Poker Can Bring Out the Best in You

To some people, poker is just poker. That means that they don’t think about it a lot but they really like to play. These people are one distinct type of poker player. We’ll explain that type and many others in this article.

What Makes Poker So Special?
There are as many reasons why people play poker as there are poker players. Many players look for poker bonuses, the type of extra pleasure they can get only from poker. In this article, we’ll explore many reasons why people play poker and how playing online poker enhances each of these reasons.

Money
Yes, it’s true! Many players play poker to win money. To these players, winning money at poker is a goal in itself. To many, winning money at poker is better than winning money in the financial markets or running a successful business.

Money isn’t everything, however. As we shall see, each of the following reasons for why people love poker so much can be seen as an adjunct to playing to win money, as a necessary component of the desire to play to win money, or as singular reasons in their own right. There are plenty of poker players to whom the play is far more important than the money.

Competition
People in every so-called developed country understand the vast importance of competition. Competition is the driving force behind business success. It is the force that makes people excel at their professions.

Some people thrive from competition and some people would rather just enjoy a simpler existence. People who really love poker love the competition involved. Part of the challenge of poker is the chance to outsmart or outwit an opponent.

For many players, this is the true driving force behind their enjoyment in playing poker. The challenge is also what drives many people who love logic problems and games like Sudoku. Poker adds the element of an opponent who is likewise challenged to outwit and outsmart you!

Some people derisively call mental challenges mental gymnastics. However, mental gymnastics is a great way to stay mentally strong and healthy.

Online Poker
It’s only been about twenty years since poker was introduced to an online audience. At that time, the graphics for internet-based poker were a lot less clear and accessible than the graphics are today. Poker players at Intertops Poker have graphics of fantastic quality.

Playing poker online also has other benefits. You get to meet people from all over the world. It is true that land-based poker gives you the chance to meet a diverse set of people but the set of people you can meet online is vastly more diverse.

Especially if you are playing in low stakes friendly online games, you can connect with people and develop lasting friendships.

Gamification
There is a new, modern philosophy of sorts that says that it is good to make every activity or endeavor into a game. This does not mean that you don’t take your activities or endeavors seriously. It means that the gamification of everyday activities is an important way to stay alert, healthy, mentally clear, and so on.

In fact, Robert Pirsig, in his great work Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance said the same in even more philosophical terms. He said that even your everyday job, which inevitably gets boring over time, can be improved and enhanced by looking for what he terms Quality elements.

There are hundreds of ways to gamify our free time. Poker is an excellent way since it combines skill and luck and known facts and unknown facts. Developing the skill to discern unknown facts is a skill that makes many professional people superior to the average people in their field.

Entrepreneurial Spirit
Many poker players exhibit many of the same qualities as business entrepreneurs. One of the most outstanding qualities of successful entrepreneurs is the combination of the willingness to take risks coupled with the unwillingness to take foolish risks.

Identifying smart risks and foolish risks is what sets poker players apart from the field and also what sets the best entrepreneurs apart from those who succeed on a far more moderate scale.

Passing the Time
It is an obvious fact that many poker players play simply to pass the time. However, there are innumerable ways to pass the time. Why do some people watch television while others play poker?

Actually, this is not a fair comparison since there are light years of difference between watching television as a pastime and playing poker as a pastime. We can review the reasons people play poker that we have spoken about and see exactly how poker is far advanced as a pastime over watching television.

People play poker to win money. It is clear that anyone who plays poker to win money needs to play within their skill level and within their bankroll. Having said that, we also know that there are many ways to “make” money. The biggest difference between analyzing financial markets and assets and analyzing poker hands is that for the vast majority of people, analyzing poker hands is a lot more fun!

In other words, poker is a more enjoyable pastime!

Poker offers a level of competition that television doesn’t offer at all. Even if you play in penny ante games, there is competition. Some people like to curl up with a good book and some people like to play poker. The competitive side of poker is clear. Reading a good but challenging book is also a competitive activity of sorts.

Poker is also one of many ways people connect with each other in the digital age. Only online poker gives you the chance to connect quickly and easily with people from all over the world.

There is little gamification in watching television. That doesn’t mean, of course, that television is a waste of time. It is a clear entertainment, fun to do, is something you can do as a family or as a couple, and has little competitive nature among the people watching with you. However, for people who need to make everything they do into a game that can ultimately improve their personally and professionally, poker far outstrips television!

Finally, some people can’t watch television because they can’t sit still long enough to concentrate on it. Poker is the sort of mental challenge that directs their attention to the game and the pastime. Many people who find television incompatible with their own natures also have an entrepreneurial element to their personality. For them, poker is a far better pastime than television.

Bottom Line
The clear and present conclusion is that poker is a kind of supergame that is immensely fun to play and has many aspects to it that take the fun to a more profound level.