The Culture of Poker

Simon Gravel: You have to be smart to be good at poker. You have to be able to handle pressure. You have to be able to bluff. You have to be able to be very patient. Craig Conoley: It’s a game of skill, chance and pure guts. Hi! I’m Craig Conoley with watchmojo.com and today, we’ll be learning more about the game of poker. What do you scribe to poker’s main stream popularity? Simon Gravel: One factor is the television, that they had come on television and a lot of people learn how to play, so that it was interesting. They were able to see the cards of the players. Other factor is the internet. Internet gaming sites make huge amounts of money with poker, so they help a lot of new people to the game. The fact that an amateur won the World Championship 2003, Chris Moneymaker that helped a lot. Craig Conoley: And do you think film has helped popularize this sport? Simon Gravel: Not the last James Bond it but they won before. The old movies built around the poker game. It’s that the only example, there was “Rounders” in ’98. It’s the classic and most favorite movie for poker players. Craig Conoley: What type of qualities does a good poker player need? Simon Gravel: So, there is just one quality, you have to be a little bit of a psychologist, you have to be comedian sometimes, you want to pretend that you have a good hand when you don’t. Craig Conoley: Rumor is that President Obama is a poker player, how is he associated with the game? Simon Gravel: Back when he played, he was known as a patient player. Obviously, I don’t think he has time anymore for poker but he played with people from his state Illinois, and it happen to make some contacts that helped him later on in his politics. Craig Conoley: Do you think the strategy of the game is helpful to a President? Simon Gravel: For sure it is. We have to earn respect when you play poker. We have to have a strong image and you need to use strategy. Craig Conoley: Now, you were a chess player before, why the shift from chess to poker? Simon Gravel: The game is different. Chess, you need to learn moves openings up to 20th move and poker, you can sit down with no preparation at all and give a great performance. It’s more a game of a psychology of personality. Chess is a lot of calculation and knowledge. Craig Conoley: Who’s the Bobby Fischer of poker right now? Simon Gravel: In poker, there’s not one person who can dominate the poker world in, chess, Bobby Fischer for a few years was able to dominate. In poker right now, we have in Internet a guy named Durrr or Phil Ivey was known as the Tiger Woods of poker. Another day, when he looses $500,000.00, so you can not dominate poker because there is variance due to chance, there is chance. Craig Conoley: There are great players and then there are good players, what’s the difference? Simon Gravel: Some amateurs can play like professionals but they might not have the same motivation to play the best move all the time, so they might make mistake. The real professional does not make huge mistake and sometimes, your profit in this poker comes from big mistakes. It’s too bad but that’s the way it is.