First off, you're basing your entire rant on the apparent truth that the entire poker world is corrupt, high-stakes, hard-hitting, and geared toward devistating everybody who's involved. Second, you make the assumption that a system or game that involves deception, selfishness and greed is both worthless and horrible.
Speaking to point #1 -- Suppose Brad went to his friends house for dinner. The dinner was great. After they're shootin the shit and Brad complements his friend -- "awesome dinner buddy. amazing food." His buddy says, "thanks.. you know, sometimes I think about taking out a loan, leaving my job, and opening up a restaurant." Brad says, "wow, that would be a big risky step, but your cooking is amazing. If anybody could do it, you could."
Later that year his friend follows his dreams. Unfortunately the reastaurant business eats up all of his time. It's really hard on his family life. What's worse... it just doesn't work out. The business goes bust.
Life happend. His friend got roughed up pretty badly. Should he blame Brad for that after-dinner conversation that gave him a little boost??
Now for #2. First I'll ask you if a child should be allowed to play any game that involves the qualities "lying, selfishness, and greed." Or as I would word it "deception, and a willingness to put yourself first as an individual." Singles tennis, for example. It's one-on-one out there -- no fucking around if you want to be number 1. No lying there. But how about *any* card game that is beyond Uno (or even Uno, I think). Or chess. Or Scrabble. Good players learn to deceive, even in these games of total information. Deception or lying makes lots of games fun. Plus, it happens all the time in the real world -- it's reality.
Now, poker is different because the point system is money. It's not chess or scrabble. Is money the issue? What's wrong with teaching a child to budget a poker bankroll and play within it? Give a child $20, and instead of letting him buy baseball cards, let him play $.10/$.20 limit holdem. Then, if the child goes bust he learns a lesson -- no more poker! If he makes a profit -- boom -- another lesson.
A final postscript -- a good friend of mine found himself extremely addicted to chess for about two years. He played probably 15 hours a day. It was a big setback to his life and career. I helped him get back into chess (he played a lot as a small child). Should I feel badly that I set out the chess board one afternoon years ago?
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You're correct, with your weird overly negative slant
Date: 2006-03-01 00:54 (UTC)Speaking to point #1 -- Suppose Brad went to his friends house for dinner. The dinner was great. After they're shootin the shit and Brad complements his friend -- "awesome dinner buddy. amazing food." His buddy says, "thanks.. you know, sometimes I think about taking out a loan, leaving my job, and opening up a restaurant." Brad says, "wow, that would be a big risky step, but your cooking is amazing. If anybody could do it, you could."
Later that year his friend follows his dreams. Unfortunately the reastaurant business eats up all of his time. It's really hard on his family life. What's worse... it just doesn't work out. The business goes bust.
Life happend. His friend got roughed up pretty badly. Should he blame Brad for that after-dinner conversation that gave him a little boost??
Now for #2. First I'll ask you if a child should be allowed to play any game that involves the qualities "lying, selfishness, and greed." Or as I would word it "deception, and a willingness to put yourself first as an individual." Singles tennis, for example. It's one-on-one out there -- no fucking around if you want to be number 1. No lying there. But how about *any* card game that is beyond Uno (or even Uno, I think). Or chess. Or Scrabble. Good players learn to deceive, even in these games of total information. Deception or lying makes lots of games fun. Plus, it happens all the time in the real world -- it's reality.
Now, poker is different because the point system is money. It's not chess or scrabble. Is money the issue? What's wrong with teaching a child to budget a poker bankroll and play within it? Give a child $20, and instead of letting him buy baseball cards, let him play $.10/$.20 limit holdem. Then, if the child goes bust he learns a lesson -- no more poker! If he makes a profit -- boom -- another lesson.
A final postscript -- a good friend of mine found himself extremely addicted to chess for about two years. He played probably 15 hours a day. It was a big setback to his life and career. I helped him get back into chess (he played a lot as a small child). Should I feel badly that I set out the chess board one afternoon years ago?