After I posted a recent article https://www.thedisconnectblog.com/blog/2019/3/6/the-addiction-of-being-a-winning-gambler , I received first a lot of understanding . . . then some backlash (from people who seemed to not read it at all) and also some valid points I wanted to address.
Some people complained that the story-telling parts of the article, which I hoped would be a reconciling revelation, were simultaneously boasting and complaining. I also think it’s slightly more entertaining to read a band-aid tearing, cold shower of denial to our faces with some interesting, even humorous illustration. That being said, a few points I wanted to clear up succinctly:
-I win at poker. I still win at poker. People seemed to think I was complaining that I can’t beat the games any more didn’t even read the entire title. I don’t think this makes me innately superior to anyone else. I just want to make sure the record is set straight.
-I am not trying to tell you what to do. I’m just going to tell you what I see and have done, and you can do whatever you want.
-The rumors about my penis are untrue. In both directions of exaggeration.
People had a few objections that I actually agree with. If you get into poker as a means to an end and need to go back to the well a few times to pay the bills as a necessity, I think it’s a great way to give yourself some freedom to explore your more tangible interests in life. If you play poker to help finance your family, meaning that you want to give your family or children a better life and/or chance to succeed in their dreams, then you’re enhancing society by proxy (although I have a suspicion that someone who is smart enough to beat poker in its current state is smart enough to do something of some actual societal influence to earn money).
So there . . . I said it. I AGREE there are some exceptions. I also agree that, kept in balance, games are valuable in many ways which I related in an article a day after the first one I wrote. https://www.thedisconnectblog.com/blog/2019/3/7/why-poker-is-such-a-great-game-and-it-aint-really-about-the-money
THAT being said, a lot of people mentioned (what I think is) the age-old delusion that poker pros provide entertainment for recreational players (or something like that). First of all they don’t need us pros to play a poker game. Actually, it’s pretty clear that a lot of recreational players would benefit from not having pros play. I don’t find us particularly entertaining. People feigning friendships directly related to the amount of money someone can lose at the table doesn’t really sound like much of an entertainment service to me. Escorts do about the same.
Like I said before, a big problem is that there is no net gain from this transaction unlike almost every other transaction in a capitalist society. I was once told that money is a transferable certificate of “proof that you have helped your fellow man.” Instead of trading corn for oil or livestock for medical service, money is just a symbol for a consensual trade. That’s why it works. Both parties get something they need.
The problem is that for the players who lose the most, it’s most profitable to encourage this degenerative, addictive manner of gambling; to figuratively corner degenerates into situations where a pro can maximize the “recreational” player’s losses.
That’s not what’s going on in poker. Even the most basic concept of “money exchanged in gambling” is a bastardization of its denotative intent. A recreational player is engaging in what he/she thinks is a proposition based on luck, a game he/she thinks can be casual entertainment, easy to start easy to stop. And I don’t doubt for many that’s true. The problem is that for the players who lose the most, it’s most profitable to encourage this degenerative, addictive manner of gambling; to figuratively corner degenerates into situations where a pro can maximize the “recreational” player’s losses.
If you do this you’re peddling a drug. An indulgence that provides momentary entertainment but is self-destructive and ADDICTIVE is a drug addiction. AND I’M FAR FROM INNOCENT. Some of the biggest winning sessions in my life have been versus people that I knew were completely out of control. People who went to the blackjack table to borrow $500K from the casino to bring it back to the poker table drawing stone dead to leave with anything. Sure I convince myself that I’m honest about what I’m doing. I tell people that they have almost no chance to win like this right to their faces. I’ve offered many times to quit until a player was off tilt and resume whenever he wanted. Of course they declined, and I continued to play. So how well-intentioned was I really?
As an example, I’ve seen many players be outspoken about what a vile human Donald Trump is and maybe rightly so, but I have NO DOUBT that many of these same players would befriend him if suddenly he walked into the casino and asked for 100/200 No Limit game.
Sure we convince ourselves that these people are wealthy. That they can’t lose enough to ruin their lives, and sometimes maybe so (but I think you’d be surprised how fast even a “wealthy” person can go through money gambling). It isn’t very fun either to come to the realization that your “friends” in a recurring poker game are pretending to like you or even “give you lessons” only as long as you continue losing in the game. As an example, I’ve seen many players be outspoken about what a vile human Donald Trump is and maybe rightly so, but I have NO DOUBT that many of these same players would befriend him if suddenly he walked into the casino and asked for 100/200 No Limit game. If you can turn a switch on and off like this you’re at least slightly sociopath. I even hear some oblivious pros belittling recreational players behind their backs (or even to their faces) for not playing a hand correctly. I’m reminded of a quote (I can’t remember whose) I saw on twitter that went something like “that guy that you think is a recreational player in poker thinks you’re a recreational player in life.”
So I’ve digressed a little bit, but my point is that the “we provide entertainment” excuse doesn’t really play. If a player is under control, playing for “recreation,” then sure. Ok. Of course they’re supposed to be responsible for their own decisions; but if we start to prey upon people who have an addiction, if we start to offer a product that those people can’t resist that gives them a short period of exhilaration/entertainment, if we start to cloak our intentions like a Trojan horse, we are more conceptually drug dealers than game players. And maybe this is just the nature of things. “They’re going to lose it anyway so it may as well be to me” is an excuse I’ve used many times, but that doesn’t change the concept of the act.