\nBy James McManus, Bloomberg View<\/p>\n
\tIs Daniel Colman, poker\u2019s new heavyweight champion, an adolescent narcissist, happy to take people\u2019s money on the felt but unwilling to help improve poker\u2019s image as a game of skill or a vehicle for philanthropy? Or is he an anti-huckster hero amid a swarm of endorsement-happy pros, greedy tournament presenters and the journalists who fawn over them?<\/p>\n
\tAfter refusing almost all interview requests after winning the $15.3 million first prize of the Big One for One Drop \u2014 a tournament that benefits the One Drop Foundation, which provides water-management systems in drought-stricken countries \u2014 the 23-year-old Colman became even more hostile and self-contradictory on the online poker forum Two Plus Two:<\/p>\n
\tFirst off, I don\u2019t owe poker a single thing. I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to benefit financially from this game, but I have played it long enough to see the ugly side of this world. It is not a game where the pros are always happy and living a fulfilling life. To have a job where you are at the mercy of variance can be insanely stressful and can lead to a lot of unhealthy habits. I would never in a million years recommend for someone to try and make it as a poker pro. \u2026 In a perfect world, markets are based on informed consumers making rational transactions. In reality sadly that\u2019s not the case, markets are based on advertising trying to play on peoples impulses and targeting their weaknesses in order for them to make irrational decisions.<\/p>\n
\tHe went on:<\/p>\n
\tAs for promoting myself, I feel that individual achievements should rarely be celebrated. I am not going to take part in it for others and I wouldn\u2019t want it for myself. If you wonder why our society is so infatuated by individuals and their success, and being a baller, it is not that way for no reason. \u2026 If you get people to look up to someone and adhere to the \u201cgain wealth, forget all but self\u201d motto, then you can get them to ignore the social contract which is very good for power systems. \u2026 I realize I am conflicted. I capitalize off this game that targets peoples weaknesses. I do enjoy it, I love the strategy part of it, but I do see it as a very dark game.<\/p>\n
\tThe reaction was polarized. As one poker fan, known as @djm182, wrote on Twitter: \u201cFor the record, if I won a poker tourney and claimed $15.3M for doing so, I\u2019d take 15 minutes and talk to the media. #colman #child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPoker pro David Peat had the opposite take, saying \u201chats off\u201d to Colman for following his decision and adding that they don\u2019t owe the Rio anything. \u201cThey are predators taking enough from poker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAaron Brown, the author of \u201cThe Poker Face of Wall Street,\u201d agreed, but for a different reason. \u201cNot only do I fully support Dan Colman in refusing to play the desired part, his actions are what make Dan Negreanu\u2019s graciousness meaningful,\u201d he told me, referring to the wildly popular star who came in second to Colman in the tournament and was much more affable in defeat. \u201cPoker champions have a choice, unlike Misses America or NFL players with PR contract clauses and commissioners to obey. Poker is still an honest game, to the annoyance of the people who prefer pretty hypocrisy. Poker is real and will be around long after sportainment conglomerates have fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tNegreanu himself also weighed in on the controversy. \u201cI respect Daniel Colman for having empathy for those people that may be jaded into thinking they can easily become a poker superstar and make millions,\u201d he wrote, adding that \u201cit\u2019s difficult to take the position he does, and actually still profit from the game, and the weaker players he exploits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPresumably Colman doesn\u2019t alert his online adversaries that he\u2019s a professional and they\u2019re likely to lose, Negreanu continued. And the One Drop tournament, after all, is about something larger: It raised $4.6 million for a good cause.<\/p>\n
\tAs for Colman saying \u201cI don\u2019t owe poker anything,\u201d the man long known as Kid Poker wrote:<\/p>\n
\tYou don\u2019t owe poker anything, sure, but poker has given you a lot. The camera crew filming the event, the dealers, floor staff, Caesars, the WSOP, ESPN, PokerStars.com for giving you an opportunity to support yourself, the players that came before you and did spend time promoting a game you would have likely never heard about. You don\u2019t owe poker, or me personally anything, much like when a waitress brings your order, you don\u2019t owe her a tip or even a thank you. It\u2019s just a gracious custom, much like doing a winner\u2019s interview.<\/p>\n
\tNegreanu also noted that if Colman has an issue with the morality of being a poker pro, he needs to make a choice: \u201cIf I may make a suggestion, why not continue to do what you love, empower others, educate others about the dangers of this lifestyle, and use the money your talents allow you to earn, to make a difference in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
\tA fair question.<\/p>\n
\tCharitable poker tournaments have long been a highly effective means of raising money to help the unfortunate, but their general cause isn\u2019t helped if the winner of the biggest one uses the occasion to emphasize that people lose money playing poker. Grownups lose money in a thousand different kinds of investments. Understanding that going in is part of being a grownup.<\/p>\n
\tOnline poker, the version Colman has thrived in, is under relentless attack in legislatures across the U.S., nowhere more so than in Washington. The forces aligned against it are now led by Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands chairman who has reaped many billions from skill-free casino games in which the house is guaranteed to win in the long run. Much of Colman\u2019s statement will be music to his ears.<\/p>\n
\tYoung Mr. Colman has the luxury of being able to leave the country (he has lived in Canada and Brazil) to play his favorite game of skill. Most Americans aren\u2019t so lucky.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By James McManus, Bloomberg View Is Daniel Colman, poker\u2019s new heavyweight champion, an adolescent narcissist, happy to take people\u2019s money on the felt but unwilling to help improve poker\u2019s image as a game of skill or a vehicle for philanthropy?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}