Quote:
Originally Posted by bobtrom
When is the last time you won money going to the movies?
99% of hobbies cost money one way or the other, even if it's as simple as having to buy new shoes more frequently if you go jogging.
Poker is one of the very few hobbies where you're not ALWAYS losing money, and if you're good you can even win money.
If they lose money they can afford to lose, then it's just a hobby like anything else. If you lose $50 in a night 6 times out of 10 and win $50 4 times out of 10, for 10 nights of entertainment you lost $100. That's cheaper than a lot of hobbies out there.
If they lose money they can't afford, or if they are not having fun at all in the 6 nights they lost money, then it's likely an addiction, or they think themselves a theoretical winning player who's just having bad luck.
So what drives them to find poker entertaining? Specifically casino poker. Playing with your friends can be fun, but going to the casino and playing with a bunch of randoms half of whom are wearing headphones not saying a word? That's fun?
Personally I'm only having fun if I'm playing like a maniac, but that is massively -EV and costs way more than 100 dollars a week. The weak/tight nittery you see from most recs...I just don't get how they could see that as fun, particularly if they're losing which they usually are.
I actually don't see people who seem to be enjoying themselves often at all. The occasional drunken 1/2 table but in the 2/5 games where I play the atmosphere is usually downright depressing.