I'll share my experience. Playing a small pot poker game every now and then can be fun between friends. I've had a few groups of guys I'd go play poker with fro

I'll share my experience. Playing a small pot poker game every now and then can be fun between friends. I've had a few groups of guys I'd go play poker with from time to time throughout the years. The buy in would be something kind of low for everyone playing, like $20. No repeat buy-ins. So the loss if you didn't win wasn't much, and the payout wasn't exactly life changing but like take your spouse out to a nice date night with the winnings kind of thing. I'd often spend $20 or so doing some other kind of event with friends from time to time anyways, so its not like its some large amount being spent on entertainment. Paying for a batting cage for the evening or go-karts or renting a karaoke booth is also a 100% chance of losing money, should we also never do these things? There's lots of deception to be played in tons of card games and board games, I don't know why poker would be held as something odd. Any game where you're holding a secret hand pretty much involves some amount of hidden motivations. One might also bluff in Catan or deceive their opponents in their strategy, should we also avoid playing that game? I'll try and hide my routes from everyone else when I'm playing ticket to ride, is that bad? I'm stuck sitting at a table and following rules for hours. Like any other board or card game. People are stuck sitting at a table and following rules for hours playing tabletop role-playing games as well. To me, it was a chance to catch up with these friends, which at that point in time in our lives catching up at the poker game was kind of the big quarterly check-in with each other. I loved spending the time with these friends, sitting around the table and sharing life with each other, often also partaking in meals and drinks. The victory condition is winning the pot, yes. Which, as mentioned, for at least in my games wasn't exactly some life changing amount of money one was taking from friends. We all went in knowing we'd probably be out the $20 in the end, and in the end the winner would have a small amount of money as a little bonus. And as mentioned, most of us would use it to take our significant others out on a date the next night. I honestly don't see it as any different from spending a night playing any other board game or roleplaying game with friends, other than with a small bit of money involved as well. Obviously, other people go way harder with this gambling, which quickly just becomes an addition to the high of winning.