Disreputable Poker Players

So I was having lunch with my mother earlier today, and one of the more interesting parts of our conversation went something like this:

(Me) "Yea, right now my goal is to save enough money to buy an entrance into one of the major WPT or WSOP events. One good finish would probably be enough to get me on the tour permanently."
(Mom) "You are NOT going to be a poker player forever!"
(Me) "I could be! Why not?"
(Mom) "Because poker players aren't good people! They're sleezy, shady and don't have very good morals."

Gee thanks Mom...seeing as how I AM a professional poker player, I'm not sure how that makes me feel. Anyway, my point being I think there's a pretty widespread misconception of the type of people that poker players actually are. Due to the incredible popularity of the game right now and the extensive TV coverage that goes with it, this stigma is slowly changing, but the vast majority of people still think of poker players as the low class, immoral seedy types that frequented the game 50's, 60's and 70's. That simply not the case today. Which isn't to say that these players don't exist anymore, or that they don't play...it's just that they're no longer representative of the whole. A couple of quick examples:

*Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson - Now Doyle is old enough to have played with the absolute WORST the poker world has to offer, but he and his wife are both devoute Christians and have a perfectly normal and loving family situation. It's clear when you hear the man talk that nothing has been more important then being a good father and family man.

*Phil Hellmuth - I don't personally like Phil's attituide when he plays a lot of the time, but like Doyle, he's a family man w/ a wife and kids. If you ran into him @ PTA meeting, you probably wouldn't think twice.

*Barry Goldstein - They call this guy the "Robin Hood" of the poker world, and he is by far one of the classiest guys out there, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. He's a retired software engineer who just enjoys the game...and he donates everything he wins on the tour to charity. We're not talking $2,000 here, or even $5,000 or $10,000....we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. I mean how amazing is that? This isn't money he gets from some sort of investment return, or for being the president of a company...this is money he earns by working for hours (and even days) on end in grueling tournaments all over the country. THAT is class.
Anyway, these three guys are more indicitive of poker players today then people think...it is more and more a profession of good, normal people trying to make a living doing something they enjoy. And it doesn't hurt that you can make a sh*t ton of money while you're at it!!!


*Thought of the day: It's almost as bad to judge a book by its length, as it is by its cover.