Quote:
Originally Posted by Watchmaker
Man, if you think "poker culture" is bad now that it's a bunch of geeky gamers with no real-world work ethic controlling the Universe, imagine what it was when "poker" consisted almost solely of grifters, degenerates, con men, addicts, felons and thieves, back before the "boom". Considering the era she comes from, Joan Rivers was totally, totally correct in what she said on the Apprentice.
Poker by it's very nature will always draw a 'certain sort' of person and the ethos that evolves will probably be something you hope your kids aspire above, but you'd have to be pretty thin-skinned to 'hate' any of it. Undesirable? Yeah, kinda, maybe. We're basically a pond full of scum, only with a higher mean IQ than randoms off the street. Still, I don't think it's as bad as you're making it out to be.
if only the higher IQ translated to real world intelligence.
what made poker cool was guys like farha and the other vegas pros, gamblers, degenerates etc. It gave the game a certain mystique. the general public looked at those guys and think back to the wild west days or whatever. people respect or admire or hold in awe of risk takers or things they cant understand.
......and theres the people that dont like them as well. this also gave it the taboo thing and that can be pretty cool.
but what you have now is night and day different. the game has been turned upside down. its not about the gamble any more. the mystique has been broken down into a mathematical formula. the game has been exposed and taken over by a majority of people that the general public is not fond of.
the image isnt one of risk taking gamblers any more and those that are in the know, really know how things like bumhunting have been taken to the extreme. the common image now is someone under 25 who looks nothing like what most people think of as gamblers. not only that, but their general behavior is not one of calm cool gamblers either.
funny how my cousin, who knows nothing about the game, admired someone like moon. he thought it was funny how the guy nobody respected and was an amatuer, conducted himself more like a true pro, when most of the other "pros" couldnt sit still when they are all in.
theres a lot more to it than just this but i think certain people will get the point. the others who dont are the ones that fall into the criteria of the new breed that isnt appealing to the general public.