I have dabbled in poker.  Some have told me that I am a lifetime winning poker player.  I played in the WSOP main event.  I also won 10K or so a couple of times on pokerstars.  I dont love poker, and have written a lot on it here.

If you are interested, here is a very long thread on the subject.  It is 12 pages of all of my thoughts on poker, along with some good humor.

Thanks for the compliment - I often think about writing a book and inevitably follow that up by asking myself who the hell would want to read that book.  But I might have time here coming up soon.

I dont bet hockey because it just isnt on my radar.  I also feel like I cant get down bigger wagers at low juice, which is a must have criteria for anything I bet.  I might be wrong about that, but that is my perception.

Look - dont ask a question you dont want to know the answer to.  I find it funny that out of all of the questions asked in this thread, you asked a question ABOUT YOURSELF.  It is very telling.

You have yet to answer my questions.  I asked several direct questions,and you avoided them.  There is no reason to post lines that are unattainable, or ignore that you bought points, only to post your record later and brag aobut it - other than attention.  Please tell me where I go wrong with this.

Either way, its no problem.  Keep doing what you do.  But you arent fooling anyone.  Dont you see in this thread alone how many people see you for what you are but dont want to debate you?  Let it go.  You need attention.  There are worse things in the world to be.

Well, if you want total honesty, here it comes......

I would like to say I dont.  But that would be lying.  But let me explain as best as I can.

There are degrees of how much I "look down on people who believe in god".  For instance, I think someone who is of a religion is far worse than someone who makes a case for there being a higher power that we dont understand.  I cant really argue the latter, but the former is a different story.

If I asked you if you look down on people who believe in the tooth fairy, what would your honest answer be?  I mean seriously - people who get together and worship the tooth fairy - what do you think of them?  They are people who despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary insist on believing in something.  I cant help but decide that those people are of lesser intelligence, or severely misinformed, or brainwashed.  This is how I view religion.

There is no case for religion that is intelligent.  Besides the fact that religion is the most destructive force in human history, and to this day kills and makes more misery than every disease on earth combined - it is a mindless "faith" based practice.  I live my life trying to never "check my brain at the door", but all religions require that you ignore the man behind the curtain and proceed as if the obvious isnt obvious.

So, if you say to me that you look at the things you dont understand with wonder, and come to a conclusion that there has to be a higher power - I cant really debate you.  But if you come to me and say you dont understand the things around you, and have come up with a flawed, unintelligent, scientifically impossible, 1st grade rendition of a story to fit all of the gaps, then I have to assume there is something wrong with you.  Maybe you are brainwashed, but more than likely you are not capable of understanding facts around you, or even worse you dont want to investigate.

The funny thing is that you look down on people of other religions and gods.  I assume you are christian, what do you think of Allah?  How about those statues of elephants that Hindus think are gods?  Why do you look down on them?  What about Branch Davidians?  You get to call them crazy right?  How about the Amish, or the Safardic person who wont do anyting on Saturdays?  Crazy?

The problem is that you think your brand of god is the only brand of god.  But I just think that your brand of crazy is equal to all other religions brand of crazy, there is no difference.

I cant listen to a guy tell me it is not raining when I can clearly observe that it is raining.  Should I patronize him by allowing him to keep telling me that Im not getting wet?  Should I not think less of him or that something is wrong with him?  You ignore facts around you, you dont question the faults of your beliefs, and worst of all you cannot be a critical thinker.

Well, if you want total honesty, here it comes......

I would like to say I dont.  But that would be lying.  But let me explain as best as I can.

There are degrees of how much I "look down on people who believe in god".  For instance, I think someone who is of a religion is far worse than someone who makes a case for there being a higher power that we dont understand.  I cant really argue the latter, but the former is a different story.

If I asked you if you look down on people who believe in the tooth fairy, what would your honest answer be?  I mean seriously - people who get together and worship the tooth fairy - what do you think of them?  They are people who despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary insist on believing in something.  I cant help but decide that those people are of lesser intelligence, or severely misinformed, or brainwashed.  This is how I view religion.

There is no case for religion that is intelligent.  Besides the fact that religion is the most destructive force in human history, and to this day kills and makes more misery than every disease on earth combined - it is a mindless "faith" based practice.  I live my life trying to never "check my brain at the door", but all religions require that you ignore the man behind the curtain and proceed as if the obvious isnt obvious.

So, if you say to me that you look at the things you dont understand with wonder, and come to a conclusion that there has to be a higher power - I cant really debate you.  But if you come to me and say you dont understand the things around you, and have come up with a flawed, unintelligent, scientifically impossible, 1st grade rendition of a story to fit all of the gaps, then I have to assume there is something wrong with you.  Maybe you are brainwashed, but more than likely you are not capable of understanding facts around you, or even worse you dont want to investigate.

The funny thing is that you look down on people of other religions and gods.  I assume you are christian, what do you think of Allah?  How about those statues of elephants that Hindus think are gods?  Why do you look down on them?  What about Branch Davidians?  You get to call them crazy right?  How about the Amish, or the Safardic person who wont do anyting on Saturdays?  Crazy?

The problem is that you think your brand of god is the only brand of god.  But I just think that your brand of crazy is equal to all other religions brand of crazy, there is no difference.

I cant listen to a guy tell me it is not raining when I can clearly observe that it is raining.  Should I patronize him by allowing him to keep telling me that Im not getting wet?  Should I not think less of him or that something is wrong with him?  You ignore facts around you, you dont question the faults of your beliefs, and worst of all you cannot be a critical thinker.

never gets old....................... 

Van, do you like Cabernet?

Sorry I couldn't resist.

If you dont look down on people who worship the tooth fairy, there is something wrong with you.  You cannot be a critical thinker.  An intelligent critical thinker has to dismiss things that fly in the face of evidence - so if you dont look down on people who believe in voodoo then you are not a critical thinker - or you are not being honest.

The satement you made above is impossible actually.  What you mean to say is that you dont look down on anyones mainstream religious beliefs, but people who worship the tooth fairy are just crazy, stupid, or brainwashed.

You see - it is all just a matter of degree.  You think that believing in a named god that runs the universe is intelligent, but believing that a beetle runs the universe is absurd.  I think they are both exactly the same probability.

Sorry to jump out of order on my answers, this one got me going.