Poker is a guilt trip for me.

[PokerSoccer]

wow, i'd feel pretty [censored]

[EmpireMaker2]

[censored]

[flipdeadshot22]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes. I was playing live poker near Portland once, and this dirty, tiny mexican guy had to be one of the worst players I'd ever seen. Obscenely passive, and obscenely loose call-downs. And by dirty, I mean physically filthy. It looked like he had been rolling around in a field all day (he probably had, getting ~5 bucks an hour for it).

The worst part was that he was the most gracious loser ever. He was always nice and pleasant, and always looked you in the eye, gave a big toothless smile, and sincerely congratulated you on winning, after calling a 3/4 size river bet with J high. Throws another c-note on the table.

He became more and more talkative throughout the evening. At around 2 or 3AM he divulged the following nugget: "I was on vacation with my wife and kid at the beach. She's probably kinda mad right now, cause I made us stop here. I should go to the motel soon to see how they're doing." Sick.

2 hours and ~$900 later, he's busto. Him to dealer, "Hey, do you know where the closest [some crappy ghetto bank] is?"

Dealer: "Yea, it's over down in [some [censored] town 1.5 hours away]".

He to table: "I'll be back"

table: ...[yeah, right]

sure enough, 3 hours later he returns with $130 dollars, and proceeds to lose it in around 15 minutes.

"Well, that's all I got. goodnight." So sick.

This is why I'm an online limi-donk. It's a lot easier if you don't have to see them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, really eye opening story for me; I usually just quietly take these people's money at the low limit tables without thinking about their financial situations (not that I should be while seated at their table) but an interesting perspective nonetheless.

[Woolygimp]

5/5 is the most popular game around here and it's also the highest public spread. Since $1k stacks aren't uncommon it's interesting noting how much these people lose and just how much $1k is to the average person. It can be a weeks worth of work for them or more...

The arab I was referring to in my OP works at a jewelry store, and he frequently drives 2-1/2 hours over the TX/Louisiana border to lose the majority of his paycheck.

[flipdeadshot22]

[ QUOTE ]
5/5 is the most popular game around here and it's also the highest public spread. Since $1k stacks aren't uncommon it's interesting noting how much these people lose and just how much $1k is to the average person. It can be a weeks worth of work for them or more...

The arab I was referring to in my OP works at a jewelry store, and he frequently drives 2-1/2 hours over the TX/Louisiana border to lose the majority of his paycheck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find the level of denial that many of these types of players put themselves through in order to justify going to a card club/casino every weekend and lose large amounts of money to be pretty amazing. A fragile ego is usually the only shell holding many of these people together psychologically; with big wins during an otherwise losing session dominating their own self image of their performance. Yeah, i'm really high right now, sorry for the philosophical ramblings.

[Squareview]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and then I stacked a person who was an obvious burn victim due to horrendous scarring of his arms.

... [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

best post on 2+2 ever! no even joking

[ElPhoenix]

this is definitely something i couldn't do OP, i would legitimately start to feel sick

yea im a girl/puss/whatev, but i think about this sort of thing all the time, the money we take from unintelligent people that shouldn't be gambling. i still play, but it gets to me every now and then

[dlorc]

What makes this guy different from any other random donk who cant legitimately think in a critical manner and just loves the thrill? Do you want to deprive them of their joy in life?

Are they really not going to find a way to donk off their money without you?

[HP]

been there done that. I played with a guy who literally check/called every hand every street (limit though). He was mentally retarded. On every showdown he would table his hand, scrutinize the board for a few seconds, stare at the other guy's hand, but would always have to look at the dealer to figure out who won

In the end it turned out to be ok though, cause I got over it

[shipitkthx]

When I was at the Fallsview in Niagara Falls for the WPT NAPC I was playing 5/5 and had a guy directly to my right that was on vacation with his wife for their 25th anniversary. He was absolutely horrible (Cold-calling $80 re-raises with K2s, etc.) He was a really nice guy and it was easy to see he had no idea what he was getting into. Our table was 4-5 young kids (a couple of which I believe were 2+2ers) a few decent old locals and him. At first it bothered me a little watching him donk off his hard earned money (this was my first time playing live)...then his wife started coming to the table and begging for money for slots/blackjack. Every time he'd reach into his wallet, pull out a hundo for her, sigh, and tell her to have fun. It was at this point that I realized I shouldn't really care.

Let's assume the Fallsview didnt have a poker room. Was he not going to lose that money?? Of course he was. He'd be off playing craps, blackjack or slots with his wife and lose the same money to the house. People who chose to gamble are going to do it. A good share of them know they are going to lose. If they chose to lose it to me, I should be grateful, not feel guilty.

I ended up making conversation with the guy and defending him against some of the tilty players he sucked out. I tried my hardest to make sure he was at least having fun when I played a hand with him. The last hand I played with him he paid me off with 2nd pair to my obv straight for a huge river overbet. He then stood up, shook my hand, said "at least I lost it to a nice kid like you," smiled, and went to find his wife.