Any pokerplayers here?

[Patrik]

I think Steve referered to playing poker in his wild days in some of his posts.
Any other pokerplayers here besides me?
Do you guys sometimes have a problem with the predatory nature of the game?
Anyway I think it is a great game for learning emotional control

[Amit]

Hey Patrik,

I play poker with my friends usually every two weeks on a Friday night.

What you said about emotional control is so true! Two weeks ago I went the whole night without winning a single hand and Last Friday once again I went home empty handed.

When we play we only play with a small amount, only £5 but still remaining in control of your emotions is not an easy thing to do and it's the reason I still play. In all honesty...I do sometimes get frustrated when I loose, especially that week where I didn't win a single hand. But it's was a great challenge for me, I still managed to laugh and have a great evening but I do want to be at that point where no matter what happens, I remain happy, and just enjoy the game and the social time with my friends.

In reality, it's not emotional control, it's more to do with learning how to change your perception of the situation so that regardless of the outcome you know how to look at that situation with fresh eyes and always leave with a smile.

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by Patrik

I think Steve referered to playing poker in his wild days in some of his posts.
Any other pokerplayers here besides me?
Do you guys sometimes have a problem with the predatory nature of the game?
Anyway I think it is a great game for learning emotional control

Hi Patrik,

I am a huge poker fan and play it a lot. I have a couple poker websites as well.

Your question about the predatory nature of the game is interesting. I guess I've always looked at it this way.

I don't necessarily see it as predatory in the sense that everyone playing knows they have the potential to lose or win and know what's at stake. Everyone is in mutual agreement that they are playing for money. When I think predatory, I would think of something where you are attacking an innocent person who did not ask to participate.

I suppose it's not any different than any other competitive activity, like running a race, a wrestling match, an olympic event, etc. Everyone participating understand that they may win or they may lose.

I agree with learning emotional control. Playing poker has helped me in so many ways in life...discipline, emotional control, being selectively aggressive when you need to be, etc.

Thad

[MichaelL]

I've been playing on and off for about a year now. Usually I'll see some poker on ESPN and decide to have a bit of a go, mainly playing micro limit tables (easy to just put in a nice 'big' ($1) bet and steal the pots ;p).

Sometimes I'll also play with mates on a Friday when I'm not busy, however it's hard to get into it when there's no money on the line, and most of them are still learning and call every hand. It can get super frustrating when there's still 4 or 5 out of 8 of us after the flop and they have nothing (or hit it lucky runner-runner). :/

[Amit]

Michael,

To combat that we've employed some house rules so that people cannot do that and trash the round so early on. Might be worth doing the same (?)

It makes things more interesting!

[Trina]

I LOVE poker. Of course, I am AWFUL at it. LOL.

[Amit]

You and me both Trina!

[Zulu]

I've played a fair bit of poker. Have read pretty much every book out there. I've spent hours calculating probabilities, studying the psycholgy. Fascinating intellectual puzzle.

Eventually I found out I wasting too much time on the game and just gave up on it. It can really become draining in a hurry if you become too obsessed.

[Dan_au]

I play texas hold 'em with friends once a fortnight. We play for small amounts of money so it's more of a social thing.

If you went to a pub/ movie/ casino etc that would cost money. At least with poker someone always wins and there is a lot of luck involved.

[micth]

Yeah i'm a pretty big poker player, and derive most of my income from it. One thing i dont like about it is your not contributing anything to society, your just taking money from people. I think it can be beneficial for personal development though, especially in emotional mastery, as long as you don't get too obsessed with it.

[TheBull]

I've been playing for a couple of years. My wife also plays, but not as much as I do. Now that I live in Vegas I have tried a variety of games, from 1-2 no limit, 3-5 no limit up to 15-30 limit at the Wynn.

I blog about some of my games and I'm actually working on a poker blog aggregator as well.

When we lived in Kansas City my wife and I owned a poker league/company that ran free poker games. It was fun, but it was a ton of work.

[timmymayes]

I too am an avid poker player. I actually have plans to take a shot in Vegas in June for 3 months then travel up the california cost hitting card rooms there.

I tend to agree that it doesn't contribute to society. I also agree that it really helps someone with personal development. It has so many aspects you are requiered to learn; money management, self-analysis, emotional mastery, sizing up opponents(this i've heard can be helpfull to any business man), developing intuition, increasing your sense of responsibility. I'm sure the list goes on but by just forcing you to improve those aspects its a big force in your life if you use it right. Self control is needed so you don't play with more than you can lose.

I have an above average understanding and skill in poker and I hope to use that to give me some life experience(living in vegas), and some financial independance for future ideas and investing. Alot of the poker pro's say that it was a bad career choice. Well to me any job you are forced to grind it out is a bad career choice. Computer programmer, burger flipper, salesman, poker player they are all grind type careers which will eventually burn you out. However because I am young and feel I have not experienced enough life to know what my purpose is I cannot think of a better way to try and start down that path of learning and growth. It's a risk, life is full of them. Maybe that should be added to the list of things you can learn from poker, how to be free from the fear of risk.

Cheers,
Timothy

[Patrik]

And there I was thinking I was the only one here interested in poker
I think it is great that there is so many ofs here!

About contributing to society as a player I guess we could all try to become so good that we will be featured on Tv shows, providing entertainment for the masses

One thing could be to try to make better use of the money we win than the other person would have. And maybe it is better that the other guy blows his money at the gaming table instead of in the bar.

Most people can of course control their gambling habit, and I have no problem winning some money from them. But sometimes you run into compulsive gamblers. What do you do then? Do you leave? And what is the point of leaving really, somebody else will just take the other guys money

Oh well see you in the winners circle

[Markus74]

Why don't you just manifest a royal flush every time?

[timmymayes]

Originally Posted by Markus74

Why don't you just manifest a royal flush every time?

Because we already have the rules system of odds and probability firmly rooted in our psyche's which is a constant and base level of reinforcement. Its the same reason I can manifest the ability to fly

Cheers,
Timothy

[Markus74]

Originally Posted by timmymayes

Because we already have the rules system of odds and probability firmly rooted in our psyche's which is a constant and base level of reinforcement. Its the same reason I can manifest the ability to fly

Cheers,
Timothy

LOL, ok. So if someone would start playing poker and if he wasn't aware of odds and probabilities then he could manifest flushes all the time?

Jeez, this manifestion theory is as silly as religious theories.

[thadroe]

Has any tried playing "duplicate poker"? I saw some articles on it the past few days. It's supposed to be a form of hold'em where the skill aspect of the game is enhanced.

If so, what do you think of it?

Thad

[rvgrinsven]

Haven't see anything about it yet, can you post a link? Else I'll google it.

EDIT: Found a link about, although not much info:

Duplicate Poker – Hope For Poker Enthusiasts? - Poker Blog

[thadroe]

I think this is the main site offering it

e-PokerUSA

I have to say I'm not real crazy about it from what I've read so far.

Everyone starts with the same number of chips on each round. Part of the skill aspect of poker is playing your stack size...so they're actually taking that away.

Thad