Myth of Problem Gambling in America - Preface to my study

[antisocialgrace]

It's not an epidemic, but high stakes gambling is a degenerate pastime with very little social value. It's pretty obvious from recent events that 99% of these guys are just action junkies with few qualms about doing whatever it takes to get an edge. Amarillo Slim is the rule not the exception.

[CardSharpCook]

OP,

I take it you don't know any gamblers....

[antisocialgrace]

I feel like I've seen and heard enough to make a pretty informed judgment. I did say high stakes gambling.

[bones]

[ QUOTE ]
I feel like I've seen and heard enough to make a pretty informed judgment. I did say high stakes gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, reading NVG pretty much qualifies anyone as an expert in the poker/gambling community

[antisocialgrace]

I'd be very interested in hearing what community service (sans BG's charitable contributions) any of these high stakes players have ever provided other than boinking the occasional cocktail waitress.

[disjunction]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd be very interested in hearing what community service (sans BG's charitable contributions) any of these high stakes players have ever provided other than boinking the occasional cocktail waitress.

[/ QUOTE ]

They inhabit a nexus of the modern community. They spread gossip and news from the rich to the poor and back, which is thought to be good for the community. They provide an outlet for men to compete and raise their testosterone levels without violence.

The first lecture I ever attended in college was by an Italian cosmologist, delivered in a heavy accent. The theme of his talk was "What use is cosmology?" What conceivable value is there in knowing what took place billions of years ago? This is the question that the government keeps asking before they pay him.

His answer: "I don't know. Get off my back".

[458 Lott]

Actually, I like being a sinner. Maybe that is why gambling has always been there for me. I like women capable of wild sex and fast cars and big firearms and all the drama that goes with it. Sometimes it's an adventure just to get broke.

[BarryLyndon]

OP signed up on 2+2 in an attempt to be clever. He wrote a critique that uses a one-sided argument to criticize one-sidedness. He then edited the article for spelling and grammatical errors. OP was next found playing .25/.50NL, where the 4 buy-ins he won a week before was lost on bad beats and a failed semi-bluff with the K high flush draw.

Somewhere 204 miles away from OP, a conservative policitian is getting a blow job in his hotel room while his 23 year old Yale Grad speech writer is drafting something up about how gambling is bad. And some gambler is not receiving a blow job at the moment, but is tipping a cocktail waitress large in the hope for one.

[DLizzle]

i don't anything about writing but it seems like a pretty good intro

[Peter McDermott]

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i don't anything about writing but it seems like a pretty good intro

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd be interested to read some of the citations on gambling dependence as moral panic though. Assuming, of course, that the OP has actually done his research before reaching his conclusion.