Because almost no one will ever realize their true EV in multi-table tournament poker and certainly no one will in big buyin tournaments. That's what makes it 'gay'.

Your second point is really far off, and that is due to you not understanding what I just wrote (you know, the EV part).

As for the rest of your OP, well...

Welcome Vegas, kid.

mad props to

''I watched an episode of Premier League Poker where Tony G flipped up his hand a bit too early against Andy Black after some confusion. His demeanor was that of a hobo''

These two sentences make this thread absolutely perfect.

I think the basic suggestions are just about kind of right: The there is a dark degen side to gambling hidden by the bright lights of vegas, and that there are a lot of poker players out there who may have big names but have managed to screw things up for themselves. Pretty sure noone would disagree with that.

But it does turn into a big mental rant. Leaving aside those who want to play for millions of pounds, would you not concede there are hundreds of thousands of unknowns around the world who make a nice little sum playing, and use it to better their life a bit. I like to think I am one of these people. They may not be brilliant, nor live in vegas, no will ever be in any possible to play for millions even if they wanted to, but they have done well from poker and will likely continue to do so.

This post doesnt really say anything that isnt kind of obvious anyway in my opinion and draws upon fairly silly sweeping statements

I'm sick of this billionaire comment.

1. A friend of mine in university was from a billionaire family and would tell us how important money was to her father and grandfather. In fact, they had the nicest house, cars etc but they would hate buying these things because they'd rather invest it in something else and make more money.

2. You have someone like Bill Gates who is 'rumored' to be quite cheap (Even though I don't believe it because of his charity work). You have someone like Beal who specifically stated that he was annoyed in losing that much money against the pros in Vegas etc.

3. You guys can't compare $1b to $1,000...somebody said its like having $1000 and only losing $5. Well, $5+$5+$5 adds up. The fact that the billionaire loses it in a card game as well makes it even more worrying and annoying

You guys don't have $1b so don't try to pretend like you understand how losing $5m feels. Its a lot regardless of how much your worth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOHPyYnJKFs

Look at the interview in the end. Maybe he hasn't slept but he looks like he's got problems here! Heard his business ventures are doing really well now (saw some interviews on pokertube) so I'm guessing he's alright at the moment.

OP, your post is fantastic.
One of the best,most truthful posts I have ever read on 2+2.
And very well-written.
I like how you related your personal experiences of playing in Vegas also.

Poker is a game where the strongest survive. Just the nature of the game.

There are many successful poker players that will always have money. There are also great poker players that will always be broke because of the choices they make (pits, expenses, lifestyle, etc)

can i have the lotto numbers for next weeks Max Millions?

one trip to vegas and you know the finances of the poker world, amazing!

You have some points here.

"In the ‘end’ there is no such thing as a ‘winning’ player. In the end players will lose all they have or close to all they have if they don’t have some other project to fall back on."

Especially this.. I mean WT? lol

Okay, so tell us how it feels to lose $5 million.

No ****, losing $5m to a billionaire would be minor. Obviously if you are a billionaire you are a man of business, losing millions on business ventures should be super standard.

Can't stand those masculine soundbites. Poker is a nerdy card game, not a bloody Roman death battle.

I saw title to this thread and thought. Ummm no. Then I saw how long OP's post was, decided not to read it, and figured no was the right answer.

Ah... you gotta try playing headsup limit holdem vs the same aggressive opponent on six tables.

Lol was supposed to say can't see your hole cards lol damn iPhone!!

Why?? Be specific if you are capable of it.

Thats an excellent post. There has to be an element of degeneracy in you to play high stakes for a start. The constant need to gamble on everything typifies behaviour of a gambling addict. I mean why play craps when you're so +ev in poker?

i'm pretty sure that if i were rich, i'd wear NOTHING BUT flip flops.

i get the feeling from this thread title that your ******ed. (also didn't read ****)

Really? Dwan is up over 4m online this year alone...

Recently on the last run of the Big Game that aired in August Calacantis was needling DN for not tipping the dealers enough. In his needling he said that Forbes released DN worth to be around the 10M mark. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have gotten that wrong. Also, there's a big difference between being backed and being sponsored. Being backed someone fronts you the cash and you split the winnings but a lot of these guys who are the face of websites are sponsored which is the equivalent of having an endorsement deal.

.

Oh and can't be bothered to find it but the only other line I read, when scanning over this cluster**** of idiocy, about Tom Dwan responding in a way that DEFINITELY PROVES he's broke, is ****ing ******ed.

Just wow so fail.

iv seen many ssnl graphs been consistently going down recently on PTR from players who were winning for like 2-3 years. some just become b/e.

I only look at FTP b/c that's where I play, and you see it starting around early 2010/late 2009. i might be crazy.