I keep pretty up to date on the current events of poker, and didn't really hold an opinion about how/what Dan treated his victory. The kid crushed it, let him do whatever he wants. Until, my girlfriend who knows nothing of poker, and I hardly talk to her about it sends me a link espn put out about him not being excited and portraying him as a square, which was a little frustrating. We all know the main stream media is bullshit, and honestly if you heard that Daniel denied interviews you had to know that the media was not going to take kindly to this, but all this being said he is smart enough to see that this was going to happen. All this being said, here is my simple but more than likely lengthy thought on the situation and why he was right...but wrong. 

Should be disclosed I am not a professional poker player, I consider myself above average and capable of playing with anyone but am probably over confident. Lifetime I am maybe a 40-50k winner, have never tracked results heavily and have consistently spent money faster than I made it. I was never a bright kid growing up, and did not attend college. I have been playing poker since I was 18 and am 28 now, my understanding for the game and what it does to your lifestyle is as well understood as anyone; I feel. Anyone who is reading this should know what Daniel said, if you don't there is a thread that in on this site or twoplustwo to read. I want to write this not so much to people who have been in the game for a while, but for the new players who may not understand or comprehend why someone would not speak to the media.

1. I do not know %100, but if I were a betting man I would bet the farm Daniel Colman did not have all of himself. By this I mean he did not by in for 1 mil, he had investors that essentially paid him to play for them, paying a % of their investment back with a return on his winnings. That being said depending on the % Daniel had of himself why would he be jumping up and down screaming, he is already wealthy the money does not mean that much. 2. He was probably brain dead from playing for so long. 3. All those media morons they interviewed make a living off of the media, I do not blame anyone for not wanting to go be someone they aren't and thank god for winning the world.

Understanding where Dan is coming from is the first thing everyone should know, I don't claim to know him but I understand what he is saying when I read what he wrote. I agree to a sense, but this is why I feel it is wrong. 

I want to start by saying I love internet poker, and as much as I love it; yes it is evil. I have suffered being broke because of it, but I have also had super highs because of it. So, from Dan's point of view I just wish he would have separated live poker from online poker. I believe this is where the biggest gap in his beliefs were. Yes internet poker is pretty evil, especially to people who are never going to win. However, my opinion is live poker is a completely different game. It is slower, more social, and a lot easier to win. I believe he should have spoke out to compliment live poker, and spoke about how much skill is involved how hard he has worked to get to where he is. Yes, obviously he owes poker nothing, but the situation obviously could have been handled with a little more grace.

Poker is a easy game to learn and a hard game to master, it is a game that you really can not be good at just picking up a deck and understanding what the cards mean. You must develop your own theory, your own feel, and try to understand from a math perspective how to put yourself in the best situation possible. That being said, it takes years to get to that point. You simply can not learn this game unless you are willing to lose money, simply put. Possibly 10 years ago, but in the new day and age it just isn't going to happen. Is poker dark, I would disagree. Is gambling dark, yes; does poker lead to other formats of gambling; yes. I can speak from experience and testify that I myself am not a gambler, I don't enjoy table games and only like friendly bets with sports, golf, etc. Did poker lead me to that? Arguable, but probably. Personally I think gambling is in someones nature, I have none poker friends that gamble, and I have poker friends who do not; so the idea that poker is going to cause you to become some degenerate is unstable and completely up to the person. 

To better grasp the darkest side of poker, and the better side I feel like I am qualified enough as an average poker player to speak of my darkest times, and happiest times. Honestly, the happiness outweighs the darkness. That being said, the bad of poker IS worse than the best of poker.

 From my experience live, one that is not sheltered, I have seen quite a few games, traveled, and yes there are degenerates, idiots, people that lose their money and go pull money they don't have or borrow just to pray they can get even. These people are going to be there naturally with a game that involves monetary gain. Yes we may gain from these people knowingly while we tell ourselves they're trying to take our money too, but that is part of the game, and not all games are like that. From my experience, most people I have played poker with in casinos have money to blow, or are not hurting for knowing where their next dollar comes from. They enjoy the game whether to get out of the house, away from their wife, kids, life, whatever it may be it allows an escape. Live gaming is so different from online gaming and I think this is why Daniel struggled so much with it. He was raised in the school like most of us of party poker, bodog, tilt, and stars. Play fast, beat up fish, print money and move on. Therefore his mindset about poker in general is skewed towards the darker view of how quickly and easy it is to lose online. I believe there was a way where he could have talked about live poker, and just briefly spoke about how the game has been good to him and bad to him, this day it was good. He did the worst thing in the media eye which was ignore the media. Cardinal rule, never talk shit to the man with the mic he always wins.

I believe he should have spoke out to compliment live poker, and spoke about how much skill is involved how hard he has worked to get to where he is. Yes, obviously he owes poker nothing, but the situation obviously could have been handled with a little more grace. In his defense I am young, but I didn't know shit when I was 23. My epiphany happened around 26, and not to say that happens with everyone but I like to think he will evolve and figure out his stance on poker if he decides to continue playing.

Here is from my experience the dark side of poker vs happiness. It should be noted I am probably an overall winner in poker, but I have been broke and I have had money. Never a huge score, but decent results here and there.

-I have been broke. I mean broke, like I don't know where my next dollar is going to come from, gotta go eat at mom and dads, cant afford my cell phone bill or buy a pack of gum broke.

-I have considered selling certain items that are sentimental to me 

-I have considered killing myself after losing tons of money (but never seriously, just thoughts). Should be noted that suicidal thoughts have crossed my mind from non poker events as well, I believe this to be human nature. 

-I have borrowed money and not been able to pay it back for a while, causing me to lose friends.

-I have suffered from bits of social anxiety, and not wanted to leave my house for weeks or months (during online) poker era.

-I have thought about stealing, selling my car just get cash to play.

All of this was more thoughts than anything, any logical person would always turn away from doing the wrong thing. Obviously there are bad people out there, poker, stocks, banks, corporations..pick your poison.

Benefits from cards.

-Money, I have won large sums of money.

-New things, I have bought a cadilac, a motorcycle, a 3k dollar computer with big ass monitors, watches, clothes.

-I was fortunate to not have to work for 2 years, grinding making ends meat doing as I please living young, wild, and free.

-Travel, I was able to stay in vegas for a month, experience the world series of poker, play in events smaller ones of course..took 4th in a tournament got paid. Flew my girlfriend at the time out, she got to experience things she hadn't been able to.

-When I was 19 I won money and took a friend with me to Florida, paid for everything in the middle of September on a wim. Terrible rash decision, but one I wouldn't take back.

Most importantly I have learned. I have learned so many life lessons from this game, just street smarts, and common sense knowledge just from understanding how others think. Something I would have never learned through an educational system. Something with poker just struck me deep, mentally I just found the game so sexy and really wanted to then learn why people do what they do, think what they think, it has really helped me find who I am, and who I want to be. It has taught me life lessons about why we should treat people nicely and really just gave me an understanding of why we are all here. Obviously, I didn't just get all of this from poker, but poker is what lead me to forums and opened up my mind and world to just an entire knew light. Allowing me to be able to read intelligent and thoughtful conversations. I think there is something to be said about listening to someone explain their thought process and understanding it, I think it helps us grow as people and really makes us think just about our daily actions. Poker has given me the ability to think quickly and solve problems normal people struggle with in a more precise rational way. These are things I wish Daniel understood. 

All in all Daniel doesn't owe anything to poker, or us. What he does owe himself is to understand why he is doing what he is doing. If poker was gone tomorrow and he had to go get a real job making 45k a year, he would then realize as he excelled at whatever he was doing why he was excelling. I believe then, he would owe poker something. I may not owe poker anything, but I would definitely show it gratitude given the chance, probably because I have been in the work force the last 4 years and without poker I would not be as educated or mentally stable as I am. Everyone has ups and downs throughout life whether it is a gambler or a grocery bagger, the point of life is to live which poker gives many people the freedom to do. In closing, even though Daniel won't say it; I will. Thank you poker for what you have allowed me to become.