religion and poker
 

Sorry if SMP atheists have scared off too many theists. I'd like to ask a question to people who genuinely believe in a personal god.

Do you believe that your relationship with god improves your poker results, either through good luck or through giving you better peace of mind and allowing you to make better decisions? If so, do you believe that theists have an edge over atheists in gambling situations?

Re: religion and poker
 

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Sorry if SMP atheists have scared off too many theists. I'd like to ask a question to people who genuinely believe in a personal god.

Do you believe that your relationship with god improves your poker results, either through good luck or through giving you better peace of mind and allowing you to make better decisions? If so, do you believe that theists have an edge over atheists in gambling situations?

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I dont play much poker anymore but, when I do, my relationship with god helps me in the "peace of mind" way (not especially with regard to poker but as a general thing).

I dont think it's any edge since it's just how I do it - there's plenty of other ways to avoid getting emotional over short term setbacks to long term plans.

Re: religion and poker
 

Theists definitely hit more than their share of flush draws. That's a fact. The peace of mind of course, follows from there.

Re: religion and poker
 

I dont know if it's necessary to add (perhaps it is, given Lestat's reply) that I dont believe in intercessionary prayer, so I dont think believing in God means I'm going to be luckier.

I think my faith helps me remain calm and confident when I am unlucky and not get carried away about how brilliant I am when I'm lucky.

Re: religion and poker
 

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Do you believe that your relationship with god improves your poker results,

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God gave me (you) David Sklansky. How could that do anything else than improve ones results?

pokervintage

Re: religion and poker
 

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Do you believe that your relationship with god improves your poker results, either through good luck or through giving you better peace of mind and allowing you to make better decisions?

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Strange. I would expect atheists to be more at peace with themselves, the same way we see zen practitioners. They're not facing a final test for all the marbles. They aren't faced with having to figure out 'what is right' and then "what would god think is right' and justifying what seems wrong. Those type of issues.
I don't think there is any way to test it in a meaningful way. Interesting.

luckyme

Re: religion and poker
 

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Theists definitely hit more than their share of flush draws. That's a fact. The peace of mind of course, follows from there.

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probably chased more than their fair share too though

Re: religion and poker
 

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If so, do you believe that theists have an edge over atheists in gambling situations?

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Yes, of course theists do. Random events are much more apt to go in the theists favor, obv.

As a theist, this forum makes my head spin. I've never in my life seen so many who know so very very little about how most people believe in a god.

Sklansky seems to think being a theist should be an automatic 100 point deduction in the IQ of Presidential candidates, OP seems to believe that theists can't do simple statistics and comprehend game theory.

Wow.. I need to lay down.

Re: religion and poker
 

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probably chased more than their fair share too though

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Wow. LOL, I gotta take a nap after reading that.

You know, I've heard black people chase more than their fair share too.

If you're offended by that, please stop for about 15 seconds and think, then post your kneejerk reaction.

Re: religion and poker
 

I will bet anything that a significant percentage of poker players believes that they can influence their luck by praying, wishing, etc. or that believe that they can in some way predict future cards. Obviously, this includes a lot of theists who pray to god and things like that.

Re: religion and poker
 

true, however, religion and superstition are two different things. I know of three friends of mine who are atheists, all three of whom become the most superstitious people you've ever been around upon entry to a casino.

Re: religion and poker
 

*I think religions and superstitions are pretty much on equal footing. To an atheist like myself, it's not that far a leap from believing in gods to believing in astrology, bio-rhythms, and lucky seats, etc.

*Atheists who have thought about why they are atheists are much less likely to be superstitious. However, no one said there aren't non-thinking atheists in the world too.

Re: religion and poker
 

<font color="blue"> Sklansky seems to think being a theist should be an automatic 100 point deduction in the IQ of Presidential candidates, </font>

I wouldn't go that far, but I do think anyone who publicly admits to not accepting evolution as a valid scientific theory should be eliminated from presidential contention.

Re: religion and poker
 

My initial reply was strictly tongue-in-cheek.

It's been awhile since I believed in God, but I do remember questioning God when things went very bad for me. Of course, I also thanked God when something went very well. Are you saying you never do this?

When you have the worst luck in the world and everything seems to be turning against you, do you NEVER look up to God and ask, "why?", or "why me?" Good for you if you don't, but I would think it's almost a natural reflex for someone who believes in a personal God who watches over them.

Re: religion and poker
 

Religion and superstition are both subsets of irrationality, so superficially you would think there would be correlation. But I doubt there is much, for a couple of reasons. Firstly the two are somewhat contradictory, i.e. it's hard to believe that breaking a mirror will be seven years of bad luck if you think God has a Plan, since God would then control whether you're lucky or unlucky. Secondly, superstition is a natural human tendency, whereas religion has a lot more to do with how you were brought up.

Re: religion and poker
 

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<font color="blue"> Sklansky seems to think being a theist should be an automatic 100 point deduction in the IQ of Presidential candidates, </font>

I wouldn't go that far, but I do think anyone who publicly admits to not accepting evolution as a valid scientific theory should be eliminated from presidential contention.

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I agree. My personal religious beliefs have absolutely no bearing on my scientific beliefs. I believe in evolution, however, I believe that Global Warming is a natural thing, not caused by human behavior.

My mind is not controlled by religion. This is true of most religious people. Atheists seem to always pull all religious people into the nut job category, which I believe is far off base.

Re: religion and poker
 

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My mind is not controlled by religion. This is true of most religious people. Atheists seem to always pull all religious people into the nut job category, which I believe is far off base.

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What would one have to do to meet your "nutjob" definition, if a deadly serious claim to a relationship with an unsubstantiated, omnipotent, invisible mythological creature is insufficient?

Re: religion and poker
 

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My mind is not controlled by religion. This is true of most religious people. Atheists seem to always pull all religious people into the nut job category, which I believe is far off base.

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What would one have to do to meet your "nutjob" definition, if a deadly serious claim to a relationship with an unsubstantiated, omnipotent, invisible mythological creature is insufficient?

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Nut jobs would be the 9/11 hijackers, Timothy McVeigh, anyone else who bombs an abortion clinic, people who protest Harry Potter, people who fight to stop evolution from being taught in school, people who kill homosexuals, essentially, people who, because of their insane religious views, cannot function in society.

Anyone who believes in God is not automatically nuts.

Re: religion and poker
 

We should differentiate "benign nutjobs" and "dangerous nutjobs" I suppose [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Do you think those that believe in the factual existence of Xenu are nuts? (I do)

Re: religion and poker
 

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We should differentiate "benign nutjobs" and "dangerous nutjobs" I suppose [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Do you think those that believe in the factual existence of Xenu are nuts? (I do)

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My opinions on Scientologists:

I, as a general rule, do not like classifying anyone as a "nutjob" because of the religious beliefs they hold, no matter what they are, as long as those religious beliefs are not physically harmful to anyone.

I do have a problem with the idea that psychology is dangerous, just as I have a problem with certain sects of Christianity who do not believe in medical science.

So, do I think every Scientologist who believes in the existance of Xenu is nuts? No. Do I believe that people who deny psychological or physical medicine to themselves are? Yes.

Re: religion and poker
 

I thought it was pretty clear that I wanted various theists to give their own personal testimonies on their experience as poker players. There are plenty of threads where we can bicker and go off on tangents. Why choose this one? I was also hoping that some kind of discussion on the influence religion can have on your psychology, and thus your poker results could also take place.

-Specifically, I am interested in the idea that perhaps religious people have a stronger capability to believe that "everything will turn out in the long run if I do the right thing" and therefore be able to handle swings better than the average player. Of course, someone with a strong background in statistics might do best of all, but your average 2p2er isn't in that category

-When a player believes that god influences poker results, is he more likely to willingly make mistakes and hope that he gets lucky in a big pot, despite the fact that he knows how to play well?

Re: religion and poker
 

You're going to run into two problems. The first, as you already guessed, is that the majority of posters here are atheists. Of course, an atheist is going to dismiss any phsycial reason that a belief in God can provide better results.

There may be something to be said from a psychological standpoint, but I'd still say your answer is no. Those who believe in some outside guiding force, are less likely to be thinking rationally during times of both good fortune and adversity. In other words, they are more apt to deviate from ideal strategy and the necessary mindset needed to play optimum poker at "all" times.

Lastly, you don't need to be a statistician to know that if you continually get your money in with the best of it, that things will work out over the long run.

Re: religion and poker
 

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I thought it was pretty clear that I wanted various theists to give their own personal testimonies on their experience as poker players. There are plenty of threads where we can bicker and go off on tangents. Why choose this one? I was also hoping that some kind of discussion on the influence religion can have on your psychology, and thus your poker results could also take place.

-Specifically, I am interested in the idea that perhaps religious people have a stronger capability to believe that "everything will turn out in the long run if I do the right thing" and therefore be able to handle swings better than the average player. Of course, someone with a strong background in statistics might do best of all, but your average 2p2er isn't in that category

-When a player believes that god influences poker results, is he more likely to willingly make mistakes and hope that he gets lucky in a big pot, despite the fact that he knows how to play well?

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I think it hinges on if you believe in intercessionary prayer. If you think that prayer can have an effect on the outcome of a hand then you are likely to be led astray by your theism imo - since it wont really have any effect and you'll be betting against the odds.

As I mentioned in my first reply - I think the "lord give me strength to smile as these idiots take my money" is a useful side effect of theism (at least as I practise it).

Re: religion and poker
 

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Do you believe that your relationship with god improves your poker results, either through good luck or through giving you better peace of mind and allowing you to make better decisions? If so, do you believe that theists have an edge over atheists in gambling situations?

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Seeing as I was raised a Catholic, gambling would be violating the laws of God and committing sin. The sheer guilt of weaving off Gods path, and spiraling in to the sins of man should eventually damn the soul of believers. No matter how a true believer should look at it, money verus the damnation of the eternal soul would be -EV. The only way I could grant a believer any possible faith based edge would be in a play money game. Even then, the catholic is taught that spending too much time being idle is also a sin.