EPITHET - Put your money where your mouth is...
Greg Swann
[ http://www.no-treason.com/weblog/ ], and I have been
talking sub rosa about poker. He plays. I'm a recent
convert to the game. He told me that David Friedman's
son Patri plays. In following up on that I discovered
that Don Watkins from humanities.philosophy.objectivism
plays. Lurking rec.gambling.poker I found out that
Terrence Chan (also of HPO) plays poker. He reports that
there are a goodly number of objectivist/libertarian
types on http://www.PokerStars.com, by whom he is
employed.
It strikes me that there might be quite a few people of
our persuasion who can hold their own at Hold-'Em. And
as all modern, educated, well-dressed, over-fed,
hyper-theoretical poker players know, if you can
accumulate 10 or more of the like-minded, you can have a
tournament.
Therefore I propose EPITHET: The Egoist/Philosophical
Individualist Texas Hold-'Em Tournament. (Poker
tournaments and software designed by undergrads cannot
officially exist without a catchy acronym.)
Everything's up for discussion: location, buy-in, rules,
etc. PokerStars.com might be the best location, since
they have wonderful multi-table tournament software, but
it might be more fun to squire the Dagnys and Galts of
our desiring in the over-stated elegance of the Bellagio
in Las Vegas. Let's talk it out.
These are two hard and fast rules I think we must all
stipulate to in advance:
1. Since Patri Friedman doesn't sound like much of an
individualist to me (and since he sounds like he could
chew us all up in ten minutes flat), he can't play.
2. Any Big-O objectivists who wish to participate must
defend this proposition: Gambling is a productive
activity qua man.
What do you think?
Greg Swann
T. Chan
<gsw...@primenet.com> wrote:
>John Kennedy, esteemed editor of No Treason
>[ http://www.no-treason.com/weblog/ ], and I have been
>talking sub rosa about poker. He plays. I'm a recent
>convert to the game. He told me that David Friedman's
>son Patri plays. In following up on that I discovered
>that Don Watkins from humanities.philosophy.objectivism
>plays. Lurking rec.gambling.poker I found out that
>Terrence Chan (also of HPO) plays poker. He reports that
>there are a goodly number of objectivist/libertarian
>types on http://www.PokerStars.com, by whom he is
>employed.
There are fairly regular players named "John_Galt", and "Roark" on
PokerStars, among others, I imagine. "Roark" was 15th of 135 in the
recently-concluded PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker's
$500 buy-in Omaha High/Low tournament. A player named "StakeMe" who
lists his/her city as "Galt's Gulch" finished 7th of 256 in the WCOOP
match play limit hold'em tournament . There were at least a couple
players making jokes about "Roark" being the architect of a poker chip
castle during his run. One of them was a player who says he has
"?'SJGALT" (apparently they allow punctuation on personal license
plates in North Carolina).
>
>It strikes me that there might be quite a few people of
>our persuasion who can hold their own at Hold-'Em. And
>as all modern, educated, well-dressed, over-fed,
>hyper-theoretical poker players know, if you can
>accumulate 10 or more of the like-minded, you can have a
>tournament.
>
The nature of poker being what it is would tend to lend itself towards
individualistic, rational thinkers. In poker, no one is interested in
your stature in the community, your third-party qualifications, your
past glory or anything else other than your ability to bring your
money and your game to the table. As poker author Lou Krieger writes:
"Poker is my business. If I lose I need look no further than myself
for reasons. Only losers and amateurs blame the cards. After all,
the cards don't care; they don't take sides, and they don't have
memory...Poker is a microcosm of all we admire and disdain about
capitalism and democracy. It can be rough-hewn or polished, warm or
cold, charitable and caring, or hard and impersonal, fickle and
elusive, but ultimately iti s fair, and right and just. At the poker
table and in the world at large, for the most part, the hardworking,
the good, and the skilled win out...
Poker is good for you. It enriches the soul, sharpens the intellect,
heals the spirit, and--when played well--nourishes the wallet. Above
all else, it forces us to face reality and deal squarely with it.
....[L]ots of players [ignore reality]. They are consistent losers,
but rather than facing the deficiencies in theown game they persist in
placing the blame on fate, on the dealer, on that particular deck of
cards, or on anything else--except themselves."
-- Lou Krieger, _More Hold'em Excellence_, 1999.
>Therefore I propose EPITHET: The Egoist/Philosophical
>Individualist Texas Hold-'Em Tournament. (Poker
>tournaments and software designed by undergrads cannot
>officially exist without a catchy acronym.)
>
>Everything's up for discussion: location, buy-in, rules,
>etc. PokerStars.com might be the best location, since
>they have wonderful multi-table tournament software, but
>it might be more fun to squire the Dagnys and Galts of
>our desiring in the over-stated elegance of the Bellagio
>in Las Vegas. Let's talk it out.
Bellagio is heaven on earth to a poker player. PokerStars is the king
of all online poker tournaments, but alas, I don't get to play there.
>
>These are two hard and fast rules I think we must all
>stipulate to in advance:
>
>1. Since Patri Friedman doesn't sound like much of an
>individualist to me (and since he sounds like he could
>chew us all up in ten minutes flat), he can't play.
Two points:
1) Where'd you get the idea that Patri isn't an individualist? While
not an O/objectivist, he certainly is pro- reason, egoism, capitalism
and all that good stuff.
2) The luck factor in a standard poker tournament is such that an
amateur with a couple months of experience could probably beat a world
champion at least one out of three times.
[...]
--
Self-indulgent homepage warning:
http://www.sfu.ca/~tchand/
Don Watkins III
>What do you think?
I'm game!
Don Watkins
*******************************************************
My homepage
http://www.geocities.com/mrgalt.geo/
*******************************************************