Re: Poker is neither moral nor immoral - maybe
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Poker is a zero-sum game when you include all players (meaning including the rake, tips, etc).
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It's not necessarily a zero-sum game if you also value the entertainment and not just profit.
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All gambling games are zero sum (or positive ) if you look at it this way. Most anytime two parties enter into a voluntary transaction, at the very least you are looking at zero sum and usually positive sum ( or increased wealth ) to the system.
Where the negative sum aspect of certain rare transactions, such as a seller selling heroin, comes into play is when one party to the transaction is making an irrational decision that results in more harm to him and those surrounding him then the good (or entertainment )that was derived.
With certain people, gambling games will sometimes fall into this negative sum category. My question is: do we, as beneficiary parties to the transaction, owe a moral duty to those few persons who will be harmed? Do we have a responsibility, from a moral perspective, to try to figure out who the irrational players are and not play with them? Especially when we know in advance that we will likely run across a few.
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