Several Hotshots Supposedly Broke Or In Debt

[MrMore]

As the guy not unfairly labeled Knishy in this thread, let me say that there's a middle ground here: Get what YOU want from this game. I want a comfortable life with lots of free time. I get that. But I don't have any enmity for the hot shots. They don't cost me anything, and they popularize the game and bring me new live ones. I agree that most of them are just decent players on a long hot run, or people who have parlayed a hot run into saleable fame, but so what? Whining about these guys is like whining about opponents going runner-runner on you. It's their money/life. It might only be -EV if you assume going busto has no odd +EV aspect to it stemming from the satisfaction of having at least TRIED to make the big time.

I save my disdain for Annie Duke (who has money only because she married/divorced a rich guy, and I don't believe is a winning player) and Jen Harman (who inherited millions, though seems to be decent, not great). And I say they aren't particularly good players because of their unprofessional reactions to bad beats, having their bluffs called, etc. Good players--by definition players who understand the game--don't react the way I see these two reacting. A true pro, getting slowrolled, doesn't even blink. It's a great sign that someone's NOT a great player (and we only have signs to go on, because we don't have play audits) if they have to take a walk after taking a bad beat/slow roll (Harman) or berate an opponent for busting their bluff with an AK call (Duke). These two will never go busto, but they don't deserve the respect they get. But still, so what? The world says they're better players than me, and I don't think they are, but what difference does it make? I think Sklansky is motivated in this post by irritation at having his poker inferiors lauded. The "world" thinks the famous players are better than him, too.

If there's a real problem worth mentioning, it's the shallowness of the prize the young gun gamblers are shooting for. I think fame and fortune are truly pathetic goals. But that's a personal view, not fairly applied to anyone else's EV calcs.