CBS columnist bashes gambling, WSOP

[Hawklet]

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He writes for a site that offers gambling in the form of fantasy sports and has an entire section dedicated to poker. I wonder how he feels about that.

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He's probably thinking something like:

"I'm gonna write about anything that makes people read my stuff, even things that I don't know anything or care about"

[KurtSF]

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Mass behavioral manipulation in the guise of saving us from ourselves. The funny thing is that this guy doesn't understand that he is nothing more than a tool himself. We live in a society in which all of our institutions work hand in hand to protect and foster order and stability for the benefit of those who have power and money. Its pretty clever. Works a lot better than force.

The WSOP entrants are the type of folks who scare the hell out of the establishment because they are risk takers. The spirit of these people is remarkably similar to that of the founding fathers, who elbowed aside the British nobility for their slice of the pie.

Ironically, the decendants of those "patriots" are among those who now wish to supress the behavior exhibited in Vegas along with <font color="red"> any other</font> nonconformist activity.

Ever wonder why?

If there is anything I am sure of, its not to protect us.

Shuffle up and deal.

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Hit the nail on the head.

I also agree with Smiley.

[True North]

Just as correct, perhaps more so:

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Freedom to drink is like freedom to inhale crack or inject heroin. You may enjoy it once or twice or a hundred times. You may be that one unlikely person impervious to its evil lure. But in most cases the addiction will eventually win.

Every day around the country, people -- regular people like you or me -- lose their job or home or car or wife or kids or all of the above because they cannot stop drinking. Regular people go to jail. Regular people commit suicide. Because of drinking.

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You could replace "gambling" with a hundred other words, too. Where are the author's righteous crusades against all those things?

[AngusThermopyle]

So tell me class, what does an attention whore crave?

[MicroBob]

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You got a point I did put that like a jerk - what I really meant is only having 1000$ life savings and then taking these 1000$ to the casion = sucking at life [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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Happens ALL the time.

I dealt blackjack and a pretty small-time low-stakes casino for a few months.
Some regulars would come in and put down what is obviously their rent-money and either try to double-it or bust-out.

Not difficult to connect the dots when the player is still wearing their uniform from McDonald's or the grocery store, goes to the cage to cash their paycheck, and then loses it all and slinks off for home.

It's pretty damn sad and it goes on all the time.

I'll leave the discussion for how different it is or isn't in poker to you guys.

Just responding to the part about the losers-in-life blowing through their rent-money or $1k life-savings: Not at all uncommon.

[jimmytrick]

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Jimmy,

Sorry bro but there's nothing transgressive about playing poker. I get where you're coming from, but these days, especially at the WSOP, it's an industry itself that's quickly territorialized by big money.

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Ah, poker is not accepted by the religious right. The powers that be both pander to and exploit the RR. The fact that monied interests have a stake in casinos is not relevant, as it is common for them to both attack and profit from an activity at the same time.

The point I am trying to make is that this is a long term struggle for true freedom and the best way to win it is to expose it for what it really is. Manipulation of the masses for the benefit of the rich and powerful. If they can control our behavior through the guise of protecting ourselves from our selves and the gospel of political correctness then they win.

Support freedom, spit on a sidewalk today.

[dwf76]

Maybe he's just bitter at everyone who wants to have fun, perhaps he can't get it up.

Eitherway he's a misinformed,biased idiot.

[Quicksilvre]

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Just as correct, perhaps more so:

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Freedom to drink is like freedom to inhale crack or inject heroin. You may enjoy it once or twice or a hundred times. You may be that one unlikely person impervious to its evil lure. But in most cases the addiction will eventually win.

Every day around the country, people -- regular people like you or me -- lose their job or home or car or wife or kids or all of the above because they cannot stop drinking. Regular people go to jail. Regular people commit suicide. Because of drinking.

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I certainly wouldn't say that this is "more so" because of the bolded sentence. Most people who drink aren't alcoholics. The same could be said about poker players.

I know numerous people, about my age (college) who stopped playing poker simply because they got sick of it, or because they lost their initial $40 investment and didn't feel like reloading.

I do wonder how many gamblers are real gambling addicts. If one assumes that 10% of a population gambles at least a few times a year (which sounds low, but we'll be on the safe side), and 1% are gambling addicts (which is the actual estimate I hear), then 10% of the at-risk population is addicted to gambling. It makes the alcohol comparison look apt.

The most vexing thing about this column, to me, is this: the author makes straw-man arguments about something that has negative consequences for some people. Those who don't experience the negative consequences produce a backlash (this thread). Meanwhile, if the columnist just says, "Look, I realize plenty of people can play poker and be OK, but let's remember those who get in trouble through gambling," then it might actually do something for those who are addicted to gambling.

[JMX]

Pisses me off when people mix poker with slot machines and reckless gambling.

[suzzer99]

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Pisses me off when people mix poker with slot machines and reckless gambling.

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Problem is for the people we make $$ off of, it's not that different.