A state of mind Part 1: Poker is not pure gambling!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Looking back at the success of online poker and the boom it caused after 2003, it is quite understandable that everyone wants to get a part of the cake ... especially when there is so much money involved. Even the mass media has realized the potential and expands their horizon now and shows the average reader and watcher their very own mix of sensations and publicity, may it be good or bad ... it doesn't matter though as long as it does attract the audience.

The problem lies within the general "recipe for success": The truth does not always sell as good as a plausible story full of prejudices and false pretenses that will catch the attention of the ordinary and uneducated masses. It is not the responsibility of the mass media to educate the audience, they have to make profit and in the current society this is usually defined upon publicity. It already starts within the educational system that does barely encourage the younger generation to pick up knowledge on their own. 

It is a two sided sword though and we shall not blame someone else for the lack of education, we are responsible to do our utmost to gain knowledge and improve our chances to break out of the daily routine. But it is obviously by far easier to search the mistake everywhere else, it's a reflection of our current society that we appreciate everything when we can take advantage of something ... but if exactly the same does not help us, we want to send it to hell.

Unfortunately those prejudices don't stop around the corner; they are also well established in most of the governments all over the world. Online Poker is a thorn in the flesh of most politicians and they try their utmost to build up the impression that every poker player is a criminal and you get treated by far worse than the general manager of a bank that just burned several million Dollars due to a speculative trading.
It is quite remarkable though that most of those prejudices are just based on assumptions and not personal experiences ... and somehow surprising when you consider the fact that the government does not make any money with it. A really strange coincidence, isn't it ... the campaigns against smoking have also decreased dramatically in the last few years, maybe because they need the taxes on cigarettes?

I for my part can't wait for the day when an official research by the state will claim that poker is an illness caused by a specific genetic defect and that we should get a medical treatment to find a cure. Nobody is a gambler by default, some people tend to get addicted but that doesn't mean that every poker player doesn't know at all what he / she is doing. It doesn't automatically mean that we are fanatics that enjoy the danger and put our life to risk whenever we can, yet many still think that poker is played in a dark backroom and when you get beaten you pull out the gun and shoot your opponent as shown in the old Wild Western movies. 

Would it not be by far more profitable in the long run if poker actually gets regulated on a reasonable level, where the government and the poker players cooperate to establish a secure and profitable ambiance for all? Or is it evil by default that everything where the state doesn't get its fair tax has to be wrong? When you see the recent development all over the world, you might get that impression ... there are a few exceptions and we also know that organizations exist that want to improve that situation, however nobody really knows where this might end up. The poker business is still going strong despite the current economical crisis and the slow process of recovery.

It is the time though that we all do more to show that poker is not gambling, sure it is a card game and thus will always involve luck ... we as poker players are not denying this fact because it is more than obvious. But with the right preparation, strategy and also education there are a lot of potential solutions to cut down the variance and make the game more predictable. Or why do you always see familiar names in the big tournaments all over the world? They must either be the luckiest players on this planet and can maintain this hot streak for years ... or they have an edge and actually know what they are doing.

Part of the fascination of this game is that we all theoretically have the same odds at winning, this is mathematically correct ... yet some players seem to be more successful in the long run than others. Is it eventually possible that there is more than just luck involved? Holy crap, this would actually mean that everybody can learn to be successful at poker if they are open minded and constantly work on their game! More about the educational and psychological aspect to follow in the next blog entry ...

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Poker in the current society and the influences on the social life

As you might have already guessed by the title, this entry is supposed to talk a bit about the current situation of this complicated card game and the role in our society. Who would have actually thought 15 years ago that poker (besides the gambling paradise Las Vegas of course) would create such a thrill and boom all over the world? But the revolution in online poker and most likely also the success of the man with the perfect name and the perfect story at the World Series of Poker 2003 triggered a boom out of the blue. The number of players reached new dimensions and people that never thought about gambling in their life before tried their luck and wanted to be the next Chris Moneymaker. Every year thousands of players travel to the Mekka of Poker - Sin City - and play for millions of dollars, amounts that may sound absolutely unrealistic and from another world. Sometimes the amounts are that big that you completely lose all relations, especially when you compare it with the yearly salary of a regular worker. 

But is poker really accepted nowadays in our society? You can't really confirm or deny it, basically it is spread into 2 major parties: people that fully support poker and people that hate it and want to do their utmost to get rid of this „gambling". Whereas some point out that the right strategy and education has a huge influence on this game, you will also hear the words "gambling" and "prevention of addiction". Obviously you can't deny that poker is a card game and thus luck will always be a part of it ... but you can cut down the influence of luck to a minimum with the correct preparation, tactic, and strategy. 

But if you try to explain those concepts in our current society to persons or a group that is against all forms of gambling from scratch or never made such an experience, you will always get back raised eyebrows or even open rejection. The tolerance from gambling haters is by far lower than the one from people that actually support poker, because players forgive much easier if someone doesn't understand it (at least I can say that from my personal experience). 

You also can't deny that given by the extremely fast evolution of modern technologies, the younger generation is by far more open minded than the older generation, where other personal qualities and opinions existed and people still think that poker is played behind closed doors or in saloons like you could see in the old wild western movies. This understanding still exists, even more common than you would actually assume ... and the politicians with their huge common sense for reality try their utmost to declare this card game as illegal gambling and band it from all public attention. You might ask why, well that is pretty easy ... they don't earn anything out of this humongous business and thus it is not allowed to "survive".

How comes though that we can watch poker almost every day on TV (ESPN at the USA, Sport1 at Germany) ... on a sports channel??? So does that mean poker has anything to do with sports? In a few countries poker is considered as game of skill, however at Germany and also the States it is still gambling. Like most countries that officially consider this game as a treat, it is quite interesting that no poker site ever settled down to operate their business from there. Coincidence? Just imagine the possible jobs and the income through taxes if this industry would actually settle down at your own country ... you can't even imagine how many millions of dollars (00100100100110101 in the banking language lol) the government is missing out on, especially when money is so tight right now in the economical crisis. It would be so easy to set up the basic requirements and give them a better tax rate for gods sake, but this opportunity has been wasted and now you obviously don't want to see advertisements for something that you cannot benefit from. 


It is really comfortable to just declare it as illegal gambling ... of course that is not the case for the national casinos by the state, because there they get a fair cut. You can go broke and they will kindly show you the way to the next ATM to get more money to blow away at the tables ... as long as the rake is flowing. It is pretty much the same for alcohol and cigarettes as well - I remember many campaigns in the past how dangerous alcohol and smoking is. But have you seen any of those lately? It all calmed down, because now in the economical crisis they can't risk to miss out on the income from those highly addictive industry and the lobby behind those also sponsor the political campaigns. Most even pay for both major parties because it is still worth it in the long run ... how pathetic is that? Well, so what ya gonna do concerning poker? It's pretty simple, you just pick some doctors that studied this gambling for years ... but never played themselves nor ever spoken with pro's and players that earn a living through it, they just care about all the broke prime examples that ruined their whole life. With those few significant examples, you can declare poker as highly addictive and you have to prevent your citizens from this new drug. Funny though that quite a lot of politicians play poker recreationally themselves, but just a few will admit this openly. 

Many still think that poker is played behind closed doors and the people are sitting there with pistols and are ready to use them when they catch a cheater. Listen ... this is not the wild west anymore, we do have the 21st century! Yes there are people that will go broke and lose everything ... there are also people that die because they just had too much alcohol or have been smoking for the past 20 years and they never realized the risk of getting cancer. At online poker many will point out that 90% of the players are losing ... so just 10% are winning consistently - well the winnings of those 10% have to come from somewhere, it doesn't just grow on the tree around the corner. But how is it possible that you will always see certain names deep in poker tournaments all over the world ... they are either damn lucky or it aint that random as many assume. I tend to believe that the skill will by far dominate the luck in the long run if you work on your game, educate yourself and go into the game with a certain strategy. 

The mass media and the yellow press also recently discovered the potential of this care game and put up stories, the problem there ist hat they will always show the extreme examples for the good or for the bad ... there is no middle way. The attempted robbery at the EPT Germany earlier this year was obviously not in the best interest of the game and you surely don't want to see this kind of publicity. It seemed like a huge bad beat for the poker scene for quite a few days, but finally we have been able to scoop the pot on the river and got back on track. There are many associations all over the world that also try to unite all poker players and fight for the rights to keep enjoying their passion for the game and not be considered as criminal that might fear to get screwed because you participated in a 20 bucks buy in tourney. 

Whenever you mention the word poker in your social network (family, friends etc.), it takes a lot of patience and persuasive power to convince that you actually know what you are doing and don't entirely depend on Lady Luck. There is such a huge potential in poker and luck is really just a very small part of this complex card game. I mean there are so many aspects that are still not fully discovered, many people wrote books about those topics and you basically interact with other persons each day that share the same passion for this game. Everybody can learn the basics and we all get the same probability at the beginning to be successful. But our knowledge, education, instincts and experience will decide if we do have an advantage over our opponents and are able to win by skill. Does that sound like pure gambling? Just look at BlackJack or Roulette and all the other famous and popular casino games and you will soon see the difference! You will have to invest time and money though to get better and many don't like that fact or don't bother with it because they can get easily excited over small winnings and never intend to get better. That is fine, as long as you know for yourself that it's just a hobby. 

Another conflict is the different understanding and value for this game within the young and old generation. The game is getting more and more aggressive and young kids try to take over control, of course you don't want them to explain you how things work when you have already been playing for a long time and got a lot of experience. The young guns discover the live game and try to approach it the same way like they were used to in front of their computer screens at home. The more old fashioned players do have a lot more respect for the game and when those two worlds clash at the poker tables, you will always see a lot of action. It is more complicated for the older players to adjust their style in order to stay competitive and back in their young years, you did not have Poker Tracker and did not play 12 tables on your computer. You have been sitting at the tables in your local casino and enjoyed the game against other gentlemen. But the younger generation is getting used to all the modern technology and it is quite impossible that both will get along all the time. They do have one thing in common though: Their passion for this card game ... and nobody can take that away. The politicians can try but I am sure that the poker business will always find a way to circumvent that and ensure that you can still play in some way.

Who is supposed to make the first step though, the players or the government / our politicians. It is pretty unrealistic to assume that the politicians will actually admit a mistake. There has to be a compromise though and this time its not up to the state to provide the opportunity to have access to education. It is up to us poker players to show them that we take this very seriously and that poker is by far more than just a card game. I mean there is so much knowledge and strategy behind, it is just strange that others can't see it. You would think they are blind or maybe they are just trying to ignore it because it is out of their comfort zone. We do have the opportunity though to provide the education to a bigger audience through the internet and there are also meetings where you can share your knowledge with others.
Pro's from the big sites appear on TV and show up on marketing events to represent us, the poker players. They don't just represent the site that sponsors them in the poker events, they also enable more publicity at the same time as well. You can't force someone to understand this passion for the game though, you always need to stay constructive to convince someone with logical arguments why you think poker is by far more than gambling. And the better you demonstrate that and the more people you reach with your message, the better the odds for the future are that poker will be accepted as game of skill and not illegal gambling. It is our duty to speak up and fight for our rights! 

The big question is if we will be able to convince the politicians to rethink about their attitude towards the game so far ... because it has always been known as a fact that you should not mention logic and politician in the same sentence. A lot in our current society and especially the politics doesn't make much sense for the ordinary citizen and we actually elected them to speak for us and respect and protect our rights. One way to convince them would be to show them the potential tax earnings that they would get and the influence of that money on the national finances and the economy worldwide. It is another story though that they would actually admit a mistake and jump out of their comfort zone. And it is also not guaranteed that the mass media and the poker industry will increase the importance of poker education ... they rather care about their profit, because after all it's also a business. There will be a compromise and we as poker players can work actively on it and influence the direction that it will take. Are you ready to speak up for your right?

Best of luck at the tables and enjoy the reasonable gambling!

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