I was googling up some old article on poker and this site popped up. I don’t consider myself racist, but I have to admit I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised to see a black man’s face at the tip top of the poker heap.
I don’t imagine that he’s going to make onto a “Great Black Accomplishments” list with this, but it should put the lie to the racist notion that black people lack the intellectual horsepower to succeed in games that demand sharp analytical skills.
I thought Doug Willaims and Warren Moon and Donovan McNabb and Daunte Culpepper and Michael Vick and Byron Leftwich had already done that.
But Ivey is one of my favorite poker players and the amount of respect you see him given didn’t just start yesterday. He’s been a thread and respected as such for a while.
IANA Football expert, but does being an NFL quarterback [really] require the raw level of sharp analytical skills that you have ot have to be a top shelf poker player? You can’t be stupid (about football) and be a good quarterback, but there are some winning quarterbacks like Terry Bradshaw, who are superb athletes, but whom I really wouldn’t classify as top drawer analytical intellects.
To me the OP is meh, at best. At worst, well…
Imho, our cullture/socity still has a very long way to go, if we are still amazed, or feel the need to comment on someone who is African American that happens to be at the top of a “sport” that requires analytical skills.
Silly me, I thought most people in this day in age have long since realized that no one group of people is more or less intellectually superior, or inferior to another.
It’s 2006, not 1956.
Geez, if that impresses you, how about an international grandmaster in chess?
Maurice Ashley
Exactly. Maybe the OP should review his ideas about racism if an achievement by a black person fills them with intrigue and pleasant surprise. Hey, did you know that now they run corporations, own successful small business, and become community leaders and politicians? Wowzers! :rolleyes:
I don’t have the notion that black people lack intellectual horsepower, and I don’t know anyone else who has this notion either, so as breaking news this is right up there with “Women Succeed In Workplace!”
IMHO, any statement or OP that begins with “I don’t consider myself racist, but…” is never going to end well.
Phil Ivey is a poker player’s poker player, and all around nice guy too. He plays biggest cash games in the world with the best players in the world. Losing or winning a million in one session is nothing to him. I read that once he got stuck a million and got back to even three times in one session.
I’m well aware of black accomplishments in business and enterprise, however, there are some fields of endeavor where black presence at the top levels is somewhat light in terms of demographic representation relative to the general population.
If I saw that a black college had won (for example) the top national prize in a mathematics competiton I would be pleasantly suprised as that is an area in which black colleges have not (to the best of my knowledge) excelled. If thinking “Well good for them” can be tortured into some variety of crypto-racism that it suffuses you with a nice warm feeling to sneer at, then have at it.
Nice warm feelings aside, the whole OP struck me as rather patronizing; when I said I don’t know anyone who believes black people lack intellectual horsepower or sharp analytical skills, I was totally serious. So to commend them for proving that they possess these skills seems unnecessary. Perhaps a better proof of progress would be when nobody even notices that the man in question is black.
And if you’ll note, I am not the only one who commented on the odd nature of your OP.
just going to say. I Knew it was Ivey. Then again, what other Pro black player ((Currently)) is there?
Then again, look at Tiger Woods. Perhaps it only takes one good player to get one’s ethnicity ‘on the map’ in a sport. This is either real good, or real bad, but, Im sure the guy in the spotlight doesnt give that much thought to it in the long run.
if only we can get ““David palmer”” elected. (Dennis Haysbert’s Character// portrayal as the president in the Early seasons of 24. ) Then we would be in business.
FWIW, one thing I find cool about Ivey is that he plays the low limit games on Full Tilt. I’m sure all the pros have a contract clause saying they have to play a certain amount, but you still see some guys only playing the $10/20 NL game or higher. I've seen Ivey at the .5/$1 stud table several times. The waiting list when he’s there is usually around 40 people.
It’s pretty cool for an average guy to play a few hands with Ivey; it’s like shooting hoops with Jordan or playing a round with Tiger Woods. Not something most people ever get to experience.
There are many African-American pro players. A lot of pros don’t play the big-money tournaments either because they don’t want to be known or because they’re grinding out their livings at lower levels.
Don’t forget David Williams.
Please? I’d really like to forget David Williams if I could. Pretty please?
astro, playing quarterback is one of the most mentally demanding jobs in all of sports. The amount of complexity that goes into reading a defense, knowing your checkdowns, identifying gaps in coverage, knowing when to change plays, and so on is just as demanding if not more demanding than reading odds and calculating percentages in poker. Not to disparage the complexity of poker, I just think you’re giving football short shrift (although not on purpose).
I think the African-American representation at the top level of certain arenas is due to the historic underrepresentation of African-Americans in the arena at all. Due to cultural disconnect, historic discrimination, what have you. But even if that theory is wrong, I wholeheartedly reject the notion that it’s something innate in African-Americans that precludes their success.
Why?
Enjoy,
Steven
There’s a black guy living nearby that has a steady job and, to the best of my knowledge, has never gone to prison!
I saw the title and thought he meant David Williams and I actually came in here to argue that he’s not one the world’s very best. He’s definitely good, and as a (recovering) Magic: The Addiction player, I applaud him for where he’s gotten himself. Hell, he’s a friend of a friend. I haven’t met him but so I’m told.
In any case, I won’t get into the racism debate.
Because for one he’s over-rated as a poker player and for another he’s come off repeatedly as a jerk in televised events. Including two live events so he can’t blame editing for his behaviour.