After playing online poker for a couple of years and amassing a small fortune in worthless play chips, I decided to play for real money ($30.00) What an eye-opener.
I now have a much better understanding of the allure of gambling and how these sites and casinos, in general, can drag you in.
I know when my $30.00 runs out I will never spend another cent (I am actually up to $32.51), but I have found my own feelings somewhat dumbfounding. I play the cheapest buy-ins. I get more frustration out of losing a $1.00 than I get pleasure out of winning one. After all, what can you do with a buck?
So the urge is to spend more money at the bigger buy-ins where the chance of winning (and losing) large pots is possible.
On top of that they encourage you to play more hands as they take a % of every pot. Like, bingo, poker can be slow moving. To compensate in bingo, people play multiple cards. In something called Rush Poker, you can play multiple tables. Fold your hand and instantly you are at another table. Fold those and off you go again. It is hard to quit. The next hand comes up just as quickly as the time it takes to hit exit. And the graphics are mesmerizing. Swoosh and new opponents. Swoosh again and another set.
I went to their FAQs last week about cheating and randomness etc. They actually have a collusion investigator. I am not sure how they do it. They displayed a form letter that is sent to people that are sharing tables too often.
If you play the rush game that I mentioned you are rarely at the same table. Upwards of 600 people are shifted around 100 tables as people fold their hands.
They also went into a long description of the random number generator that is used because some people claim that big hands show up too often resulting in bigger pots which in turn gives the site a bigger rake.
The purpose of my post was to warn people of how gambling can be addictive and manipulative.
While I was posting yesterday I was in the middle of a 10 cent buy in with a guaranteed $1000 payout. 3600 people at 10 cents each is only $360 so how do they make money. Well as you are eliminated you can rebuy your original chips for 50 cents. There were 3000 rebuys so the site made almost $1000 on that tournament.
If the tournament is completely random and and I entered 3600 tournaments costing me $360, I would have $1000 for my time. If I average one buy in a tournament I am now spending 60 cents per or $2160 for my $1000 which is losing odds, especially when you consider that rebuying still puts you behind loads of people who have won the first few hands. I never rebuy, but obviously others do.
I enjoy the game but I can really see how people can be sucked into the allure of the big buck.
I also enjoyed gambling when I went to Nevada years ago. For me the trick was to set a limit on what I was willing to spend on food, gambling, and entertainment per day and stick to it. Some days I would gamble more if I was winning and on other days I would lay low. Lots of fun!
Yes. I feel for people who lose control of their gambling impulse.
All my gambling is reserved for Nevada also! I was kicking ass too, won over US$500 in Poker Tournaments… but theeeen… well… you know… I got drunk, and started playing Blackjack at the Pussycat Dolls lounge at Caesars Palace! Dumbest thing I ever did… I lost over $1000 that night
All in all though, I came out of Vegas US$75 up, so not all bad… but I do set myself a really strict limit, and lock all the Credit Cards in the safe!