Tuesday, April 25, 2006

everyone wins at poker


I don't think I've ever seen or spoken to anyone that admits that they are a long-term loser playing poker. I lurk on different message boards, read various blogs, dig in the garbage of various poker professionals and no one seems to be losing. If everyone is winning, then someone has to be losing, yet no one is owning up to it where I look. Now, it's probably just the case that the people dumping tons of cash in online poker don't hang around 2+2 reading strategy posts.

Well, I recently found out about an SNG search tool called sharkscope, which tracks SNG play on pokerstars and a few other sites. Recently, I have used it to search for record of people I've been playing with. I ran across the record of a guy who has dropped 8K+ over ~800 SNG's. His stats are pretty amazing to me, take a look for yourself. I wonder who the hell this person is. Seemingly, this person has deep pockets, but has shown no sign of improving over time. Is this person some rich dink who enjoys the rush of super aggro play, shoving your chips all in and hoping for the best? I would guess not. For one, this person seems to be playing alot of turbo SNG's which requires blind aggression, especially late in the match and I would think they would be fairing a little better just due to luck. And the action junkie likes to win. This person seems content with losing, alot.

Is it possible that this person has lost their mind? Maybe this person is a hopelessly depressed 20-something trust fund baby blowing through their inheritance just to feel something. Perhaps, it is an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's who is aware enough to keep reloading his account, but doesn't remember one hand from the next let alone one SNG from the next. Someone with severe dementia could play SNG after SNG with really no idea what is going on.

Any background story I can think of seems really sad. How should we (i.e. winning poker players) feel when our bankrolls are likely fed by the emotionally unstable, the deranged, the demented people in our world. Is it wrong? Does gambling by its very nature not involve any sort of moralilty?

2 comments:

Ignatious said...

yikes! i always wonder the same damn thing - WHO THE HELL ARE THESE GUYS?

mrbossman said...

Yeah, I've since run into a few more who have similar stats. They are out there. How the hell you dump several grand on $15 or $25 SNGs I'll never understand. It's amazing from a psychological standpoint. What kind of reinforcement are these people getting to maintain this behavior? Some people get off on losing, I guess...