Quote:
Originally Posted by dankhank
The contradictions between Trooper's statements and his results/actions are not hard to pick up on. It's not that "trolls" are more astute judges of character than other posters. The "trolls" are those who most egregiously lack the self-awareness to realize they're not that different from Trooper, with the main difference being that Trooper's flaws are highlighted by virtue of doing a daily vlog.
I like your choice of words, "by
virtue" (I'm a long time Trooper watcher since before Desert Manor era. I even sent him some stuff to equip his kitchen and new apartment, most of which he seemed never seemed to use. I thought there was a possibility he might go a "yeahh cookin' with Trooper! Part-time cooking vlog!" route, but he does not have the skills. I was hearing about how he loves eggs though.)
In the saga of this schlub with an arguable learning disability, and likely life-long gambling addiction (his experience with poker is not even the first phase, as he used to play in the pits and has now sworn them off. Yet PLO and HU-tourney punting is still on the menu), producing this vlog has got to be one of the most productive things Tim's ever done. It's certainly granted him opportunities that his mediocrity/decrepitude would never have had, absent a broadcast medium. He would seem to be financially dependent on the vlog (and selling the apparel should be a nice boost), but the importance of the vlog is more than money. The source of self-esteem is DOING WORK, and making these videos is part of his identity. "Building something by building it". A lot of us want to root for him, despite the absurdity of... almost every decision he makes. I had to chuckle and give it to him in a recent episode "what am I supposed to do, NOT talk about my store in the vlogs?" This is his main gig, and he needs it.
To the extent the (Freudian) concepts are valid, Tim is completely ruled by his id, his "whim-worship". He has never developed an ego; in the proper sense of the word. But he does grind out these videos. They are his virtuous productive work, and they also serve as a window into the storm of contradictions he has cobbled together into a view of existence. A view of existence which forces him to have the "I don't give a ****" (about the contradictions) song playing in psyche almost non-stop (especially recently, after what must be a devastating breakup... to him). There are also glimpses of moments... and days where Tim does escape that sort of nihilism. That's when a lot of us like to cheer and root for the Trooper. That said, I challenge you to watch his vlogs and take a shot every time he says "I don't care" or an equivalent statement. He rarely affirms his love of anything, and almost never any thing more important than pizza or burgers.
These vlogs also provide Tim with a huge volume of direct, immediate feedback about his life, on a scale he's never had before. What were most of Tim's interactions before; customers at Magianno's? Customers at the Linq? I also expect that the
inescapable nature of the notoriety he's achieved is not something he anticipated. This is kind of supported by his generally avoiding the premiere rooms in town (A, B, W.... with V seeming to be an exception, though we'll see how quickly he makes it back there after complaining about servers), and his completely avoiding the Rio during WSOP, and the topic of WSOP in general. There's gotta be someone at every table in town who knows the Troop by now; he's got few places to go where nobody knows his name.
But about the feedback loop... This feedback he's exposed to by the virtuous work he does on his channel could potentially be very valuable, but Tim has absolutely no ability to parse the (quite noisy) signal that the universe is sending his way in the form of YT comments, coaching offers, or poker results. He's already claimed to have nope'd out of 2p2, because it is more unfiltered than YT (in addition to being a hive of scum and villainy with y'all). I don't know for sure what route Trooper's story will go, but it's pretty clear we're all watching something unsustainable. As a viewer, damnit, that means less poker content coming.
