What\'s in a name?
To answer this question properly you need to define what you mean by gambling.
A reasonable definition could be “to participate in a venture where the outcome is uncertain, but could be favourable or adverse.” This could also be defined as taking a risk.
The level of skill involved has little bearing on the risk, only on the balance of risk/reward.
Risk-taking covers a broad spectrum of events including getting out of bed in a morning or placing a bet on a sporting event. It could be argued that because the outcome is not certain, these activities are gambles, irrespective of the probability of an adverse outcome.
Because poker is a game of incomplete information, as in my opinion is investing in stocks, you need to make a calculated assessment of the risk/reward (EV) and decide your actions from this.
IS RISK-TAKING GAMBLING ?
Its not really a worthwhile argument. The only reason to have the argument, as far as I can see, is due to the stigma associated with being a ‘gambler’. If a professional poker player is seeking to persuade someone that what he does for a living isn’t a degenerate activity he could define gambling in whatever way suits this end. He could point out the similarities poker has with other ‘legitimate’ business activities such as investing in stocks or real estate.
Poker needs the element of uncertainty, so that bad players can be persuaded that they are good players. Without this there would be far fewer bad players.
You either take the view that RISK-TAKING is GAMBLING, or you don’t.
What’s in a name?
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