in life, you can miss out on a lot of what life has to offer. Poker really is a reflection of that. There is a reason that so many people play it. Continue to judge me if you'd like - but I don't care what you think."

Um...he shut up...he didn't know what to say after that... It was the first and last time I spoke with him. The other people who knew me better that were part of the conversation wondered if I could teach them how to play...

/storytime