Poker Personality Disorder - Page 7 - Psychology in Poker and Gambling

Saundu · 04-25-2011, 05:02 AM

"Most" poker players I meet live are gentlemen and nice old farts.

CheckRaise_ · 04-25-2011, 07:55 PM

not all poker players are in the maffia, most simply work for it. lol

OP is Joan Rivers, her avatar looks like her too.

MoneyistheMotive · 04-26-2011, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anilyzer

Thirdly, it's incorrect to single out poker as correlating with what you describe. Any number of pursuits, including chess, tennis, MMA, business, investing and stock trading, sales, police work, soldiering, managing, dating, moviemaking, engineering--basically any type of game, business or competitive endeavor where people have to compete and strive against or manage and organize other humans will tend to make individuals more hardened in some of the ways you describe.

Singling out poker? this isnt a chess,tennnis,mma,buisness forum its a POKER FORUM op is simply listing traits that many degan live regulars have which i find to be true

i think your argument is pretty invalid

PokerJuice1 · 05-18-2011, 07:18 AM

Losing money brings out the worst in human beings. The ones I can't abide are the ones that have a loaf of bread under each arm (Are capitalized) and still whine like babies. If it pains them and puts them in such a foul mood, why do they play?

anilyzer · 07-06-2012, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoneyistheMotive

Singling out poker? this isnt a chess,tennnis,mma,buisness forum its a POKER FORUM op is simply listing traits that many degan live regulars have which i find to be true

i think your argument is pretty invalid

yah it's a poker forum, but on the other hand you are saying that these specific traits define a "poker personality" disorder that is unique enough to poker players to be named after them... so if poker isn't the relevant factor I think it is fair to point that out

Ungar97 · 07-18-2012, 01:06 AM

Tony G is another example of a soul who has been corrupted by wealth. He treats people like ****.

BoredSocial · 07-19-2012, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RagingBull

You make some good points, and some not so good points.

First of all, the opposite of conceit is humility, not "no sense of self worth" or "false humility".. And total empathy for everyone is a GOOD thing.

I agree that the competitive nature of the world does have a jading effect on people in general. I am not trying to single out poker. Although poker seems to have a more negative effect, then say, someone who works as a carpenter and competes against other carpenters, etc...

And does competition have to give you negative personality traits?

Look at Jesus Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer and many other very humble and moral people... how come they aren't jaded?

I love how It became incredibly obvious that two out of your 4 were complete scumbags within like maybe a month.

Lord Baelish · 07-28-2012, 12:22 AM

Poker is an activity (or "Game") where people compete directly with other people under formalized rules of engagement for material sums of money. The entire premise of poker, particularly with a non-limit structure over multiple streets of limited information (NLHE, PLO), encourages deception and agression.

When you think about it, poker is the only forum where anyone over the local age of consent can compete directly with other players without any qualifications, education, or connections. You're going to see all of the least pleasant sides of human beings, and without any of the restraints that are imposed by a common culture or other restraining force.

Hugh_G_Johnson · 07-31-2012, 04:38 AM

Cause or effect? Does poker corrupt people's souls, or do corrupt people find their way to the poker community? Is having a social acceptable, productive outlet for anti-social behavior a bad thing? Are people in the poker community even that bad? It's very difficult to seperate poker from the rest of society.

Talk to an insider in any community and your likely to hear a great deal of cynicism and horror stories. On top of that, poker is in many ways an 'honest hustle'. You expect people to try to win your money by manipulation and psychological warfare. Poker players are usually very ethical and even honest -- when not in a hand.

I'm actually very suspicious of overly kind, "moral", "virtuous" and religious people. Why are they trying so hard to appear good? Some religious people think religion is needed to prevent people from going around stealing, raping and killing. REALLY? Isn't that scary?

Watch Freakonomics; in Japan Sumo has a pristine image and of course is insanely corrupted. They even killed the whistle blowers. The pure image/corrupt under current is revealed to be very common. Just like in poker a good player with a tight image makes his money stealing blinds and making big bluffs.

There are bad poker players and good priests. Enjoy poker and avoid jerks and sociopaths at and away from the table.

ChipExcess · 08-03-2012, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RagingBull

After years of playing in live casino venues and observing the players, I have reached some very disturbing conclusions. Although there are some honorable and genuinely nice people that play poker, many of the "regulars" that I have observed display some very negative personality traits.

For lack of a better expression, I have come up with the term "Poker Personality Disorder", to describe the ways that poker can twist the soul of a human being.

Here is my definition:

A very deeply troubling level of cynicism disguised as humor
Enjoyment of lying to others
Desire to inflict pain on other human beings
A lack of empathy for others comparable to that of a sociopath
A sense of entitlement
Feelings of kinship with other poker predators
Thinking of lesser players in dehumanizing terms such as "donkeys" and "fish"
Ability to hide and repress emotions
A high level of conceit and a total lack of humility
High levels of sarcasm and veiled anger
Rudeness, bad manners, and other anti-social behaviours

The archetype for this poker personality disorder would be Worm from the movie Rounders.

I am not saying that EVERYONE has this problem. I have played with people who were very respectful and were good human beings who just enjoyed the strategy and thrill of the game.

But poker definitely has the ability to twist the soul of a human being into this shape.

I think that the level that poker can have a corrupting effect on the personality depends on each individual's upbringing, background, and pre-existing traits and tendencies.

Would enjoy hearing other people's thoughts on this topic.

Those aspects remind me of ptp members. I intentionally rolled and got myself banned there. That place just reeks of negativity. Everyone in s.o tries to be funny or something, and it's like you say they display a high level of cynicism disguised as humour.

The few among who regularly use the site and post on s.o frequently are some of the worst trolls I've seen.

no_dollar · 08-12-2012, 08:19 PM

constantly referring to others as fishes, donks, etc is a clear personality disorder and proof u need to get out more. besides those words are so overused it is already lame ass.

Matt Marcinkiewicz · 01-07-2013, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RagingBull

Look at Jesus Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer and many other very humble and moral people... how come they aren't jaded?

You said this so hilariously close to Black Friday...not the best call. Like the OP, though

AceAbram · 02-01-2013, 01:21 AM

well I don't think it's all that surprising that the grinders that you meet have these type of personalities. The characteristics that you have described are present in people who are machivellian or psycopaths. The thing is people with these types of personalities will naturally excell at the game because they are highly rational people who either lacks emotions or are capable of controlling them well