philosophy of poker.

[Psycho Boy Jack]

Hi,
in a previous message, i was explaining how a little incident in a cardroom made me think about vice in poker.

we all know poker is for a very big part lying, manipulating, make others believe.this implies human reading and comprehension.
since lying and manipulating is not good in qutidian life, how do you justify them in poker ?

this must sound as a very naiver question. perhaps i am very naive, but i feel it's a deep matter i have to look at in order to continue to play well.
until now all this was natural, and i never asked myself the question.

Thaks.
and once more, Sorry for the english.

[Gimpy]

I consider poker as another form of capitalism. Capitalism is competitive, aggressive, predatory, cold and soulless. Poker reflects all of these things.

Examples:
Stock Brokers
Corporate stock holders
Insurance underwriters
Auto sales and most all other types of sales
Banking
Advertising
Any other capitol/market driven enterprise

If you think these things are bad, consider the alternative: Communism.

[r0eKY]

[ QUOTE ]
lying and manipulating is not good in qutidian life, how do you justify them in poker ?

[/ QUOTE ]

like these are the only 2 things going on at the table.

[PantsOnFire]

[ QUOTE ]
If you think these things are bad, consider the alternative: Communism.

[/ QUOTE ]
Communism at the poker table would be collusion, right?

[Gimpy]

"Communism at the poker table would be collusion, right? "

Right! Collusion with a 35% house rake would make Lenin proud.

[PantsOnFire]

Poker is a game and deception (bluffing, slowplaying, checkraising, etc.) is part of the game. It's that simple.

Play within the rules, use good etiquette, and be a good winner and a good loser.

[Quanah Parker]

Acting lying and manipulation are a big part of everybody's life.

If I told a girlfriend the truth all the time, I'd be goner.

She might manipulate me into seeing a movie she wants to see and I might manipulate her into performing a sex act I enjoy.

Poker is about lying and manipulating at the right time and place.

If I lie and manipulate my girlfriend too much, I will be in trouble, but if I don't she'll run all over me.

[Mike]

"...how do you justify them in poker ?"

The same way you justify them in soccer, football, basketball, boxing, martial arts, hunting, etc.

[ski]

Its a game.

Football teams don't broadcast their playbook before a game. You don't need to tell the whole table you have the Queen of spades if you are playing hearts.

It actually seems more moral to me than a lot of business because everyone involved is fully aware of everyones ultimate goal.

[dedmoney]

Seriously, I love that part of the game. The fact I can sit there and basically lie to someone's face, and take money from them, and still be friends with them is a great time to me. That's what strategy is all about. It's manipulation of information. If we didn't have strategy invioved in poker and played like bots, it would pretty much be like playing solitaire.

If we took strategy out of everything life would suck, if I wasn't a dirty underhanded manipulator, how the f would I ever get a date? I've never lied to my GF, but I certainly have manipulated the information to my favor and strategically done things to make things happen. She's beautiful, smart and funny. I'm a big f'in douche. You do the math.

Seriously what fun is life without upsets in sports, or comebacks in business and the like.

Capitalism isn't souless and cold. It's the strategy and innovation that makes it great, and those things are the personality behind it. How many times does the better product 'win?' It has nothing to do with better in a lot of cases, it's who markets it better etc. If we knew all the information and there was no strategy in life, we'd know team x would beat team y before the game was played, that company a is more profitable than company b. That my GF goes out with someone else. Etc.