Why Poker Sucks

[Spike!]

I watch a lot of poker on TV, especially the Gabe Kaplan show 'High Stakes Poker', where famous players gamble with their own money. I watch it because I like to see the players reactions to winnng and losing. I watch the tournaments too. Poker sucks and I would never play it. It sucks because no matter how good you are, if you don't get the cards at least some of the time, you can't win. Bluffing is not a full time strategy. It sucks because you can have the best hand right up till the river card and then still lose. It sucks because there are just too many things that can happen that you have no control over.

There is a good poker movie called 'Lucky You'. It doesn't sugar coat the game, shows it for the nasty thing it is, and is entertaining too. There's a great scene where the main charactor is teaching Drew Barrymore how to play. She's having fun and asks him what he does for a living. He replies he plays poker. She says 'You don't work, you just gamble all day?' He turns his head to her and says 'What makes you think its not work?' What a fatastic line. Anybody who plays for real, and plays for real money, knows its just as much work as any other job you'll ever have.

[Davey-Jones]

Spoken like a non-player! 

[Noble Savage]

I've never really been into poker. Not exactly my thing.

I remember watching a poker movie called 'Rounders' (with Matt Damon and Edward Norton) which I found it to be pretty cool. It somewhat inspired me and got me thinking about this whole "professional gambling" thing.

However, that didn't eventually get me into poker, but instead, that was what led me to roulette. Go figure.

[Spike!]

Spoken like a non-player!>>

I played in the casino for a short time. At the lower end, where 99% of the players are, its a stupid game. The stakes are so low that bluffing is impossible. At a full table, 75% of the players always call you. And everybody there takes themselves soooooooooooo seriously. They wear hoods and sunglasses and sneers on their faces, and stare people down. If you can't bluff, what the heck is the point of that childish hogwash? The best hand always wins.

[Davey-Jones]

At the lower end, where 99% of the players are, its a stupid game. The stakes are so low that bluffing is impossible. At a full table, 75% of the players always call you. The best hand always wins.

So what you are telling me is that of 99% of all poker players, 75% of them will pay you off when you value bet the hell out of them? Yeah... I can see why it's not your game.

Sounds like you placed way too much value in bluffing. In my experience, only suckers do that. Not saying you're a sucker, but it seems like you gave up when instead you should have switched strategies for the games you were playing. Low limit poker are some of the easiest games to beat. Why? Because most guys don't know what the hell they are doing. If you prefer playing against professionals, by all means go for it. But even the pros go to the weaker games like the ones you've just described.

Too many people think that after watching "Rounders", they can go out there and becoming poker players. Thankfully they don't do more research than that. If you are serious about making money at poker, it takes a little more than TV to do it. You said so yourself, "Who says it isn't work?".

IMO, I think you really missed the big picture.

[Davey-Jones]

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