4 ms·

Why involve money?

• Temporary_31337 3y ago
  Dopamine
• chowells 3y ago
  Because without betting something you at least notionally care about, poker is a tedium simulator rather than a game. The betting is where the game is, and if you don't care about winning or losing the bet, you're skipping the game portion.
  • deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  • plorkyeran 3y ago
    Of course, that just shifts the question to why not play a game that's actually fun.
    • throwaway55671 3y ago
      It is very fun with small amounts of money.
• jonahrd 3y ago
  The game truly doesn't function without stakes. With no bets, the only stakes are losing your entire stack and not being able to play, so it pushes the game very early on into all-in territory. With small sums ($5), it's too easy to slip into the same mindset after your buddy offers you a beer (since it's basically paid for) In high school we combatted this with a $20 buy in. Now we do a $50 buy in. Sure, it kinda sucks to lose. But the money is just going back to your friends, and a dinner + drinks out on the town is likely to cost the same. Even when you lose you still had a fun night. And when you win it's even better! Of course, we are only playing once every few months.. so it's really not a big issue financially.