Fortunately, it ain't real money

As long as I can remember I have had a fascination with card games. And I always wanted a way of keeping score...but not enough to lay money on the table. Well, that is not exactly true...once when we were maybe 12 or 13 we played for pennies...of course, all the pennies belonged to one person and he got them all back so it wasn't really gambling...it was, in fact, just keeping score.
Well, recently I discovered a new way to keep score...free online poker. Even worse...I discovered I am good at it. How good? Well...they start you with 1000 chips. I currently have over 42,000 on my account...in just a few hours of playing, certainly less than 20. Christmas Eve they were running tournaments where you paid a 320 chip entry fee. I played in 5. They were 9 person pods. The top 3 finish "in the money". I finished 3rd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. For someone playing for only 3 or 4 days...that is pretty smurfing good. I am pretty proud of it...sort of.
I just don't understand the people I play against. Most people play virtually every hand because it isn't real money so it doesn't matter if you bust...I guess. I, on the other hand, play only when I have a reasonable hand and it is reasonably priced. So when I come in anyone paying attention KNOWS I have a hand. And they still call me. I warn them "I have the hand...will show" to encourage them to fold. And they don't. And I bust them. Over. And over. And over. "I have a high flush" doesn't scare them away, "I have a boat" does nothing. And they match me bet for bet, sometimes even raising me. Then when we reveal the hands my chop total rises and theirs falls. At one tournament I played 9 hands and won the last 8. On 4 of them I warned people off...and they still bet into me.
I would hope that if this were real money they would not play like that...but I have seen the ESPN broadcasts and know they do. What is wrong with these people?
That is one of the reasons I find gambling itself so insidious. People throw good money after bad...they lose some to a bet, then add more trying to get back what they lost. Every so often they will hit something and get SOME back which leads them to believe they can get more back so they lose even more. By the time it is over they have "bled chips" to the point they have nothing...only with real gambling it is not chips, it is money...the worry and stress and effort they put into making it. Meanwhile, some slick operator who is smarter or luckier or just plain a better player comes along and takes their money for nothing more than catching the right card at the right moment.
I guess some people enjoy the risk more than they hate the pain. Makes me sick every time I see the Oregon Lottery let loose their "The Oregon Lottery...it does good things" I just want to cry. First off, check out the statistics on how much gross profit comes in from it. Then check out how much is spent on the new (since the advent of the state-sponsored lottery) Gambling Addiction programs. Then check out the number of people on welfare and social security spending their (theoretically) meager incomes on the lottery. For every one you hear of that catches lightning in a bottle and temporarily alleviates their monetary difficulties there are hundreds who cause themselves greater hardship.
Oh, and those alleviations ARE temporary. Check out studies that have been done on former million dollar plus lottery winners after 10 and often even 5 or, in a few cases, 2 years or less...it has proved harmful almost universally. I include the word "almost" because surely someone has been helped...but I have not seen a study showing such a case. I just find it hard to believe there isn't one.
Or actually...I don't. Because gambling does seem to have one thing at its root...greed. And getting some doesn't get you more. The people who play the lottery despite not being able to afford it are almost universally people who want something for nothing...they want to have more money to make their life better when it has been shown ad infinitum that more money does not equal a better life. People who are satisfied with little tend to be satisfied when they make it big. People who are dissatisfied with little tend to be dissatisfied with a lot and always seek more and more and more and more.
I do see a place where people like me might find gambling a diverting entertainment...note I say LIKE me...because it is not me. I do not find it diverting when there is actually money on the line. I get greedy...if REAL MONEY hits the table I become a different person, a tense, angry snarling beast who will drive a (figurative) stake through your heart to get money that I did not earn through any legitimate practice. I would not care if I were taking your rent money or food money or medical bill money...and the very fact people play with those monies is the most disturbing thing of all.
"Play". What an interesting word. The "gaming commission" did a great job of reframing the discussion when they moved the lingo from "gambling" to "gaming" as if spending your money there is no different than sitting around playing Scrabble or Monopoly.
The wording is important. At some point I will write about a valuable book, The Cant of Conquest which has some interesting points to make about how which words are used affects how you view history. The same point holds true in gambling circles.
So on the one hand, if you enjoy a nice game of poker where nobody gets hurt, look me up sometime. On the other hand, if you want to play for real money...go check out Vegas. They have to keep the lights on somehow.
Oh, and...it obviously isn't just Vegas. Check out the statistics on A) how Native American tribes are funded currently and B) how much per capita they each receive. On the one hand, if anyone deserves it, they would qualify...on the other hand, it is a sad, sad day to see so many peoples who once lived in ways such that if one member of the tribe (and this was true of most if not all Native American tribes) had food and shelter then they all did and if one was hungry or without shelter then they all were into entities living off the pain caused by gambling. Score another one for "civilization". Always better to have poverty and want than to have people sharing....I am sorry, I forget...who were the "savages" in the national discourse?