Quote Originally Posted by CA Jack
Gambling is essentially the desire to "get a lot" without any real effort, by chance, and which (especially when lives are on the line) almost always yields detrimental results. Now, my own brother is a professional poker player, and has studied it mathematically, and actually can calculate his odds and count cards, because of his incredible intellect, but he does it for purely academic reasons and never bets "his whole earnings" on any bet. He just does it as an intellectual game, a pastime, but never to excess--even though statistically he wins FAR mare than he loses, and that is at a very high level of play.


Jack
Your definition of gambling (given the right individual, and the right game or sport) is flawed, even by your own statements about your brother. I'm sure he would disagree that he doesn't put in "any real effort, by chance" when he is playing poker. If he bet "his whole earnings", it wouldn't change his odds and he would still "statistically win FAR more than he loses" wouldn't he? The very definition of "professional poker player", means they can make a profession out of it. Dogs are no different than poker in my humble opinion. There is a reason why guys like the old man, STP, Rebel, Crenshaw, Fat Bill, Mayfield, Tudor, etc won at such high percentages while others flounder. They proved repeatedly that winning for them was not "by chance". They had a better eye for a dog, knew how to raise them, knew how to school them, knew how to pick the right weight, knew how to condition them, knew how to feed properly,and knew how to provide proper after care in order to repeat the process all over again. I would also suggest that this required them putting in a whole lot of real effort. I'm sure you're going to let me have, be kind