cool bro, I'm glad you're a hippie

doesn't mean you can make your quinoa and kale dishes without some money

Also, I find it really interesting that you didn't post the sentence which immediately precedes your quote from the article, that reads:

this just shows that you have a narrow-minded, western capitalist-orientated out-look on life.

there are plenty of people who are very successful and who really have no (monetary)capital and very little income.

the example that comes to mind is a rock-climber 'bum' who spends the whole year travelling from one rock-climbing spot to the next, sleeping in a tent or at a friends place or at a hostel, spending very little money and making it from whatever odd jobs he can get that may or may not involve climbing.
this person is masterful(successful) in the activity that he devotes his life to.
he's extremely healthy, both physically and mentally.
he's very successful socially, constantly interacting with diverse groups of friends around the world.

(i sometimes envy that lifestyle and the ability/courage to do that. i personally am not strong enough(yet) to leave the security of having plenty of money in a bank account and a fixed place to live)

Unless you're claiming that this 'bum' never ever spends a single dollar, I'm still right, and your whole post is pointless; other than to provide another perspective which confirms what I am saying.

Are you claiming that? If you are, prepare to be disproved really, really thoroughly.

Are you happy bj?

Seems slightly off topic, but

sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am sad

agree with OP mostly, but from my very limited experiences since i don´t play live much, esp at low limit tables you will mostly meet some degenerate *******s, both regs and recreationals. really no need to bother listening to them 90%+ of the time, and i do engage in table conversation.

but you are right, i find my now halfnormal life more exicting and fulfilling than poker.

First of all, if you think because you play poker for a living that makes you better than anyone, that pretty much makes you a delusional moron about your status in life.
Secondly, even though it can be difficult for a lot of pro players in the heat of the game, you should make rec players feel more welcome at the table. This will not only often benefit you financially but will make your game more enjoyable, and for everyone around you, which can lead to better action at the table, its win win in the long run.

Wait so if someone has spent a single dollar they dont count and cant be used as an example of success without money? Its a trap....no modern human can fit then.

Well except for the remaining communal hunter gatherers who i guess cant have success in your eyes though you wouldn't exist if some in the past were not successful, not sure how that works.


This would also make your whole point kind of pointless...It would mean anything form spending a dollar in you life to a billion could be successful. No modern human can get out of your trap so your trap isnt saying that much.

1) US forum lol
2) POKER forum double lol

The point is not to be happy earning outstanding amount of cash, the point is:
without an outstanding amound of cash you can't be happy living a low life, since you have to take care of things on a day to day basis.

To be happy living a low life you need a rich bank account, a house, social, economical and physical infrastructures and so on.

All of this is provided by investing in assets of all kind in a productive way and by people who work hard/well

You also need access to water to live but success isn't usually measured in terms of how many fish ponds you own.

If you are comparing the west to Asian or Arab countries well in those places the main free-time activity is going to the shopping mall, at least in the cities. As regards poorer countries - not having a fridge is not the same as having transcended the need for a fridge, even if someone talks that way right up until the moment when they have enough money and go out and buy one.

If you are comparing "capitalism" to communism or other systems where the means of production are put under collective control, well communism attempts to justify itself in exclusively materialistic terms - and in actual practice in the 20th century prioritised material progress over things like the environment to an even greater extent than capitalist countries. What's worse, is that because everyone is responsible for supporting each other, young healthy people like the rock-climber dude you mention would not have the freedom to choose a different lifestyle other than working for what some politician defines as the greater good of wider society. I packed in my job as a computer programmer in financial markets to mess about teaching English as a foreign language to small groups - that would be impossible in a planned economy because they would say "but Comrade Lektoraj, you have a responsibility to use your technical skills to benefit the community" and there would also be problems letting me "escape" my obligations by going to another country as I have done. That's why the home of such free-thinking people is the west. It might surprise you but the financial traders I worked with totally understood the reasoning and were partially envious that I was actually escaping at age 24 from the lifestyle they had trapped themselves into - almost like rejecting all the money I would have got in the coming years was the most "baller" thing they had ever seen anyone do.

If by "capitalism" you mean "other people having consumerist values" rather than "other people having economic freedom" - I basically agree with your point (if not your terminology) - for example I have a 4-year old mobile and could have got another new one after 2 years but it wouldn't affect my quality of life so I didn't bother. However, the biggest concentration of people who question consumerism, particularly if we don't count the extreme cases who are motivated by damaging religious superstition, is in the West, and the best system for people who question consumerism is one that gives its citizens maximum economic freedom and independence from decisions made by the consumerist majority.

Now I don't want to do straw-man argumentation here and pretend that anyone who disagrees with me is a supporter of Soviet communism. You undoubtedly have your own ideas about politics, economics and also personal life philosophies - but they are your own, not "eastern" , they are easier to live out in a free country and they are probably closer to those of the average westerner than anyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSyHWMdH9gk

Really worth watching all his videos and getting into it as long as you are young and still can change your view of how to live a fulfilling life.

I agree with this (my previous post was in response to the 7th page, not your post above it).

You need to have "enough". Getting money is one piece of the puzzle. Working out what you actually need (e.g. you list "house" rather than "baller house") is the other piece. If you have both pieces then you have economic freedom.

People who have overly materialistic values often miss the second piece of the puzzle. People with overly non-materialistic values often miss the first piece and end up cadging for a sofa to sleep on while they wait to climb rocks the next morning.

because they don't raise preflop, everybody knows to raise preflop.

Successful poker players have looked down on people well before they became successful poker players. See thread on psychopaths and poker.

I think this is very interesting.
I would have read such lines in an italian forum rather than an american one.

Here there is a higher presence of the state, higher welfare, higher taxes, higher debt and higer savings.

This lead to the cliche "italia way of life" and that's good. Only problem, you need money to do so. So you need to produce first. Otherwise there's no way you can sustain such healty lifestyle.

80% is house owner so that is not an issue. But then this overwhelming state presence blocks your business development.. so there's good and bad.

Both materialstic and non materialistic lifestyle need a reality check sometimes.

TBC has a meeger existence making a living off of "rec players".

Rec players play for fun, "pros" play because they have to.

Pro poker player? That's about the same as grinding your life away in a cubicle. No thANKS.

Inferior poker players? Yes.
Inferior beings? NO.

disclamer: I'm not "pro".

Totally agree.

I struggled for a number of years, my life going no where. And i realised its because i have to keep myself occupied. No matter what it is, i need to be doing something. And i just worked in my 9-5 day to day. No promotion in sight, doing nothing, life going no where. - an im not knocking 9-5's either. I just dont feel personally im that type of person.

So if i started a business and it failed. So what.. onto the next business venture.

I just cant go to a 9-5 each day my life going no where. But equally i cant sit down doing nothing. I need purpose.

And this is when i realised, as you said, beyond the accomodation + food + a bit of money for leisure activities + and possibly the odd holiday not much more money is required.

And i now know, 100% , if i won say £100 million on the lottery i would still have to do something. Wherther that be sttarting a property company, a charity or a hedge fund company. I know i wouldnt sit around and do nothing with a £100 million. This is also why these millionaires and billionaires continue to work (and people wonder why) because theyve worked for it, and it gives them a day to day purpose.

And other things like that German plane crashing recently, everybody on board dead, it reminds you money is not everything in this world.