[Closed] Feeling sorry for bad players

well, he got some of his money, maybe he's not that tragic

lol, epic post ♦

Well, the people playing poker know the risks, they're aware that they're gambling and that they can lose. As a winning player, this is what you rely on to make some money. If you start thinking about what the guy you just won a house from is going to do with his life, it doesn't make you a bad player. Offering to give back the money to the person who should have known better than to gamble away his life savings does however form a bad financial decision, especially considering the fact that in a few weeks he'll just lose his house to someone else. Granted, you're not playing for such gargantuan amounts, but the principle still holds.

If you were to win a chess competition because your opponent made a blunder, would you still offer him a rematch for the title of the very same tournament or would you just take the prize money? You can't say he'd have offered you the same opportunity should he have beaten you in a similar fashion.

EDIT: just read the second post. Now I feel stupid.

I know it sounds super stupid, but I have same feeling if I suck out villains monster with totally lucky river catch...it´s like "Sorryyyy, I don´t deserve your money."

Hehe, yeah, to feel sorry for someone makes me feel like I´m a better man.

Cheers,
Ondra

Originally posted by Berzerger
Well, the people playing poker know the risks, they're aware that they're gambling and that they can lose. As a winning player, this is what you rely on to make some money. If you start thinking about what the guy you just won a house from is going to do with his life, it doesn't make you a bad player. Offering to give back the money to the person who should have known better than to gamble away his life savings does however form a bad financial decision, especially considering the fact that in a few weeks he'll just lose his house to someone else. Granted, you're not playing for such gargantuan amounts, but the principle still holds.

If you were to win a chess competition because your opponent made a blunder, would you still offer him a rematch for the title of the very same tournament or would you just take the prize money? You can't say he'd have offered you the same opportunity should he have beaten you in a similar fashion.

EDIT: just read the second post. Now I feel stupid.

oh no problems, that was helpful, I was just joking with 2nd post, I realised that I will use money beter than those guys who lose, and yeah all you said was right thanks
don't feel stupid, there's no point, like I said before I was joking.

(though that guy really got some money from me on river)

Originally posted by sindeon

I know it sounds super stupid, but I have same feeling if I suck out villains monster with totally lucky river catch...it´s like "Sorryyyy, I don´t deserve your money."

Hehe, yeah, to feel sorry for someone makes me feel like I´m a better man.

Cheers,
Ondra

I like when people call me fish noob or idiot after I suck out because I don't feel sorry anymore

reghunt

The fact is that winning players make their profit from stupid decisions made by losing players (and, occasionally, by fellow winning players). That makes playing poker ethically questionable. I deal with it by thinking to myself that there are extremely few saints in the world today, and indeed in the world's history. The vast majority of methods used to make money are far less ethical than poker is. If you decide that you're not going to be pretentious and declare principles for yourself that very, very few people can stick to and survive, then making money from poker shouldn't be a problem. Besides, if you're a Godulator, you can always confess your sins once a week, say ten Hail Marys, and have a clean slate to start winning at poker again tomorrow.

Originally posted by belayd
The fact is that winning players make their profit from stupid decisions made by losing players (and, occasionally, by fellow winning players). That makes playing poker ethically questionable. I deal with it by thinking to myself that there are extremely few saints in the world today, and indeed in the world's history. The vast majority of methods used to make money are far less ethical than poker is. If you decide that you're not going to be pretentious and declare principles for yourself that very, very few people can stick to and survive, then making money from poker shouldn't be a problem. Besides, if you're a Godulator, you can always confess your sins once a week, say ten Hail Marys, and have a clean slate to start winning at poker again tomorrow.

that's exacly what I am doing lol

Originally posted by Saruniks

I like when people call me fish noob or idiot after I suck out because I don't feel sorry anymore

Yeah, it could help to overcome these feelings, but unfortunately first thing I do after opening a table is turning chat window off, so I can´t see this rant.

Originally posted by Saruniks

Originally posted by belayd
The fact is that winning players make their profit from stupid decisions made by losing players (and, occasionally, by fellow winning players). That makes playing poker ethically questionable. I deal with it by thinking to myself that there are extremely few saints in the world today, and indeed in the world's history. The vast majority of methods used to make money are far less ethical than poker is. If you decide that you're not going to be pretentious and declare principles for yourself that very, very few people can stick to and survive, then making money from poker shouldn't be a problem. Besides, if you're a Godulator, you can always confess your sins once a week, say ten Hail Marys, and have a clean slate to start winning at poker again tomorrow.

that's exacly what I am doing lol

Indeed? There's no way you can be disappointed.

I don't consider it ethically wrong to take money from lesser players, especially considering the amounts I play for. People who play Poker accept the risk, so I'm okay taking their money. On the other hand, if I did it for a career, I worry I might not feel fulfilled, as instead of providing something to society, I merely take from others. But I'm a LONG way from that, and pros probably feel differently.

Skill wins out in the long term in Poker. Not luck. If I suck out on the river, do I deserve their money? No, not really, but the guy who stacks me by sucking out on the river next week doesn't deserve mine, so what goes around comes around. So I see no problem taking money from people who willingly wager that money, knowing they can lose it. Which I assume all Poker players know.

yeah about social work,

I allways wanted to help other people, but if I turn pro, which may be in future, time will see, then I won't be working, which will be emty, dunno...

Originally posted by sindeon

I know it sounds super stupid, but I have same feeling if I suck out villains monster with totally lucky river catch...it´s like "Sorryyyy, I don´t deserve your money."

In these situations I try to cheer them up with:

=*)

They however mostly go on superubermega tilt and flame me I suck out a lot ♦

nothing wrong with taking large sums of money from degenerate gamblers.

I've had this discussion with poker pros in another forum. They get extremely defensive and angry if anyone suggests that making your living as a poker pro is less than pristine and saintly--which is understandable, because they feel they're being personally attacked, and also because they can't permit any doubts about their chosen way of life to enter their minds, lest it make them ineffective at playing poker. In reality, however, being a poker pro is barely to the north of used car sales as a career. If I were to turn pro I'd deal with it by admitting to myself that I haven't chosen the cleanest profession but (1) I'm not breaking any laws, (2) almost nobody who ever lived on the earth had a clean profession, so I'm just a member of the happy average.

hmmmm i wonder if brian hastings was thinking the same way on the day he took isildurs 1M+ in one day:)

you mean over 4M ♦

but the Hastings-Isildur incident was actually cheating, here it's just beating your opponents.
if you're a tennis pro and your opponent tripped, letting you win, then there's not much you can do. However, if you got a sniper to shoot their foot, that's different.
Of course, the analogy's totally offtopic