The Dark Side of Life

The Dark Side of Life

Almost everything in life is like the moon. It has a dark side. I've been thinking about the dark, seamy side of life, the side almost nobody likes to talk about. Anyway, I've been thinking about the young poker professional player who was only 23 years old when he won $15.406,688 in a tournament where each player put up $1 million. Forty-two players on this planet came up with the money. About half are well-known successful players, one is a billionaire who runs a hedge fund. At least another participant, the owner of Cirque Du Soleil, is a billionaire. Neither of them progressed to the final table. They were among the 34 players who didn't recoup a single red cent from their $1 million "investment". The top eight players got paid, ranging from $1,306,667 to $15,406,688. Please understand that this is the only tournament in the world where the stakes are this big. It inaugurated in 2011. In 2013, the entry fee dropped to $111,111. In 2014, the fee went back up to $1 million and the maximum field size was set at 56, but the sellout looked unlikely when many well-known and supposedly rich players didn't enter the tournament. But I didn't blame them. You must be supremely confident and very good on top of being very wealthy to risk $1 million in a game where luck does play a role (around 20% in a long run. Higher in a few hours). Now, imagine you are only 23 years of age. You must be extremely good for you to have that kind of money or for the people who backed you up and put up the money for you. Based on the following info from Wikipedia, Colman must be very, very good. 

"Colman is primarily an online player under the names "mrGR33N13" and "riyyc225". In 2013 he became the first player in history to win $1,000,000 in hyper-turbo tournaments in a calendar year, accomplishing the feat in only 9 months.[2] In April 2014 he won the €100,000 Super HIgh Roller at the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, earning €1,539,300. At the 2014 WSOP, he finished in 3rd place in the $10,000 Heads-Up event before winning The Big One for One Drop.

As of 2014, his total live winnings exceed $17,988,000."

His unusual, unconventional, and unexpected behavior after winning the championship generated a controversy. The following is an article written by a writer (James McManus) who gained fame for writing about poker.:

"Is Daniel Colman, poker's new heavyweight champion, an adolescent narcissist, happy to take people's money on the felt but unwilling to help improve poker's 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?

After refusing almost all interview requests after winning the $15.3 million first prize of the Big One for One Drop -- a tournament that benefits the One Drop Foundation, which provides water-management systems in drought-stricken countries -- the 23-year-old Colman became even more hostile and self-contradictory on the online poker forum Two Plus Two:

'First off, I don't owe poker a single thing. I've 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../ In a perfect world, markets are based on informed consumers making rational transactions. In reality sadly that's 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. I get it if someone wants to go and play poker on their own free will, but I don't agree with gambling being advertised just like I don't agree with cigarettes and alcohol being advertised.

It bothers me that people care so much about poker's well-being. As poker is a game that has such a net negative effect on the people playing it. Both financial and emotionally. 

As 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't 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. It is their because it serves a clear purpose. If you get people to look up to someone and adhere to the "gain wealth, forget all but self" motto, then you can get them to ignore the social contract which is very good for power systems. Also it serves as a means of distraction to get people to not pay attention to the things that matter. 

These are just my personal views. And yes, 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.

Happy to read anyones opinions that could convince me otherwise of my views."

(Wissai's note: I was very impressed with Colman's words, minor grammatical errors notwithstanding. To me, he exhibited depth for such a young man. I am 65 years old, but I didn't view poker in such a penetrating manner as he did) 

The reaction was polarized. As one poker fan, known as @djm182, wrote on Twitter: "For the record, if I won a poker tourney and claimed $15.3M for doing so, I'd take 15 minutes and talk to the media. #colman #child."

Poker pro David Peat had the opposite take, saying "hats off" to Colman for following his decision and   Can we pick up radio code I'll be able to click on the trunk on my app is looking to worry about you adding that they don't owe the Rio anything. "They are predators taking enough from poker."

Aaron Brown, the author of "The Poker Face of Wall Street," agreed, but for a different reason. "Not only do I fully support Dan Colman in refusing to play the desired part, his actions are what make Dan Negreanu's graciousness meaningful," 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. "Poker 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."

Negreanu himself also weighed in on the controversy. "I 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," he wrote, adding that "it's difficult to take the position he does, and actually still profit from the game, and the weaker players he exploits."

Presumably Colman doesn't alert his online adversaries that he's a professional and they're 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.

As for Colman saying "I don't owe poker anything," the man long known as Kid Poker wrote:

You don't 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't owe poker, or me personally anything, much like when a waitress brings your order, you don't owe her a tip or even a thank you. It's just a gracious custom, much like doing a winner's interview.

Negreanu also noted that if Colman has an issue with the morality of being a poker pro, he needs to make a choice: "If 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?"

A fair question.

Charitable poker tournaments have long been a highly effective means of raising money to help the unfortunate, but their general cause isn't 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.

Online 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's statement will be music to his ears.

Young 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't so lucky.'

I (Wissai) play poker quite seriously. I have made some money off the game. I must say that I have learned a lot about human nature from the game. The game can be very dark. I personally know quite a few players (about two dozens) who went broke and had to quit the game. Incidentally, about 90% of players lose money. Only 5% make enough money to live comfortably. So I hugely admire Colman for his rare achievements and his courage to speak about the dark side of the game. The poker rooms personnel (management, dealers, cocktail waitresses, massage therapists) live off the untalented, not so bright, fun-seeking players. One poker room supervisor at a prestigious casino in Vegas once talked to me and derisively and disparagingly talked about the players who mistakenly thought they could come to a poker room and make some money. I just looked at him in silence, but from that moment on, I have looked at him worse than a dog because he showed to me he was just an asshole who laughed at the hand that fed him. There is an unspoken contempt dealers and their bosses have for losing players. They mock and laugh at these poor souls behind their backs. So not only the poker game is dark, quite a few individuals who sponsor and keep the game going are dark also. In fact, casino is a very dark place. A great deal of people lose money there. They are enticed and lured by the bright lights and the "fun" and the cheap "give-away" promotions. But Las Vegas is recovering nicely. Casinos are packed again. Throngs of visitors crowd the Las Vegas Boulevard every night. The traffic jams on the boulevard are horrendous in the evenings. Like moths to the flame, gamblers and "fun-seeking" visitors squander their money on the local businesses. Not only the casinos benefit from this dark side of human nature, the local retail businesses including those that cater to the sensual pleasures of the flesh (sex, drugs, foods, shows) are thriving. I have had young women (8 so far) accosting me for paid sex. I turned all of them down. I have had female dealers and fellow poker players (6 so far) flirt with me. They know I am a winning player, hence I have money. I have said no to their hints of dates and sexual invitations. I know enough about the dark side of sex and of love, so it has been easy for me to say no. 

The last time I wrote so admiringly of Colman, a bitch commented that the dark world of poker in which I navigated would not be good for my soul. This was the same bitch who "opined"

that I was a stupid flunkie! Look who was talking! The bitch was barely educated, ugly (a Quasimodo look-alike) impecunious, untalented, and lonely as hell. The bitch's gratuitous and ignorant comments were typical of those who don't know what the fuck they're talking about, but they feel they must say something. They think they are clever and smart by having an opinion on just about anything. I view these pretentious and ignorant motherfuckers with undisguised contempt. 

It is not really easy to understand me for I have a dark side and plenty of dark moments. But to really understand me is to love me because I am rare and have a beautiful mind. I am not as as good as Colman in the poker arena, but I am confident of my worth and my place in this dark world. I know I am lovable. Many women (22 so far) have told me so and said they loved me, but I think only 3 really do. And why do I think they love me? They didn't ask me for money. The way humans conduct themselves regarding the issue of money say a great deal about themselves. Ditto for power and sex and facts . Yes, humans reveal their dark side by how they handle money, power, sex, and facts, in that descending order. I may be wrong in my reading of humans, but I don't think so. I am brash and abrasive, but I can be sensitive and perceptive. I have a soul of a poet and an inquiring mind. That's why I feel so fucking proud of myself and view most humans I have come into contact as cheap animals and assholes who lack true pride and intellectual honesty. The motherfucker who loves insulting people by comparing them with horses and water buffaloes is such an animal and an ignorant and stupid and cowardly asshole. He cries like a goddamned, self-righteous, whining baby if somebody returns the insults. Yes, I am the one who wrote publicly that the reason why the asshole was fond of the imagery of horses and water buffaloes was that his forefathers must have lived closely among horses and water buffaloes or perhaps even committed acts of bestiality with these poor animals. No wonder nowadays he looks and conducts himself like an ass. Fuck, he'd better pray that I am still lucid and rational. 

(To be continued)