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Message: [QUOTE="Blown01Cobra, post: 2003854, member: 92963"] The reason I started this thread was basically because it seems like everyone I talk to has a different opinion on what gambling is and what gambling isn't. If you talk to a venture capitalist who's made their living on investing in start up companies, they'd probably scoff at the fact that their livelihood is based upon "gambling" and so they'd consider it investing. Ask them how they feel about a professional poker player, and they'd laugh and call it gambling. Same for stock traders who make their living by day trading. Many consider their trades investments, and yet look at venture capitalists as gamblers betting on start up companies that have no historical data to back up their expectations. Perhaps it's all a matter of interpretation and perhaps it's all relevant to a person and their experience with poker - positive or negative. But you have to wonder how can people be so "lucky" as to gamble their way to consecutive win after consecutive win if poker is a game of significant luck. In a lot of ways, if gambling is simply doing something with uncertain results, than nearly every decision we make in life, including stepping into our vehicles for our morning commute would be considered a gamble - but we don't look at it that way because we feel our odds are favorable when it comes to car fatalities. Or how about a game of basketball? That's a game of skill right, players must have finesse to shoot a ball, physically fit and capable to adapt on the fly to their opposition. But the reality is, there's no guarantee a player will make their shots. The best a coach can do is place players on the court who have certain probabilities at certain positions that are beneficial to the team. There's no guarantee what the opposing team will do, what plays they'll call. Sure there are good basketball teams, but there are also upsets - and just like poker there are those times you can't do anything about a last minute buzzer shot from half court to win the game. These things happen, but does that change our perspective on basketball as a skill game? No, we just know that we played our best, made the right decisions, and that their half court shot was a miracle - just like a river card that flops a miracle hand. If I'm trying to imply that I want to change the definition of gambling - then perhaps I am. I'm not saying that I'm capable of doing so, I just feel like calling poker gambling puts it into the same realm as slot machines and other highly unfavorable casino games and gambling - and that gambling has such bad connotations that perhaps it's time to reconsider how we refer to the game. [/QUOTE]

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