2013-06-28, 10:02 AM
Lozmaster Wrote:Ok, but I know for a fact there are sponsored poker players, poker tournaments are featured on TV, and being a skilled poker player isn't random (despite the card draw) else the same people wouldn't always be the ones who end up winning.Putting down entry money to enter a tournament is not equivalent to gambling.
Do you think the people who are good at poker just magically happened upon it? No, they also spent " many hours of practice, and years of experience to get to the potential some PAID BY SPONSORS" practicing to use "strategy against your opponent is what you use as skill.".
Either name some things that are significantly different between the principle of putting money down on the two different games for a cash prize (those don't exist), or accept that the act of betting money (an entry fee) for a cash prize IS gambling.
Gambling is about something that is either partially or fully up to chance(Or where the random element can completely outweigh any skill), blackjack is also a lot about knowing when to call and when to keep going, but it's obviously gambling because it is far too random. I'm not going to open the can of worms that is poker, instead i am going to use an example that was used already, which is a slot machine. And for comparison i will use both badminton and Starcraft II.
When you use a slot machine, you use money and then you have a small chance to win more money back. No matter how good a sense you have of slot machines, no matter how experienced you are with them, any random person could easily come and use the same amount of money as you did and come out far far far ontop of you. This is entirely chance based and is quite obviously gambling.
If someone were to make a badminton tournament that required you to pay an entry fee and you proceed to win simply because you're the far superior player, you are in no way gambling. You didn't take a risk, even if someone who's better than you were to be in the tournament and you lost to him you'd still not have gambled.
It did not come down to chance, you lost because someone was better than you. You're not going to lose to some random guy with no experience.
And now starcraft II, it is the entirely same principle. If a player like Liquid´Hero were to enter a random tournament with an entry fee, it'd again regardless of wether he wins or loses, have had nothing to do with chance. He wont lose to a guy who's never touched starcraft II before. If he loses it's because his enemy was better than him, not because of luck.
And let's take fourth example, chess. If someone were to make a chess tournament with an entry fee and you enter that tournament, it has pineappleall to do with luck who wins and everything to do with who is better.
Even remotely suggesting that winning a tournament with an entry fee is the same as gambling your money at a slot machine is absolutely ridiculous. If something isn't up to chance or luck then i really don't see how it's gambling.
And just to touch poker briefly, poker has OFTEN been considered to be removed from gambling and be considered a sport. But organizations believe the random element to be a tad too big(Like being dealt a 2-7 odd coloured hand in hold 'em against an opponent with a 3-5 even coloured hand, no such disadvantage exists in chess, starcraft II or badminton, you can not be dealt a bad hand in either of those games, the 'hand' you have to play with in those is entirely how good you are)