It's tough to enjoy the game when you are not playing within your bankroll... I mean its obviously an enjoyable game whenever you are winning but if you want to still have a good time whether you win or lose you need to be properly rolled.

I've been on both sides of this. Looking back I had the best times playing when I had a legit bankroll for the games I was playing. Lose a couple buy ins? Oh well just reload and keep grinding... On the other hand I've lost all the money to my name and been miserable and depressed.

Whether you enjoy the game or not is 100% within your control. Don't play if you aren't enjoying it!!!

I used to play both $1-$2 and $2-$5 NL in Vegas and I can say the former consists of the most fun times I've ever had in poker. Yes there are some even at those stakes trying to make money, but no one is really making a living. People drink, talk, tip well and the fish are entertained. It's really quite dramatic how much this changes once you jump up to $2-$5. More players are ultra serious, hardly anyone drinks, no one talks or is social and fish are berated more often for their bad play.

I see commonalities in the online game today but spread out over basically every level. If I was a recreational fish I don't think I would last at any site for very long even if I was winning simply for the reason that I wouldn't want to play. Players constantly sitting in and out, taking their full allotted time no matter what their decision, berating other players in chat, etc. Why would I want to subject myself to this?

I agree with a previous poster that once there are more people who are trying to make money/living, the "fun" nature of the game changes. But having said that, I still think that whatever sad state the game is in now is in most part due to the players themselves. The things I described above are just to feed each's ego and don't affect the winrates of 99% of the players who behave in such a way. I for one think it's this type of ego and delusional thinking that still makes many online players exploitable, but I do agree that it's nowhere the amount of fun it used to be.

Is money simply a tool that enables you to play and enjoy the game of poker, or is the money your primary reason for playing the game? What attracts you to the game besides the chance to make money: the camaraderie, the odds, the gamble? If you're a successful player, are your reasons for playing now different from what they were when you started and are you still enjoying it?

IDK straddle, but these questions remind me of a Jim Harbaugh interview I saw when he was the HC of the 49'ers.

I'm not sure what the question was but his answer went something like this- Football isn't fun, there is nothing fun about it. We just enjoy the struggle.-

That's the way I feel after a real deep run in a MTT. I didn't have "fun" but I enjoyed the struggle.

I like numbers and counting, I like odds & percentages, I like games. Naturally drawn to poker, I'm happy I get to enjoy this game day in day out. I hate people though.

Try a larger sample size.

pretty good post, online poker is not fun anymore to most people and has little chance of snaring newbies. Way too many grinders

He means he doesn't like himself

Poker doesn't sound all that fun for Doc Sands and Jake Schindler at the moment.

They were scheduled to bare knuckle brawl just a few minutes ago. Apparently it got pushed back to this evening though.

Who do you guys got??!????

How is there not a thread about this on here??

Goes without saying, hope Docs Sands gets lumped up.

thread titled =Fight Fight fight= it's here somewhere

Poker is fun. I heard an old podcast recently where they suggested occasionally playing for no money (either live or online) with some friends to get yourself back in touch with the fun of it. I took up the suggestion and am going to play my brother (in another country) in a PS playmoney home game tournament series once a week to see whose the best. Just like we used to play computer games against each other as teenagers. The system keeps a quarterly leaderboard for you.

Losing money isn't fun but if you read up on the game and play buy-in levels appropriate to your skill level then you are +EV, and only losing from previous winnings, not your own money.

At least it's a much cheaper hobby than dogging.

Well if you insist on playing VPIP 1% ....

wp

Wow, I just looked up what dogging means in British slang. Nope, that's not what I meant...

Playing against 24 tabling hud monkeys make the fun go bye byes. The recs are constantly typing in zzzzzzzzzz even at 2nl games. I 6 table and playing against endless dudes like this make it feel like I'm 2 tabling. Poker used to be fun but when you gotta wait on the same dudes, every hand, on every table, it's time to call it a day and go find another hobby imo.

Poker is fun when you're goofing around at a casino or playing with friends. Like most everything else, when it's your job, it gets old fast.

People say this about Candy Crush, too.

Dogging is supposed to be fun

Haha.. I only know the brit slung as well, so I started with the same assumption as u

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This

I played for a living for the past 18 months, Just got a job a couple of weeks ago, the difference in having to play and getting to play is massive.

I hate poker players. The game is crap people stalling games berating players, showing their cards in 10 dollar sng's (eye roll)....The game breeds nothing but people who are absolutely delusional about their skills over all stupid people. The game should be fun but its not

It's more fun when u win

+1 on this.

Identical situation here in a way, after pressure was gone, poker became fun again in no time. Even more fun I can say, as the hours of study now show up at the tables

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But you are thinking like a pro here. I agree if you are a real student of the game, then you should think like this. but do you know how many rec players think of it that way? I'd say if it was two per cent you'd be doing very well.

Pretty much this. A little more complex but still.

This too. Once "the grind" gets old (over and over till u actually quit) you can find yourself picking the game back up once a week or so and realizing you forgot how fun the game can be when your not playing to pay the bills.

Brings it all home.


poker IS a fun game and it's awesome OP is trying to point out that we sometimes forget at the core poker is supposed to simply be fun - But when you take it up a few levels or go "pro" - For most players the "fun" is now living on borrowed time. It is what it is.

I try to never forget that I am playing a game and that it is supposed to be fun...Can't always buy what I'm selling tho.

Also obv weed helps heaps =)

It is mostly a business, but also a fun as a game. Has several problems because of money. Personally, i am unlikely to play it for fun. I might play chess for fun but wont as there is no money. A combination of those two would be my game. I turn poker into more or less a business or will stop up to completely. I have better things to do than fight hours every day with something that does not give me enough money nor enough fun.

I will need to think about that business point, after testing more, and see if i have what it takes and if it is a good deal for me, if i want to live that path, even if i might make it, it then having something in it, but it isnt fun, but some life, not exactly fighting, and that is compared to alternatives in life, like to this and that job that u wont exactly call fun, but find something in it.

A hobby player, i dont think so, would be playing for no money or for too small money, not for me as i have better options. So, as a business or about not at all, focusing on other areas.

It is gambling where u buy the ticket and then win or lose this or that, after it is business or not. Now i am just thinking if i will buy the nlh cash ticket or and something else. And my book and enough experience times are behind, and have played also plo and 8g, and tournaments. Making 8g a business, even included all the tournaments, nice ticket, but thats all. Plo, lacks tourneys, has rake problems, was yesterdays game, lacks cash games also. The only game that survived was nlh, and it can get still better, and one form is all we need, no difference really, and add formats later, if want, and the world. So, thats it, for business.

The fun players hardly have more time either, the tourneys being their main thing, the nlh tourneys. But cash is for the best gaming and there are enough of them and complex enough. Poker having come to its end here, complete, and some play it for fun, and some for little extra money or hoping to score in tournaments.

I hope nothing as it is just a ticket, and i had my fun already, now having just the nlh cash ticket and i think that is about it, and it has little to do with fun, just being an option, like trying to get somewhere, and if not getting, thats about it then.