Stupidly Gambling For Millions Is Admirable?

[shaniac]

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I agree with this sentiment.

Poker players today are in a unique place in time and space, and if they really want to be part of the larger world, they should try to connect in more real ways with things that aren't always related to gambling lots of money. The contest for Biggest Degenerate will never be won, so it would be far more enlightened to take that money and do something useful with it. (Edit: At least in the case of someone trying to pursue some version of religious enlightenment with or without poker).

I also think it's crazy that we have the unique opportunity to travel to lots of amazing places in the world, in near first-class style and with relative ease, and the only thing most poker players could tell you about those locations is how good the cash games were or how much they flipped for over dinner.

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Mr Sch. very solid as usual but I think it is all gambling mentality types that miss life. I have trading friends worth $300M who do NOT miss a day of work and when on holiday take monitors and screens so they can watch markets, a horse-racing mate who hasnt been outside Perth in 30 years cause he will miss a race...........addictives all are losers in life............

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Yeah, I never understood people who work 60 hours a work for 20 years just to become partner and earn the right to work 80 hours a week! All for the purpose of making lots and lots of money, but never enjoying it fully or using it to help anyone else. I went to HS with a lot of people who will probably go down like that, and that's a big part of the reason I didn't go to college (no possibility of winding up like that). I do work hard to try and achieve what I want and what I believe in, just not in that way.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

David,

you should collect all your posts in NVG as a book.

[El Diablo]

David,

"But to ADMIRE the fact that he has gamble? Cmon."

You find it surprising that a bunch of degenerate gamblers admire bigger degenerate gamblers?

[The Dingo]

EXACTLY....conversation from 10 years ago, I am working 100+ hour weeks living on one of the great surf beaches in the world..

Me to Surfer Dude while walking to my car on the way to work

"What are you doing mate"

SD "Just enjoying life my man, surf's up ya know"
ME "But you live in a kombi van and eat like sheet and have no money"

SD" No mate the govt pays me social security, I do what I want"
ME "Yeah but you live in a van with no water, shower etc"

SD "Mate look at those crisp waves...come surfing for the day"
ME " NO dude I gotta work"

SD "Why work man"
ME "Ive got 3 kids in private school and I want to earn enough so I can retire"
SD "So what will you do when you retire"
ME "Probably surf and fish and drink wine"
SD "Exactly, thats what I do now mate...."

[rgold79]

Agreed. Instead of doing all this work we should all just pull down our pants and see whose is the longest once and for all.

[Ansky]

I read that whole thing outloud w/ an Australian accent.

[The Dingo]

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I read that whole thing outloud w/ an Australian accent.

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Eh

[ibluffoldladies]

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I find the ups and downs of gambling for large amounts of money fascinating - with or without an edge.

I admire someone with good bankroll management.

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[rgold79]

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I agree with this sentiment.

Poker players today are in a unique place in time and space, and if they really want to be part of the larger world, they should try to connect in more real ways with things that aren't always related to gambling lots of money. The contest for Biggest Degenerate will never be won, so it would be far more enlightened to take that money and do something useful with it. (Edit: At least in the case of someone trying to pursue some version of religious enlightenment with or without poker).

I also think it's crazy that we have the unique opportunity to travel to lots of amazing places in the world, in near first-class style and with relative ease, and the only thing most poker players could tell you about those locations is how good the cash games were or how much they flipped for over dinner.

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Mr Sch. very solid as usual but I think it is all gambling mentality types that miss life. I have trading friends worth $300M who do NOT miss a day of work and when on holiday take monitors and screens so they can watch markets, a horse-racing mate who hasnt been outside Perth in 30 years cause he will miss a race...........addictives all are losers in life............

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Yeah, I never understood people who work 60 hours a work for 20 years just to become partner and earn the right to work 80 hours a week! All for the purpose of making lots and lots of money, but never enjoying it fully or using it to help anyone else. I went to HS with a lot of people who will probably go down like that, and that's a big part of the reason I didn't go to college (no possibility of winding up like that). I do work hard to try and achieve what I want and what I believe in, just not in that way.

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Lots of people work hard like this to provide for their families and to retire or to do whatever they want. I don't begrudge anyone who's willing to bust his ass for a paycheck, no matter how large. I have a lot of friends who pull 90 hours weeks who don't understand how someone could risk the possibility of not making next month's rent because of the turn of a card. We're all looking at things relative to our own position.

[luckyjimm]

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When I first started gambling, I learned the simplest, ages-old axioms that gamblers live by. Take the best of it on bets in relation to your bankroll. When I first went on the road traveling with big-time gamblers, I went broke fading dice because my bankroll was too small even though I had the best of it on every roll.

I never understood the gamblers with bad leaks and especially bad gambling leaks. How can anyone admire the tragic losers who, although skilled poker players, also lost large sums gambling: Johnny Moss, Titanic Thompson,Stu Ungar, Jack Straus, Nick the Greek. Nick the Greek and Johnny Moss ended up playing cheap limit in their old age because they just wanted to gamble every single day. Colorful but hardly admirable as the best gamblers.

I have often seen very young gamblers go on big winning streaks only to end up broke for various reasons. I have been there. You tell a good trapper by the furs on the wall.

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Brilliantly put! I think it's also true, though, that spectators enjoy watching all the more when they know the gamblers are being fools. People are voyeurs, and enjoy watching others risk destruction. It's a way they can enjoy the sensation of a thousand little deaths without risking it themselves.

Exhibit one: read the blog of Ed, aka Bluescouse, a 19 year old guy in Wales who lives with his parents and has several times managed to turn £1000 into £150,000 and then lose it again, because he has no game selection, no bankroll management, and no tilt control. Right now he is in the process of losing his last £70,000, one day at a time, and it is gripping reading. His poker blog is one of the most talked-about on the net. The comments pages are filled with people trying to shake him out of it - to hand the money over to someone else, to buy a house, a car, at least a holiday. But he is beyond help; he will lose all this money, and so we want to read on even more.

http://88percent.blogspot.com/

How much more exciting his blog is than that of any number of successful and controlled players. I visited CTS's blog the other day and saw his preppy life, his amazing Los Angeles flat, his fancy cars. I felt a little envy but otherwise wasn't engaged; I didn't think to visit again to see how much more he had won and how fabulous his life continues to be. But I check Bluescouse's blog every day.

Tragedies have always been more popular than comedies; the emotions they make us experience are that much greater.