Defending your hand...

We may only be a few days into this venture, but it seems pretty clear already that this is going to be a great situation for all of us.  We are all getting along fabulously (besides the minor expected disputes over the superbowl yesterday of course).  The house is so large that we are certain to lose some percentage of our belongings in the countless cubbie holes everywhere in the intricacies that used to be standard in homes.  Every day, we spend upwards of an hour or two studying each other's hands or doing sweat sessions (one person in the "hot seat" and the other three watching and critiquing and offering advice).  It is probably easiest to tell the advantage of all this in a game such as mine that has only room to improve, but it seems like all of us are thriving on the healthy peer pressure.  The hours are full but extremely rewarding.

Perhaps these next thoughts are also telling of someone new to the game, but I imagine that anyone who approaches poker as a career must (or at least should) wrestle with the implications of the lifestyle and career.  Probably the easiest concern for me to deal with personally, but which has proven extremely difficult to explain to friends and family, is the idea that poker is just gambling.  The details of game theory are certainly too cumbersome for this venue, but there is overwhelming anecdotal and mathematical proof that this is a game that can be beaten.  It requires constant vigilance in studying the mistakes of opponents and the equity of each situation, but it definitely can be done. 

Beyond this, there is the general discomfort with the idea of trying to exploit the weaknesses of other human beings.  From the perspective of my computer screen, I see this represented as a series of statistics detailing the mathematical weaknesses of opponents who I know nothing more about than their screen name and whatever picture they choose to represent themselves.  It is terribly easy to forget that there is a human behind each digital profile, with only sporadic and generally unhelpful rants that pop up in the chat box between two players in dispute (this is almost universally true of the chat in online poker by the way).  Most online poker players have the exacerbating quality of being in a socially isolated setting as they play and perhaps even when they are away from their computers.  Online poker players are traditionally a fairly antisocial group, either by choice, habit, or necessity.  For all of these reasons, I find myself comforted and thrilled to be in a poker community of sorts in which I am constantly reminded of the "human factor". 

Furthermore, I am coming from several institutional situations that give me a different perspective about the general exploitive nature of poker.  First of all, there is no confusion among the people who come to the table and put their money on the line.  The one and only purpose of the game is to attempt to take each other's money and that is known by absolutely every player, regardless of skill level.  On the other hand, nearly every economic experience I have had in this society has been carefully shrouded to give the appearance of fairness and equity when it is always attempts to get maximum profit.  This is true whether you are buying a car, renting an apartment, getting an education, or laboring for an institution.  The transparency of poker is simply refreshing.  There is no product or consumer.  There are only rivals competing in a virtually unbiased system.  The rules are simple and the tools are available to anyone that cares to reach for them.  Now, I understand that there is a small portion of this population plagued by addiction, and though this is troublesome, it is rare as far as I can tell.  The majority of people that I encounter play for the enjoyment of the game and could care less if they lose the fifty dollars they put online for a weekend of play.  Perhaps I will find the need to return to this concern as I reach higher stakes, but I am content for now to hone my competetive edge knowing that each of my opponents has the same opportunity and perogative. 

Finally, it seems to me that all of us would take the opportunity to claim personal freedom if it was presented as a possibility.  It is pretty universally true that people only work so that they may afford a certain way of life and support the basic necessities of self and family.  At the end of a lifetime of this, a lucky portion of the workforce is finally able to retire and perhaps pursue personal interests that have been on the backburner for decades (if health and means allow).  There is often nothing noble about the work itself (though anything may be done nobly of course), but choosing not to participate in this normal way of life is seen as highly suspect.  Generally, the jobless by choice are degenerates and possibly even criminals.  As such, I will not take offense to the general response I have received of suspicion when I say what we are choosing to do for a living.  That said, I also find no need to apologize for choosing to take the opportunity to live now as I use intellectual skills to earn money in a non-traditional way.  I have given more than enough of my time and energy to a system that has given so very little in return, and I have no guilt in walking away from that system.  In this lifestyle, I am allowed to explore creative pursuits with the flexibility it affords.  I may also choose the best ways I may give back to my community as I will no longer be seeking anything in return for time or investment.  These are the ideals that are very real and that make the stigma I find attached to poker easy to accept. 

Hopefully, these thoughts might find use for someone other than just my own clarification.  I have presented probably an oversimplified rendition of the complexity that is self-employment and the fantastically challenging game of poker, but have tried to address the most common problems I have encountered as we have begun this career.

Cheers,
Jess