Quote:
Originally Posted by dappadan777
he mentioned to me that his mate an ex-banker has just admitted he spewed off Ł5m online gambling through a combination of casinos AND poker, his life is ruined. Terrible terrible situation and I feel the guy, but those are the types of people that make online poker survive, not regs passing money back and forth. We need fish, rich ones at that. Its a horrible reality but this is the 'industry' if you look at it as black and white as that - you sadly cannot cover over the fact that essentially the only way people really win money is because of donks doing their money.
Wow, this is an interesting one. (There is a big chance that our differences in "poker backgrounds" have led to a difference in our opinions here, and there is also a chance you think I'm a bit naive and wet behind the ears with it as well)
My opinion is that the "job description" of a pro gambler is to provide a fun, safe environment for recreational players to gamble in. Provide a fair playing field where everyone gets a chance (albeit most people will always have the worst of it because they are the weaker player) but where they are treated respectfully (regardless of their poker ability they are still people, often clever people) and given a fair game.
The reason I think online poker has suffered a drastic decline in recreational money is because it's not an environment like this online nowadays, it feels too predatory, too clinical, too much like everyone rushing round to skin them before the other regs do. Seeing a handful of people slobbering all over you like a carcus is pretty off-putting for people, understandably.
It's also ofc due to the state of the global economy, but not just that its in bad times now, the good times before were too good, and as a result so many people were able to make money from poker who just shouldn't be making money from poker. If you're not good enough to survive in decent games then either you find yourself a game to play reg where you can survive or you fall off and die - this is the area of the industry where it SHOULD be cut-throat. As a result the lingering liquidity of the golden days still provides a delusion that you can be a professional poker player without actually being able to play decent players and just wait for bad players to come along, and a situation arises where no1 will play good players because they are worried about being grimmed, missing the weaker players when they do come along so what has happened is like you say dan everyone becomes a bumhunter.
This is my honest opinion on the subject. I personally play vs anyone at stakes i'm comfortable with, play vs anyone that sits on a table i'm trying to start (except in the scenario where I have 6+ other tables running and not comfortable to play HU) and sit and play at 1/6 tables with pretty much anyone if i have the table space. I don't do this because I think I'm the best I do it because I think this is how it SHOULD be done.
I just think everyone wants too much of an edge, poker is gambling at the end of the day and no-where near enough "pro's" have enough gamble in them to survive imo.
The trends i've noticed as online poker has declined is a great upswing in private games, because often these provide the types of environments that the internet doesn't, so most wealthy recreational players have flocked there, and that is 100% only the fault of the regs.