Why do you play poker?

[johnp158]

This is something I think about a lot. I've gotten really into this whole poker thing for the last year and a half. Watch it on tv all the time, play a lot online (.5/1 NL right now), and have made a few grand. The thing is, I really don't have any desire for the actual money. I will admit that I've cashed out a couple of times to pay for things that came up, and I bought myself an ipod. That's really the only thing I've bought that I might not have done anyway. Besides being able to make a post-Katrina donation.

So I don't know. I've never been a gambler. That lifestyle doesn't really suit me. I'm fortunate to be financially well-off because of my parents (I'm a student and they still support me). I try to be consciencious about my spending habits and lifestyle. I'm not studying to try to get into some profession that's necessarily going to make me a lot of money. So sometimes I have a hard time figuring out why I'm so into poker. Because I certainly want to keep building my bankroll and moving up limits. Hopefully cash in some big tournaments at some point. It's just strange because I don't see money as my real goal here.

Anybody else ever think about this stuff?

[nutbag]

Poker is a great equalizer as far as competition goes in my mind. Extraordinary intelligence isn't necessary(as it is in to be truly great at a game like chess). Athletic ability isn't necessary, as many of the best players in the world demonstrate. So that takes away most of the god given talents and breaks it down to pure competition. Throw in the luck factor, which means that even the best can be beaten any day, and it makes for almost the perfect game. Almost anybody with any sort of copetitive spirit is attracted to poker. Experience and intuition are the only real things necessary to be great, and everybody can develop those.

Making money to enjoy other things makes the rewards of playing well even better .

[Penguinfan]

It's a means of making money to me, plain and simple. Obviously I am a gambler and have been playing low limits (very low compared to some here) to see if it's another viable source of income.

So far, sadly, for me it is not. I have been on quite a roll recently, but otherwise it has been a losing venture for me.

[BDMK]

i play poker for recreation. it's one of my favorite hobbies. i love to test my skills and compete against others in a structured format. i used to play chess competitively when i was younger, too.

i also have found additional benefits from playing poker. namely, it has helped me maintain my focus, concentration and self-control abilities. i call poker my 'mental yoga'.

i learned and started playing about a year ago. at the time, i just went thru some trying times in a short time period (deaths in the family, taking over a family business, etc). one afternoon, as i was brooding, i started reading the rules of texas holdem on the pokerstars website.

hence, i started with, and stayed on, pokerstars. i checked out many other sites in-between, but found that all i need, and like most, poker-wise is on stars. i only play NLHE tourneys, mostly pvt events, buck tourneys (SNG and scheduled) and sats to major events. the latter because one can dream, right?

come and say hi to me around the tables anytime...

[chrisash]

Poker Is My Get Away From The Kids And Hubby
I Have Been Playing Poker Since I Was About 12
I Use To Go Play With My Mom And Her Friends Instead Of Going To The Skating Rink!!!! Been Addicted Ever Since .lol

[Ando05]

when i play poker, i dont really think of the money either, but you do get dissapointed when you lose some. and when you win you are happy that you actually earned something out of it. but the thing we dont realize is most of the winners win because they love playing poker, even if they lose a grand they keep playing it. people who play for the money, they dont play for fun, they keep playing until they win. which one r u?

[olysports]

Well, I play poker because it is a fun game that you can spend time with some of your friends and meat some people from all over the world online. Of course there is the money thing, that you can win a lot of it, but the main reason why i play freerolls and small buyin tournies is just for spending time with people. But when it comes to the big buyin tournies, then it gets more serious and it is more about the money.

[ChipFish]

Why do I play poker?

Money.
By 3-tabling $1/2 - $3-6 a retarded monkey should be able to make a tidy profit each month...
Thank goodness, I must be a retarded monkey.

[Penguinfan]

Man, I am searching all over EBAY for a retarded monkey, wouldn't you know it's the ONE thing you can't get on there.

[johnp158]

It can't JUST be that. Unless you're making a shitload. I don't know what limit you actually play, but anybody that's playing 1/2 limit all the time isn't making enough to make it worth it just for the money. I guess the goal there is to move up.