1. I'm not advocating talking the money out of it. Poker is my job, I want to make money, and I need not apologize for that.

2. You can win money in tennis and golf tournaments. That's my point. They, like poker, are skill games that can be played for money.

3. To use your ridiculous example, I'm not sure why Jesus would care about a poker tournament any more than any other type of tournament with an entry fee and a prize pool. I don't think that I was in any kind of spiritual danger when I played a poker tournament, or when I ran a 10K race or played or played in the Michigan Open chess tournament.

I knew engineers were smart. I did not know that they were magical.

if that was a shot at Christianity, I have to wonder if you would be as likely to tell an Orthodox Jew or a Muslim that he worshiped a magical being. My guess is that you would not.

I don't know what it is about religion in these forums, but I remember a thread that went nuts because someone who identified himself as a pastor said that he played poker for fun and profit.

Professional tennis players don't win money from other tennis players. They win money from a price pool that's provided by sponsors. That distinction is one of the central aspects of this thread. Serena Williams does not pay an entry fee to play Wimbledon and Sergio Garcia didn't pay to be able to win the Masters. They don't have to risk own money to compete in a tournament.
Because I don't think Jesus wants you to take advantage of people that have a gambling problem.
I am fortunate enough to be able to win age group awards in smaller running events. Prices for that always are provided by sponsors. Maybe some bigger events use part of the entry fees for price money, but in general that money comes from sponsors and entry fees are used to cover costs of the event and make race directors rich.

I doubt there are many chess tournaments where players pay $1000+ to enter and win money from other players, but I might be wrong.

Let's assume you are not gambling when you play poker. Would you argue that other players are gambling when they enter a tournament without any clue what they are doing? Would you argue that a significant amount of players would be better off not spending any money on poker? Would you argue that (almost) every tournament has players in it that have a gambling problem?

What people called judges and legislators think about gambling makes all the difference. Playing online poker is a felony in the state of Washington. if absolutely matters what people think of poker players and whether they think we are gambling..

That's why the Poker Players Alliance is fighting state-by-state legal battles. That's why Doyle Brunson got the International Skills Game Association (I think that's the right title) to add poker to the list along with games like Go and Chess.

EDIT And that's why a member of these forums got the US Department of Labor to add Professional Poker Player to their list of recognized occupations. We are fighting a war for hearts and minds. THAT is why it matters.

I think anyone playing a poker tournament for the first time would know a lot more than I did when I first started. That said, even though I had never played poker and didn't, as far as I know, know anyone that did, as soon as I started watching poker on TV I knew that it was a game of skill. Two guys with doctorates in theoretical physics (Michael Binger) and computer science and artificial intelligence (Chris Ferguson) wouldn't be wasting their time if their wasn't some kind of skill involved.

Anyone who has watched even one episode of the WPT or the WSOP might know that a pair has an edge against AK or that suited connectors are the best hand to have against aces. In 2017 no one goes in completely clueless. They know that some players are better than others.

Would some people be better off not playing poker? Yes, but a lot of people think it's a waste of time to pursue a career in the arts. I played in an army band for 23 years. My sister has an MFA in painting and she has taught both painting and classical guitar.

I am always reluctant to say that someone shouldn't do x for a career, whatever x is.

I am not arguing that it doesn't matter what other people think, I am arguing that authors of dictionaries are not the only people whose opinion matter.

On the other hand meassures could be taken to decrease the variance of a sport: Superbowl could be played best of five, nhl and other sports could be played best of 21. Fifa could allow the use of tv cameras to challenge referee decisions. But they don't. Because among other things they think reducing the variance in this way would decrease the enjoyment of the sport.

I'm troubled by Dreezy's Law

After 6 years online poker (recreational) up to 50nl cash, $15 STT, $33 MTT I'm 100% solidly break even.

Now I don't know whether I'm a gambler or not.

Help.

Why would an Orthodox Jew or Muslim be treated any differently? I don't know a lot about those religions, but I'm pretty sure they also worship a magical being. There is nothing offensive or inaccurate about describing your god as magical. I'm also not sure why one shouldn't be just as willing to "take shots" at those religions.

People get worked up about religion, which is why it probably shouldn't be brought up unless it adds to the current discussion. I don't see what value it brings to this one and I don't know why you had to bring up gambling in the Bible.

Oh, I would have. I don't discriminate in religions.

Well, you brought it up as an argument. If you're citing something magical then you don't expect that to hold up do you? It would be like me citing Harry Potter and expect it to mean something to others.

Oh, good point. 10 points for Slytherin !

We are obviously not going to agree on this issue, so there is no use in debating it any more. I just want to stress one thing,.

I am a member of the Poker Players Alliance. I want to stress how important it is that poker is respected as a profession. Words matter. They mean everything as far as how we are regulated. Calling ourselves professional poker players (if it in fact it is our job) sounds much better than saying that we are gamblers, even if both are a correct description.

A special thank you to Maria Ho who, when she did commentary for the Heartland Poker tour, never talked about silly things like ""using his one time" or "poker gods" as many commentators and players do.

Ho was was constantly saying something like, "That hand shows the difference between how amateurs and professionals approach a hand." Then she would explain the difference. She taught the viewers how the game worked and made it sound like a serious profession. Viewers get a very different impression of poker when listing to the Sexton/Van Patten team on the WPT.

I was very active in politics for a while, including holding local office. What this all boils down to is that in the case of poker, legislators and judges are what politicians call "persuadables." Most of them don't care about poker one way or the other. The impressions that they get from you, me and the television shows could make a difference in the way they vote.

Wingardium Leviosa!

politics has nothing to do with what is true - only who has vested interests. you can tell legislators that you don't feel like you're gambling as a professional and still be cognizant of the fact that you are by definition

A professional poker player is both a member of that ancient and honourable occupation, and simultaneously a gambler.

Well it took some time but can I take that as an acknowledgement that there is a gambling aspect in poker?

Nobody is saying that poker is purely gambling, obviously it is not. It is completely viable as a long term profession and variance will even out after significant amounts of time so if you are applying decent BRM you can more or less ensure you win in the end.

That's only theoretically true for tournament poker, because nobody will reach that necessary amount of playing time over their career/life.

Doesn't make that big of a difference if you have a very good day in cash game A with 1/2 blinds or cash game B with 5/10 blinds. But "getting lucky" in a random $11 tournament might make you less than $1k, running hotter than the sun in an anniversary $215 Sunday Million might (almost) make you a millionaire.

FWIW, I have no shame to admit that I was running over 10000 big blinds over EV (over various stakes) when I quit my serious cash game online poker career.