Losing low limit players online: who are they?

[Xellos]

For some reason I think about this all the time. I just can't put my finger on what type of people play low limits online with a blatantly awful and losing game. I personally don't get what kind of enjoyment someone could get with sitting down with $50 or something and just throwing it away when they could get a video game that lasts much longer or a lot of delicious turkey sandwiches. This is partially due to me being obsessive with everything I do and forcing myself to do it as well as I possibly can.

Does anyone here have any insight as to what groups generally compose the player base of losers in small stakes online? 12 year olds that used parent's credit card? College kids that saw Moneymaker win WSOP? Fat balding 30 year olds that haven't been outside in a month? High school kids that won some freeroll? Retarded people? Dutch hookers?

The only person I knew that was a big loser in small games online was the same age as me (20), but his game was just a crappy weak-tight one. I'm more interested in who the 75/50/5 maniacs and the 90/4/.1 loose passives are.

[Biggle10]

My friend who falls into the 90/4/.1 category - "There's no thrill or excitement in folding all the time. That's not fun."

[MathEconomist]

Most of them are people for whom these amounts of money aren't terribly meaningful. They may or may not know that they're really losing players (as opposed to just unlucky), but they don't understand how fundamentally flawed their play is. Several I've met talk about tons of individual hands as though if they'd just called down that one guy who was "probably bluffing" (as if there's actually much bluffing at these limits) or folded that hand just one street earlier, etc and of course there's always the bad beats then they'd be winners. So basically, they're playing for entertainment because they find the game fun and exciting and they think they can win (this is reinforced by the frequent large winning sessions these types of players experience) but they don't realize just how fundamentally bad they are.

And some of them really don't care about the money at all and are just blowing off steam. It's true you could buy a video game for 50 bucks, but on the other hand, it's just a night out for a lot of people. And people don't really value their money like that anyway.

[tom10167]

It's not them I don't understand, it's the people at 10-20, 20-40, and............ 75-150 that just BLOWS MY MIND.

[Felted]

just cas they play at high stakes doesnt mean they are always going to be good players. They may just be very rich. You have to remember that people like to play cards to gamble with their money and enjoy themselves; they may just be recreational players.

[philumptuous]

A particularly bad player I play with from time to time was telling me how he went deep in the 180 man $20 tourny on PS...he was bragging it up how he made $250 in 4 hours...not a bad wage...I failed to ask him how many tournys he plays...and how much money he loses...just hope he keeps coming to the home games...which means, I told him congrats, well done.

[RydenStoompala]

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it's the people at 10-20, 20-40, and............ 75-150 that just BLOWS MY MIND.

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Exactly!

[kagame]

the stupidity i see in poker causes me to be very pessimistic about the future of the human race, and very optimistic about my financial future :-/

[trumpman84]

I'm willing to bet 1/2 of losing players think they are winning players on a bad run, or they make up their losses in bonuses therefore think they are winning players. The other 1/2 are bad and don't really care or they play for entertainment.

[The Truth]

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I'm willing to bet 1/2 of losing players think they are winning players on a bad run, or they make up their losses in bonuses therefore think they are winning players. The other 1/2 are bad and don't really care or they play for entertainment.

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It is higher than 1/2