I didn’t even have any addiction in my family to see how badly this goes for so many people. I have to go to Vegas every other year and when I’m not at the conference I can’t even spend any time on the Strip.
The house always wins. It’s literally how it’s designed, and I can’t figure out how people are convinced that they’re going to beat the system.
I know a few people that are really into poker and have told them how I feel but every so often I see them and they have a crazed look in their eyes which can only mean: Hay! We are going to Vegas and you just have to come. It’s going to be so much fun … 
I’ve actually given up on them every understanding those words, for me, are on par with lets go get root canals together, it will be so much fun…
To each their own. I don’t care if other do it. Just stop insisting that I must do it too.
I got into a discussion with my cab driver and I asked if he or other locals ever played a lot. He said he used to have a real problem but once a month or so he goes and plays about $20.
“You okay?”
“I’m probably about even, about three months ago I won fifty bucks.”
$60 spent and $50 won. There’s something to be said for spending money on experiences, but it’s just never been my kind of fun, even in video games I kind of find it stressful.
I’m not up on all the Poker rules and lingo. What is the chatty guy trying to provoke the hat guy into doing? Folding? And in the second video, what was going on with “runs” or something? Also in both videos they ask something about their chips being covered. What does that mean?
Poker is always a power issue, trying to get the other guy to give some bit of knowledge to you, either by word or deed. Goad them into betting something they shouldn’t. Convince them they should bet higher. Get them to fall for something now and then sucker them into the same behavior later with a different card set. It’s a weird long con and a lot of people get frustrated by it into doing something dumb.
In both these cases, the chatter has a really good hand. They think they’ve got this so they’re goading the other guy into calling their bet so they can get as much money out of them as they can.
If I go all in with 50 and you call me, you need to have at least the 50 to cover my bet. If you have 49 then your bet is invalid over 49 chips and I keep playing. It’s basically a legal protection that they need to appeal towards just on the off chance that someone’s math was wrong.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Sorry, I misspelled douche.
Holy crap, you found a “sport” more boring than golf. Whodathunkit?
I was watching, and when Benger finally talked I thought–this guy is Canadian. Maybe the Bluejays hat was a tell, but his attitude is what sold me. He seemed genuinely hurt by the nastiness of his opponent. Like, offended as a human being that he has to play with folks like this. This is a vibe that cynical Americans rarely give off, and I would assume NEVER at a high-stakes poker game. But benger obviously believes in the innate decency of every person and is horrified when someone so baldly lacks it.
ps. He’s from Toronto according to Twitter bio.
If @wrecksdart’s gif was less than a second longer it could have caught that magnificent silent “wow…”
nicer douche?
Poker games in casinos generally take a percentage of the pot (the rake), or in tournaments they charge an entry fee. So while they do “win”, it’s not like the participants don’t realize this. At least when it comes to poker, casinos are essentially just providing a service for a fee.
The talking can be used to either gather clues about the other person’s hand, or just goad them into betting or folding depending on how strong the talker feels their hand is. Some people talk a lot, and try to guess their opponent’s hand. If you can guess right you might seem them react in some way.
In the second video Brunson was being nice, he offered to run it multiple times, thus essentially playing the hand multiple times from the point of the all-in call. So each of the three runs was worth 1/3 the pot. I don’t think that can be done in a tournament. It’s done in some cash games as just a way to help a guy stay in the game longer if he’s way down on the odds to win a hand.
To have someone’s chips covered means to have the same amount or more than them. In an all-in call you can’t win anymore than you have put in the pot from any one player. So if you lose an all-in bet and have more chips than the winner you are still in the game.
Thank god we’re not taxing these good fellows too much. That money might have been wasted on something worthless like infrastructure.
Excellent point. Is poker the only casino game these days where you’re playing against other patrons?
Hey, check your privilege!
Which is ironic, since Kassouf’s game plan this whole tournament has been to get under people’s skin with his annoying patter and obnoxious delays. And its probably not obvious from this clip, but this isn’t an isolated incident between these two players. This is day 7 of a tournament that started with 6,700 people. They’re down to something like 18 pepole at this point, and they all know each other very very well by then. And the winner gets something like $12 million so they’re under insane amounts of pressure, and Kassouf has been rattling people the whole tournament with his patter and relentless stalling. And note how after he got beaten half the people wouldn’t even shake his hand, which is really rare.
Here’s a couple of other clips of Kassouf needling people from earlier:
There’s lots of others too. He caused quite the controversy since what he’s doing isn’t exactly illegal (usually) but it goes against “poker etiquette”, which is a big thing.
I personally find watching poker fascinating since you can see everyone’s hands but and they of course can’t. Its like greek tragedy, where the audience knows the person’s fate.
I love that argument that the money spent is on the experience because I love cheap cocktails, bad decor, loud noises, drunk tourists and seizure inducing flashing lights, not ever.
Oh god, you are right. I don’t even like gambling as a sub game in video games.
I have played poker on occasion, it can be a fun way to spend some time. I tend to play once in awhile as an alternative to watching television. It is possible to ‘win’ at poker (as in not lose money over the long term) and I’ve been able to do that (I put $30 in about 10 years ago and have been playing on that ever since, with a fair number of smallish withdrawals along the way).
That said, I never play at stakes that would ‘matter’ to me in any sense of the word. Any more than a few dollars and I start to think about what else I might do with the money, then get worried. And playing worried is basically how you lose.
There are a lot of players who either make a little money, make a lot of money, or just don’t lose. By definition that means there are many who lose money as well. But if you don’t have a gambling problem it is no more harmful than any of the other vices (i.e. alcohol, television, sports watching etc)
As for the play in the hand, tv always just shows the high intensity moments, and skips over the endless hours of slow grinding that happens in tournaments. Likely the mouthy guy had been doing that for days, and the Canadian guy played him perfectly as far as I can tell…
That depends on the casino you’re in. In Asia and Australia, I’m pretty sure you can still play mahjong in some casinos, not to mention paplu, canasta or some other card games.
This happened to me! I was visiting a buddy and his boss invited me to their regular poker game. My buddy and I were in our early thirties; the 6 other guys were in their fifties and sixties. A couple hands in I glance at the fella sitting across from me. Lo and behold I can see his hole cards in his glasses. They weren’t mirrored, just prescription lenses, but the lighting was just right. I didn’t know what to do. These weren’t my buddies or my boss.
After a few more hands I ended up going head-to- head with the fella on a hand he was bluffing. After I took the pot I said, “I’m not sure whose toes I might be stepping on here but I gotta tell you I could see your cards in your glasses”. The other fellas started cracking up and he looked at them angrily and said “you gotta be shitting me!” Once they settled down they assured him that they’d never noticed.
I’m no great player but I ended up taking everyone’s money that night and my friend said every now and then afterwards they’d give him shit about how he couldn’t invite any more friends 
