Joel Stein: "Now I get it"

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

2. The educated gamblers, particularly poker players, that are way more savvy and knowledgeable, understand that the public perception is in no way remotely accurate and close to the general rule. They know that there is no way the sport could survive, thus are not scared off by it's perception.

What sends them running for the hills is the fact that roughly 20-25% of every wager goes to the house.

If your goal is to convince a new generation of intelligent gamblers to adopt this sport as a pastime, takeout has to be addressed, and not by 1-2% - anyone with half a brain will look for better odds elsewhere .

Conversely the uneducated player willing to accept the takeout is much happier buying a lotto ticket or punching a video slot machine than taking the time to handicap much less learn how to handicap.

I think the two traits needed in a person to cultivate them into a player are an appreciation of numbers and the belief (valid or not) at being smarter than the average bear. In a 'player's' mind the horses are more like cards and the race like the flop, turn and river. Once a player becomes a fan, the horses become more like athletes and the race becomes less like a deal. While horse racing overly focuses on recruiting new fans it neglects recruiting players.

A player doesn't need his face painted or to see clowns on stilts. He needs instruction and an incentive to learn. Instead of the paint and clowns give him a beer or coke (with a correct selection of course). It's the give a man a fish v. teaching him how to fish story.....