Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

Normally I would post this on SMP but my other thread makes it relevant here.

It seems like a lot of people think it is admirable, or romantic or exciting to risk millions of dollars on gambling games with little or no edge. They somehow equate that with other entrepreneurs who pursue their dreams with little thought of the downside.

But don't you think there is a difference? I'm all for betting big money with an edge that justifies it. And I have no problem if people want to gamble big money without this edge. But to call this second category "admirable" seems totally wrong. Not when the world is in the state it is in. One well known hi roller professes strong religious conviction and goes on to lose half a million in a golf game he has little chance in. The loss doesn't affect him much, meaning he could have done some good with it. Fine. That's his right. But to ADMIRE the fact that he has gamble? Cmon. He wasn't risking his money in the hopes of starting a company that would turn apples into fuel. He was betting a half a million dolllars on a GOLF GAME. With the worst of it. You might admire that kind of activity. Forgive me if I don't.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

I doubt many admires it. We're just entertained.

It's like watching the nosebleed games on ft, especially when a new comer is making a run that will almost certainly end in his bustoness. We basically treat this like reality TV.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

One well known hi roller professes strong religious conviction and goes on to lose half a million in a golf game he has little chance in.

= http://www.gambling911.com/Daniel-Negreanu.jpg

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

I agree with this sentiment.

Poker players today are in a unique place in time and space, and if they really want to be part of the larger world, they should try to connect in more real ways with things that aren't always related to gambling lots of money. The contest for Biggest Degenerate will never be won, so it would be far more enlightened to take that money and do something useful with it. (Edit: At least in the case of someone trying to pursue some version of religious enlightenment with or without poker).

I also think it's crazy that we have the unique opportunity to travel to lots of amazing places in the world, in near first-class style and with relative ease, and the only thing most poker players could tell you about those locations is how good the cash games were or how much they flipped for over dinner.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

yeah but a lot of these guys score good snapper and i admire that

unless they is really ugly then they dont score anything

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

I def agree with that, shaniac. I'm no where near being a successful poker player, but I did get to travel a bit over the last two years. Getting poker players to do something that isn't gambling related is nearly an impossible task, and it really bugged me.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

Yeah, sorry we never made it to Louis XV, Yuv. Next year, for sure!

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

Personally I agree. However, there is a major but. A writer on a European poker website expressed it much better than I can when he said :

"Online poker sites use clever marketing to convince new players that the keys to being successful at poker are not maths, discipline and experience, but bravery, guts and an ability to read people."

Substitute "TV uses the big game players" into the first line, promote this myth wherever we can, ???, profit.

It makes me very happy to think about how much money I have made playing against people who buy into this myth and think maths is just for nerds.

So of course it isn't admirable. But it may be very much in our interest to pretend that it is.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

Again, I think you might be misinterpreting what Strassa was going for. He is admiring the gumption of those who have tried and made it - even if what they are doing isn't particularly consequential - and criticizing your "Well, I'd be awesome at this, if I could ever be bothered to do it" attitude. I think it is entirely mindsets and approaches to life that he is considering, not the merit of what you're actually doing.

Re: Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?
 

[ QUOTE ]
It seems like a lot of people think it is admirable, or romantic or exciting to risk millions of dollars on gambling games with little or no edge.

[/ QUOTE ]it's more like fascination combined with disbelief combined with jealousy.

I don't understand how it's not exciting to see people gamble for high stakes. Imagine a scenario where you make $50,000 a year, so money means a lot to you. Then imagine a scenario where you see people flip a coin for $100,000 and within 2 seconds, someone just won 2 years salary. How is that not fun?