29th July 2009
For Fun or Profit? A Look at Motivation
With the recent amount of media attention directed at the gambling and poker world, the gaming culture has experienced a boom in popularity. Hordes of people now swarm to their local poker en ligne casino desperately wanting to be the next Chris Moneymaker. I am not one to argue with the surge in online poker’s popularity- in fact I think it brings some much needed attention to the game- but we need to look at our gambling motivations.
Icons like Chris Moneymakers spur on the idea that poker is a way to make a fortune. He encapsulates the American Dream of quick and easy wealth with a minimal amount of effort. It is what everyone with a deck of cards seems to want these days- but is that a good thing? Putting aside the larger implications of the cost of greed to our society, we need to consider the effort money-grubbing has on poker. If you want a tangible example, look at how many no limit games are now available at casinos. This was not the case in the past and their appearance on a grand scale reveals that poker has lost some sense of money management.
On the other side of the spectrum we have the old guard who plays poker for fun, not profit. Content with their one dollar table limits these classic poker players enjoy the mechanism of the game more than the monetary rewards. Like all things even the classic poker paradigm must change, however, as young people join the table and space at physical tables becomes limited as casinos switch over to Video Poker.
I am an observer of the two camps, not an Oracle of wisdom about where poker is heading. You need to make your own decisions whether to play for the money or the mental enjoyment. Personally, I am going to try to combine the two into the perfect poker storm. I will let you know how it goes.
