Re: Does professional poker contribute to society?
Gisborne,
There will always be skill differences between the players. Take away the top 10 players, and now the next 10 are the "Top 10". Making all the pro's vanish will just reduce the overall # of players. There will always be more skilled players.
You don't have to be on TV to provide entertainment. The competition is entertainment in itself.
Clearly the masses of losing players are choosing how to spend their time. You argue the are not being entertained. Pretty clear to me they could do something else if that is what they preferred.
The poker pro's are able to make a living because losing players choose to compete with them.
Just because people don't "need" competition, well they don't need a lot of things. Movies, ice cream, basketball games, silicone... scrath that about silicone but you should get the drift.
There clearly is a demand for competition at poker.
If you get down to it, 90% of all jobs provide bs unneeded services. Anything other than scientific research, food and shelter production are kind of unnecessary.
I would argue a poker player has a much more honest job than an actor. Someone plunks down $20 for movie tickets, $15 for concessions and watches someone pretending to be something...
vs matching wits vs a tough poker opponent.
Don't know how you can say one is entertainment and the other is not.
|