Questionnaire on Online Poker Players

[derinfish]

Dear all,

I am in my 4th year management studies at the University of Malta. For my dissertation I am conducting a research study that relates to the traits and motives of online poker players.

The questionnaire includes two sets of items related to traits and motives of online poker players as well as other demographic information about the respondent. There are no right or wrong answers.

You are not required to provide your name or any personal information. The data respondents provide are kept confidential and used only when combined with other respondents' answers to help me see the 'big picture'. I stress from the outset that the responses will only be used for academic purposes.

The questions are very straightforward and will take less than 10 minutes of your time.

You may access the questionnaire by clicking on the following link:
http://www.kwiksurveys.com/?s=IODKFF_121394f2

Since I am trying to collect a large sample, I would appreciate it if you can somehow distribute my questionnaire to your poker buddies.

Thanks in anticipation for you valid contribution, and may you always have good cards!

Sincerely,

Darren Sammut
Email: darrenspoker@gmail.com

[liladypokerpro]

I have investigated and taken the above survey and have found that it is safe for forum members to participate and therefore, this thread has been approved for public view.

He is correct in that it is a legit survey site, there is no collection of user data whatsoever - it's just a simple, random survey.

I enjoyed taking it and I hope it helps you with your studies. I am on Facebook as well, so I will spread the word and see if I can help you gain more data for your project. Good luck!

[travz21]

Easy survey to complete in about 5 minutes.

[grimReaper]

I have investigated and taken the above survey and have found that it is safe for forum members to participate and therefore, this thread has been approved for public view.

It's your fault if he key-logged my FT password

OP, please show the research after you're done. Interesting questions.

[liladypokerpro]

It's your fault if he key-logged my FT password

lol fair enough

[derinfish]

Hi there, thank you for your support
My paper is to be finished by end of May and submitted in June. I am currently in the process to gather as much responses as possible to make the study reliable enough.
As I truly appreciate your support, I have no problem sharing my findings and conclusions with the members of this forum.

[Squawk]

Done, interesting survey on the demographics of online poker. It would be interesting if we could correlate answers with winning and losing players, but not really possible here.

[derinfish]

@Squawk: Thank you for your contribution. Unfortunately time factor is my main limitation really. You make a very interesting point about losers and winners. It would also be interesting to analyse these results in light with the type of poker player (ex aggressive, selective, loose, tight etc). Perhaps at future studies..

[jspill]

Interesting survey, hope you get some good analysis out of it.

It feels a bit ambiguous to see 'gambling' mentioned in 4 questions though since many poker players don't consider poker to be gambling, given that it's a game vs people/ edges can be known/ variance accounted for with good bankroll management, etc. There should be questions that deduce whether the respondent considers poker gambling or not, and what they define as 'gambling'.

If I look for example at question '30. Gambling helps me increase my self esteem' and read it as referring to poker, I'd click agree, as it's applying a small edge over thousands of disciplined hands and winning that increases my self esteem. If I read it as a dictionary definition of gambling like 'taking risks with money recklessly in the hope of short term gain', I'd click strongly disagree.

Edit: got to end of survey and there's the option to state I never play other gambling games, that's a good addition.

[MikeyInc]

lol fair enough

Long time no talk! I means years!1 you are still active I see! How have you been girlie?

[liladypokerpro]

Long time no talk! I means years!1 you are still active I see! How have you been girlie?

HO-LY crap! lol You're alive!!! Good to see you're still kicking, Mikey. How's life been treating you? Mine's treated me like shit hahaha Mostly my work life, tho. Not a lot of time to devote these days but I still pop in from time to time. Great to see ya!

[grimReaper]

It feels a bit ambiguous to see 'gambling' mentioned in 4 questions though since many poker players don't consider poker to be gambling

+1. When I read gambling, I thought he meant roulette or black jack (he mentions poker in some places, and gambling in others. It seemed like there was a distinction being made). Not sure if it'll effect my answers though.

[frob23]

While I don't think of poker in the same sense as many other forms of gambling, I still feel it is gambling in the purest sense. A casino engages in gambling as well as the players... even though the casino typically does it with the edge. The idea of playing poker well is to play when you have the edge and not when you don't.

Considering that you can get the money in good and still lose and that variance plays a huge role in the game, it certainly contains aspects gambling. But it is also a strategy game and a game where you can come out on top over the long run despite the variance.

I don't mind gambling... lol... although I rarely engage in other forms. That is mainly because I refuse to gamble unless I believe the stakes are at least even-money or better. Since organized gambling won't offer me those odds, I might get into some side bets with friends or offer wagers but you won't find my buying a scratch off ticket.

Oh, and the weight loss side bet with my sister. That was certainly a gamble because it doesn't take a whole lot of water retention to make an otherwise losing week look like a gain on the scale. And I knew that going in. Despite knowing that, I never paid much mind to my salt consumption on Thursday or Friday... lucky for me, I wasn't punished for that lack of foresight.

[C8H10N4O2]

+1. When I read gambling, I thought he meant roulette or black jack (he mentions poker in some places, and gambling in others. It seemed like there was a distinction being made). Not sure if it'll effect my answers though.

It affected my responses. I answered based on what I consider gambling, which doesn't include poker.

[derinfish]

Done, interesting survey on the demographics of online poker. It would be interesting if we could correlate answers with winning and losing players, but not really possible here.

Thanks for your contribution. Interesting point you make there, the only limitation is definitely time. It would also be interesting to correlate the personality traits with what kind of poker player are you (aggressive, tight etc). Perhaps in future studies..

[derinfish]

Interesting survey, hope you get some good analysis out of it.

It feels a bit ambiguous to see 'gambling' mentioned in 4 questions though since many poker players don't consider poker to be gambling, given that it's a game vs people/ edges can be known/ variance accounted for with good bankroll management, etc. There should be questions that deduce whether the respondent considers poker gambling or not, and what they define as 'gambling'.

If I look for example at question '30. Gambling helps me increase my self esteem' and read it as referring to poker, I'd click agree, as it's applying a small edge over thousands of disciplined hands and winning that increases my self esteem. If I read it as a dictionary definition of gambling like 'taking risks with money recklessly in the hope of short term gain', I'd click strongly disagree.

Edit: got to end of survey and there's the option to state I never play other gambling games, that's a good addition.

Thank you for your comments. You have a valid point. I am hoping to extract this fact in the final results. As you said, although respondents may play online poker everyday, and it gives them satisfaction etc, when it comes to gambling they might not agree, particularly if they do not make use of any forms of gambling activities.

[phaul]

Survey done. Btw, I hate gambling, and regard anything which has a standard deviation above zero as gambling. I hate the gambling aspect of poker and wish it didn't exist (although if it wasn't there the fish probably wouldn't play, so in that respect I am glad it exists). But poker is definitely gambling.

[travz21]

But poker is definitely gambling.

I concur .

[C8H10N4O2]

Survey done. Btw, I hate gambling, and regard anything which has a standard deviation above zero as gambling. I hate the gambling aspect of poker and wish it didn't exist (although if it wasn't there the fish probably wouldn't play, so in that respect I am glad it exists). But poker is definitely gambling.

If we want to get super technical, almost everything in life could be considered gambling based on definition 2 at dictionary.com:

to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance

When I step outside, I'm wagering my life that something will not kill me. (Something falling from the sky, some projectile, etc.)

If I drive a vehicle, I'm gambling my life again. If I drink water, I'm gambling my health with the chance that the water is contaminated with e coli. If I put money into a governmentally backed investment, I'm gambling that the government can hold up their guarantee. Etc.

In most senses, life is a gamble.

However, if you look at the legal definition of gamble, it involves a skill vs chance analysis.

From this site

So, is poker "gambling"?
• Semantically, 'yes' because poker, like most other activities involves taking risks for possible ultimate reward.
• Legally, the answer used to be 'yes' but slowly it is becoming 'no.'
• Pragmatically, 'yes' and 'no' depending on the player's ability to exploit the inherent flexibility in the game.

Another quote based on legality

No one has ever argued that opening a small business is a "gamble" (although it manifestly is) because the standard interpretation is that the business acumen of the proprietor is the key factor and "dominates" any contribution that chance elements might play.

source: http://www.pokerlistings.com/is-poker-gambling


It's all about where you are viewing it from. Lots of sides to the issue, but when answering a questionnaire, I tried to answer it from a (US) legal standpoint, and while it is interpreted differently in different states, I based my interpretation off two things, the majority, and the fact that the UIGEA contains the word gambling, and yet poker sites have remained active despite that.

So for me, poker has an aspect of gambling, but it is not gambling (in the overall sense). If I were going to approach poker as a "all-in first hand, one time, and then I leave" type of mentality or something like that, I don't think there would be any ground to stand. But that type of stance with poker would be similar to deciding to blow through the next red light you come to without looking.

So if you decide that gambling=when risk is involved, almost everything in life is gambling. But I've never heard of someone receiving a citation for passing a red light where the reason for the citation was cited as "illegal gambling". Yet based on the definition of gambling, you very much made a significant wager on a situation of chance.

[derinfish]

I personally feel that poker is a form of gambling, perhaps the most sensible form, but its important to make a distinction between gambling with skill (poker) and gambling with chance (lottery).