Zimba Blog:
I didn't see it coming. It was a Sunday multi-family gathering to celebrate Chinese New Years. Four other families with kids were there. The host family cooked up an Asian storm of food with rare delicacies from China and Malaysia. The dozen or so children tore through the large house testing the limits of both the Wii and the physical framework of the house. The adult audience was made up of four physicians, one engineer, one lobbyist, and a couple PTA-minded super moms. Amidst the din of the kids, and in the kitchen-family room, the parents huddled around a couple tables. It was hardly the type of audience that I would expect to show much appreciation for the world I inhabit, and yet there I was holding half of them in rapt attention as I detailed the world of poker after they inadvertently asked what I do.
I thought it might be interesting to share most of the major points I touched upon last Sunday in my effort to educate and inform the somewhat skeptical audience.
1. There are huge parallels between poker and options/commodities/futures trading, day trading, hedge fund, and financial markets in general. If those are well established and respected careers, why not poker?
2. While gambling is a big social taboo, there is no avoiding risk or evaluating your options everywhere you turn in life. Experience with poker contributes good skills to evaluate your various life risks.
3. There is a financial pyramid in poker where masses of casual players fund the profits of the more experienced or talented players through reasonable deposits of disposable entertainment funds.
4. While youth and aggression often prevail in online play, it is the hard work and determination of bright individuals that usually prospers, regardless of age, race, creed or physical ability. Poker is an egalitarian game that on any given day, anyone can win, but over the long term skill will prevail and show itself dominant.
5. Being able to disassociate from the value of the chips you play with is a necessary skill to acquire if you aspire to play significant stakes.
6. While much is made of the vulnerable part of the population that can't gamble responsibly, the actual numbers of out of control players is in the 2-5% realm and shouldn't prohibit the vast majority of adults who can play responsibly. Certainly stronger identification and support for the vulnerable population should be instituted.
7. Many of the uber-successful young poker players are still life-inexperienced and are often unprepared to make optimal life choices, much as young athletes, musicians or actors who similarly experience sudden and extreme success.
8. Despite the U.S. being behind the curve on licensing, regulating, taxing and fully facilitating online poker, many other countries are doing it successfully and safely. The time is coming that it will be licensed and regulated in the U.S. with few of the obstacles and negative associations of the past.
9. In spite of the image of a selfish, money hungry zero-sum-game people who contribute little to society, poker players are often quite generous to friends, family and charities. They are more apt to spend their "earnings," thus stimulating the economy, especially in the luxury end of the buying spectrum.
10. The core of the game is one of redistributing wealth based on skill, hard work and luck. Value is created through its entertainment to the public and poker fans across the world who appreciate and marvel at those who excel at the game.
11. The math and strategy skills necessary to excel in poker transfer well to both practical and psychological approaches to your every day world (e.g. making the right decision despite the outcome, probabilities and percentages, bankroll management, and stop loss).
Clearly, there is still a massive social stigma attached to poker. The dynamics of the poker world are hard to relate to for much of the general public. It is only through thousands of these casual gatherings that the barriers to understanding can be broken and reformed. A society can't subsist from poker, but that is not to say that poker can't be a healthy part of society, much as tv/movie entertainment and sports entertainment also play a central role in our lives despite not really contributing something necessary to our existence.
I didn't plan this Sunday diatribe, nor do I typically share much about the poker world with others, but when you find a willing audience that despite their skepticism is willing to listen, it is worthwhile to express the positive qualities that drew us all to the game and poker community of which we are a part.
Lastly, I'll share what I considered the biggest compliment of the afternoon, by one of the physicians who expressed her respect for the passion and common sense I brought to the subject, something she often lacks in her own career.
I didn't see it coming. It was a Sunday multi-family gathering to celebrate Chinese New Years. Four other families with kids were there. The host family cooked up an Asian storm of food with rare delicacies from China and Malaysia. The dozen or so children tore through the large house testing the limits of both the Wii and the physical framework of the house. The adult audience was made up of four physicians, one engineer, one lobbyist, and a couple PTA-minded super moms. Amidst the din of the kids, and in the kitchen-family room, the parents huddled around a couple tables. It was hardly the type of audience that I would expect to show much appreciation for the world I inhabit, and yet there I was holding half of them in rapt attention as I detailed the world of poker after they inadvertently asked what I do.
I thought it might be interesting to share most of the major points I touched upon last Sunday in my effort to educate and inform the somewhat skeptical audience.
1. There are huge parallels between poker and options/commodities/futures trading, day trading, hedge fund, and financial markets in general. If those are well established and respected careers, why not poker?
2. While gambling is a big social taboo, there is no avoiding risk or evaluating your options everywhere you turn in life. Experience with poker contributes good skills to evaluate your various life risks.
3. There is a financial pyramid in poker where masses of casual players fund the profits of the more experienced or talented players through reasonable deposits of disposable entertainment funds.
4. While youth and aggression often prevail in online play, it is the hard work and determination of bright individuals that usually prospers, regardless of age, race, creed or physical ability. Poker is an egalitarian game that on any given day, anyone can win, but over the long term skill will prevail and show itself dominant.
5. Being able to disassociate from the value of the chips you play with is a necessary skill to acquire if you aspire to play significant stakes.
6. While much is made of the vulnerable part of the population that can't gamble responsibly, the actual numbers of out of control players is in the 2-5% realm and shouldn't prohibit the vast majority of adults who can play responsibly. Certainly stronger identification and support for the vulnerable population should be instituted.
7. Many of the uber-successful young poker players are still life-inexperienced and are often unprepared to make optimal life choices, much as young athletes, musicians or actors who similarly experience sudden and extreme success.
8. Despite the U.S. being behind the curve on licensing, regulating, taxing and fully facilitating online poker, many other countries are doing it successfully and safely. The time is coming that it will be licensed and regulated in the U.S. with few of the obstacles and negative associations of the past.
9. In spite of the image of a selfish, money hungry zero-sum-game people who contribute little to society, poker players are often quite generous to friends, family and charities. They are more apt to spend their "earnings," thus stimulating the economy, especially in the luxury end of the buying spectrum.
10. The core of the game is one of redistributing wealth based on skill, hard work and luck. Value is created through its entertainment to the public and poker fans across the world who appreciate and marvel at those who excel at the game.
11. The math and strategy skills necessary to excel in poker transfer well to both practical and psychological approaches to your every day world (e.g. making the right decision despite the outcome, probabilities and percentages, bankroll management, and stop loss).
Clearly, there is still a massive social stigma attached to poker. The dynamics of the poker world are hard to relate to for much of the general public. It is only through thousands of these casual gatherings that the barriers to understanding can be broken and reformed. A society can't subsist from poker, but that is not to say that poker can't be a healthy part of society, much as tv/movie entertainment and sports entertainment also play a central role in our lives despite not really contributing something necessary to our existence.
I didn't plan this Sunday diatribe, nor do I typically share much about the poker world with others, but when you find a willing audience that despite their skepticism is willing to listen, it is worthwhile to express the positive qualities that drew us all to the game and poker community of which we are a part.
Lastly, I'll share what I considered the biggest compliment of the afternoon, by one of the physicians who expressed her respect for the passion and common sense I brought to the subject, something she often lacks in her own career.
First installment of the Zimba Blog: I Want That Feeling, One Time!
