[gen220]

I have a friend who got into poker in the 90s. He did a lot of studying and practicing at home, then took a bus down to Atlantic City to try his luck, goal was to pay for a ticket back.

He ended up making a lot more money than that (more than he’d ever made in a paycheck up to that point!), but half of it was from a guy with more teeth out of his possession than in his possession. Most of his opponents were irrational addicts fighting personal demons.

In the end, he decided gambling wasn’t for him, never went back to Atlantic City.

Zero sum games are really depressing.

[Applejinx]

Specifically, if you're fixing to earn serious money off playing poker, your job is to SEEK OUT irrational addicts fighting personal demons, and personify said demons. You're basically looking to find prey and eat them. The wounded will be less capable of running away from you.

You could lurk outside the door and hit them with a rock or stab them with a knife, but that would be illegal. Functionally you're playing a similar role. You're stalking prey, trying to find the weak and hurt them, possibly until they die, knowing there will be more.

I quite understand why people can get off on this, but I also understand why many healthy humans will be put off by it. It's playing up one aspect of humanity while totally stifling other aspects. Humans are also cooperative, but that's not going to make you money playing poker.

[whoami_nr]

Author here. I agree. We call it bum-hunting and its part and parcel of the game. I stopped live games mainly because I found it depressing to win from a guy who is obviously drunk or has a gambling problem.

[Obscurity4340]

I could never do that. Heck, I'm basically more or less always with a foot in that cesspool, so to speak. I can'timagine the horror at the end of the ride where you're out of house/home and resources and your dopaminergic system's still all fucked.

[whoami_nr]

Yes. Its as you describe it. One of my first coaches and probably the best MTT player in India (Danish Shaikh) quit poker for the exact same reason. He got so good at the game that he pitied the people he won money from. After a point, he just gave up on the game.

[Obscurity4340]

I honestly wish I could Capitalism better but I'm just so bad at seperating out from the fact that its zero-sum and nobodies truly profiting even if there is an uneven distribrution of "winners" and that I might do harm where it might not have otherwise existed, although I sense the naïvety by realizing someone else would literally take your spot. I feel like thesepros are no different than professional addicts as well.

[Obscurity4340]

Its quite the capitalistic mirror, like Monopoly. Is Bridge this bad or is it more an intellectual/collegial forum?