Why I don't tell people I play poker. - Page 142 - Poker Beats Brags and Variance

So here's what probably happened. There are a lot of delusional people who gamble (like, non-poker gambling) that think they have some sort of system, and lie (to themselves and others) about being a winning player. Most people have no idea that poker is completely different than a casino game type of gambling like blackjack or craps, they think it's all the same thing. So when you told her you played poker and you were good at it and you won, she was looking at you like you'd look at someone who said they had a roulette system - ie a delusional gambler who is either lying about making money or maybe they just ran lucky in the short term but their degen tendencies will overtake it.

You get better results if you explain how poker differs from "gambling" first - that it's not a fixed-odd game that you play against the house, but rather a game you play against other players where the casino makes money by taking a cut for running the game, not by betting against you. So, unlike all the other types of gambling where you can only make losing bets, you can win at poker by being better than the other players. You can emphasize that it's closer to chess with a random element than something like blackjack.

I like explaining it like this. I tell them I only play in games when I know I have a certain amount amount of knowledge/experience over the people I play against. It is comparable to this, pretend there are 11 blue balls in a bucket and 9 red balls. I am getting the other person to bet $20 againnst me repeatedly and I always get the blue ones and he always gets the red ones. There are going to be some days where we make thus bet against eachother 20 or 30 times, and they win money off of me. However, if we met up weekly, for years straight, smd placed this bet against eachother 50,000 times, I am winning!!!!!

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12-14-2021 , 02:50 PM

#3527

King Fish

A Big Deal Around Here

Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 15,065

Quote:

Originally Posted by 29offutgshove

Cliffs: 29offutgshove has blue balls, tells everybody, and thinks he’s winning.

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12-15-2021 , 12:04 PM

#3528

fidstar-poker

I'm gonna need a hacksaw

Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 32,988

Because I don't play poker.

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12-15-2021 , 03:25 PM

#3529

suzzer99

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 99,984

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSumner

Bored and found this thread.

Wanted to share, I met this woman online, we move to texting, at some point I explain that in my free time/hobbies I play poker and wrote a book on the math and psychology of poker to help myself learn and improve (I'm a math/psych nerd, cant lie)

I tell her my goal is to win enough every 6 months to pay my property taxes with other people's money. I have successfully done this for the last 8 years in a row. I play every other weekend and on some days off from work.

She insists that my "gambling" is a "waste of money"

Me be confused. If I've had 7 winning years in a row (and I've played for 8 years) how is it a "waste of money"?
If you always come out ahead, is it really "gambling"?

I'm coming out ahead every single year since I took the game seriously.

She just couldnt figure it out, she held firm to "you're wasting your money"

I moved on after that texting night, she was kinda hot, but not hot enough to merit being with someone so dumb

I wanted to say, "soooooo, you go to your work each week and come back with more money than you started, right? Is that a waste of your money? Is that "gambling"?
I just didnt care enough to argue it out and explain it to her. Winning players do exist, and for those people, it's not "gambling" unless you expand your definition of the word to mean "anyone who makes money from any given activity"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some full time pro crusher, but paying off obscene Chicagoland area property taxes with other people's money feels pretty good.
This was also the last time I ever mentioned I play poker to new women I date.

Meanwhile "I'm an investment banker" = oh awesome! No gambling there.

When I played poker full time, my dad refused to ever call it anything other than "gambling". It didn't matter how many times I explained to him that I have an edge, and that I'm actually more like the house in a casino.

Awhile back I hit a mini-jackpot on my AMC stock when the robinhood guys shot it to the moon. My Dad was so proud of his son, the "genius investor" lol.

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12-24-2021 , 04:03 PM

#3530

GMan42

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,257

Quote:

Originally Posted by 29offutgshove

The metaphor I like (because I think it comes closer to the brutal variance of poker lol) is that it's like every day for a year I play a game of chess against a guy for $10, then after the game we flip a coin for $50. Short term you can get raped by the coin flips, but after those even out the guy who's better at chess has a nice profit.

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12-27-2021 , 02:15 PM

#3531

dochol31

grinder

Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 559

Telling anyone you play poker in the UK is beyond a waste of breath, the sheer ignorance is staggering. The immediate response is always 'I know someone who lost everything gambling' followed by 10 minutes of not listening to a word you say after that.

At least in the USA ppl half understand the game, watch WSOP etc.