I try to categorise each post I make on this site, but I almost feel like I need to create a new one for this – perhaps “general stupidity”, or “reasons not to rob a bank (#372)”.
You may or may not be familiar with the story of this Pennsylvania college student Greg Hogan who decided to rob a local bank in order to pay off online poker debts that he’d run up. This is why you don’t use a credit card to play online poker outside your bankroll (and above your skill level):
Obviously the kid’s lawyer is going to try to blame the greedy online casinos for luring poor young Greg into the kind of massive debt that would drive an otherwise upstanding young man to do something utterly insane like robbing a bank at gunpoint.
Here’s my view: fuck him. Nobody held a gun to his head and made him deposit money into an online casino. Now he has to take responsibility for his actions. And I mean, how stupid do you have to be to rob a bank these days, especially in broad daylight!!?!? It’s very likely that you’re going to get caught and locked up.
Plus, (from more of a poker playing angle) there are hundreds of great poker books and thousands of great poker websites out there that he could’ve read to become a better player before he used daddy’s credit card to play with money he didn’t have. He could’ve read Harrington on Holdem, Small Stakes Hold’em and Winning Low-Limit Hold’em over a weekend, then he would’ve known not to start off playing $10-$20 limit or whatever he tried to do. (Actually, I bet it was medium stakes no-limit cash games just like he’d played with his college pals.)
I did a little bit more digging and there’s an article from his own college newsletter (no less) which reveals a culture of gambling among the students there. It’s been over-dramatised a little, but it gives you a flavour of what these little scamps get up to:
These are really just big pissing contest games overflowing with testosterone, played by rich kids for whom macho posturing is still obligatory. I have a hard time feeling sorry for any of them (as long as the games are fair). Here’s a sample:
“Tonight, like many nights, the table is full. The betting is fierce, sporadic; bets are re-raised and gone over the top again. The poker table becomes the dusty street corners of an old western gun duel. Players shoot not just to kill but to show they’re not afraid to take the shot.
“What are you looking at – did you hit that queen? Two pair?†one player asks, staring unblinking at Dave, seated across the table from him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about man,†Dave finally answers. “I’ve got the nuts. So just fold and make your life easy.†He laughs and the smile on his face grows bigger each time his opponent fondles his chip stack.
But he doesn’t have the cards. His bluff is called and he loses all his chips – $145.
Without hesitation, he opens up his wallet and throws in $40 more. Rebuy. His fourth of the night. Dave is in it for $160 now. And it might as well be half a grand, because he’s not going home until he’s satisfied.”
and:
“Some of the students who sit down are experienced but some are “fish.†They are popular because of their inability to make good reads and for their likelihood to contribute vast sums of money.
One of these fish, Jake, another regular at the table, has accumulated a debt of $300 this month. He receives a monthly allowance from home and usually remains in debt until he receives more money from his parents. He drives a Jaguar.”
Okay, enough of this stupidity. Pretty soon I’m actually going to go back to writing about the game again.
Update: And what’s more, Wil Wheaton agrees with me too, dammit!