[William]

Mr. Schoonmaker, thank you for your very interesting reply.
I understand now that the article is propaganda for poker from a group of individuals that wish to continue profiting from it. All that is very natural, we all fight for our daily bread.

It changes though nothing to the fact that poker is an extremely dangerous activity as it is addictive as hell but I see now that it was never the intention of the article to start a debate about pros and cons, but only to try to convince people who know little or nothing about it that it would be good for them and their family to learn how to play. Maybe they will find it amusing and even rewarding, maybe it will destroy their lifes, but the most important is that they vote yes to poker so that a small percentage of the population can continue to benefit from it (poker sites, authors, few pros, etc...).

Personnally, I am a big fan of 2+2 books and authors. They help me improve my game, teach me how other players think and so on. Online poker has also been good to me; I can play whenever I want, lots of fishes, I don't need to be aware that I sit in front of some poor bastard that is once again losing his rent money, no wives carrying small babies droping by the cardroom trying to stop the drunken husband before he ruins the family, no stories about when the next bank robbery can take place, etc...

I'm sure you recognize the scenario from the old days and if you don't, or have just heard about such things without ever having to observe them in person, then you (and David and Mason) are both very lucky and so very out of line when trying to convince the "politicians" that poker is good for you, because it's not.

Finally, I know it's a little (a lot?) silly of me to write all this in a poker forum, nobody in here wants to hear this as we all like (love?) poker and wish it to continue growing (though it has grown enough in my humble opinion) but deep, deep inside me, when asked if poker is a good thing, I sincerely cannot answer "yes".
Maybe if one day it is regulated by the governement (in USA and other countries) and I can see that things are different, I will think otherwise, but for the moment...


And now, I am going to take that test at gamblersanonymous. I am not particularly attracted to casino games or any other kind of gambling and am convinced that "I can handle" my poker playing (pretty sure as when I am on holydays, I don't even think about it) but you never know.

Respectfully,

William