Interesting Article from PokerStrategy.com
Introduction
There are various reasons why we play poker. To one person it is an intelligent hobby, to another it is an intellectual challenge. Some just play it for fun while others play it professionally. Some have played it for many years, others only discovered it during the course of the poker boom that started in 2004.
In many countries today, poker enjoys a status that used to be reserved for national sports. This is a great success, but even in those countries poker is still struggling with preconceptions.
The most common preconception puts poker on the same level with games of chance, such as roulette, in which chance determines the outcome of the game.
The physically chaotic run of the roulette ball adds the unpredictability and randomness that are the main characteristics of a pure game of chance.
But poker players know: Although a player cannot influence which cards he is dealt - this is called randomness -, he does of course influence the way he plays these cards. And this is exactly where the strategy game of poker begins, in which the player who makes the best decisions wins.
Popularising this view and spreading the fascination of poker even to those who only know it from movies is one of the objectives of our poker school. But there are also good reasons for every individual player to speak up for the game of poker.
Reason 1:
Poker is an educational strategy game
Poker is a mathematical strategy game and a "people game" at the same time. On top of that, it is easy to learn how to play poker. Poker can simulate real social and economic processes better than any other game could.
A poker player has to be able to solve mathematical problems, recognise patterns and evaluate people. He has to learn how to make pragmatic choices and limit the effect that his emotions and fears might have on his decisions.
Our opinion: A person who has properly played poker before and who has understood the principles (even if it didn't make him an expert) will deal with many real life situations differently - in a more sensible way!
Negotiation situations – how do I act during a job interview or a car purchase?
Investment decisions – how do I design my retirement plan?
Risk assessments – will I benefit from a certain type of insurance or can I afford to take the risk?
Self management – how do I set goals and how do I reach them?
So many things that we learn and train to do when we are kids, and later as adults, are internalised by playing.
On many levels, poker inarguably offers the opportunity to gain something positive for yourself, your personality and your future. In the language of computer game players, you might want to call it an allround mix between strategy game, economic simulation and arcade game. It is evident that it has a positive influence on someone who learns how to play it and studies its game mechanics.
Reason 2:
The more popular, the less prejudice
Many of us have experienced it before: Negative prejudice towards the game of poker and also towards ourselves as poker players. May it be representatives of the law, may it be friends or relatives who all don't want to believe that poker requires much more than just luck.
If you understand poker, however, you know that its system does not work any differently from that of any other popular sport.
The system is carried by millions of fans and it is possible for talented and ambitious players to make it to the very top without any external help.
As a poker player, you don't have to be discovered by big sports clubs and marketed by media companies. Poker rewards talent, ability and discipline immediately. All you need to make it to the top is the capacity to use your brain, nothing else.
On the other hand, poker can also be viewed as a pastime. As an intellectual parlour game in which you invest some of your recreational budget to engage in an intellectually challenging alternative to TV, cinema and other merely passive forms of entertainment. Instead of being a passive consumer in the supermarket of the entertainment industry, you can become an active participant and join other people in pursuing a hobby that is challenging and fun.
Reason 3:
Popular hobbies are more fun!
Let's be honest: Every one of us has a hobby which, unfortunately, not many other people share. One person is enthusiastic about a certain author or musician, someone else enjoys collecting stamps.
The more popular poker is, the more likely is it that we can discuss it with friends and acquaintances, people who might shake their heads at us today when we tell them about our last session. The more popular poker is, the more likely are we to find our pastime represented in the media.
TV stations, magazines and newspapers already report about the phenomenon of poker more frequently than was the case a few years ago.
Conclusion: It is good to popularise poker
We should all confidently say: "Yes, we are poker players! And we have a good reason!" Poker is an intellectual, very complex game that already brings together many millions of people from all over the world.
We should not let other people's preconceptions mislead us.
Instead, we should be happy that we can share poker with so many other people while at the same time we can do something beneficial for ourselves and enrich our life with a new component.
Just as other fans speak up for their fringe sports, favourite teams or their taste in music, we should do something for poker. In order to popularise poker even further, we have to fascinate people with poker.
We need every single person who can spread their enthuasiasm to join us in our goal. PokerStrategy.com will support you here because we have the right answers for those who are still in doubt:
You don't feel prepared enough to play poker? – PokerStrategy.com offers free education and information!
You don't know if you can trust the poker rooms? – PokerStrategy.com offers you free poker money so you can try real money poker without any risk.
And every partner of PokerStrategy.com also offers play money games.
You would like to get more information first? – PokerStrategy.com has the largest community worldwide, where other players will answer all the questions you might have.
Poker lives wherever someone organises a home game or when two people talk about poker. More so than any other sport, poker works the same way on a large scale as it does on a small scale. The poker world does not only consist of the celebrity players, the media and the poker rooms. The poker world consists of all of us.
