voyeurism

somewhat similar imo, with poker theres more of a strategy element to keeping up with "gossip," like it could help your game to know who's winning/losing and who to watch out for, etc. though the same could be said about celeb gossip i guess, idk. personally i find celeb gossip to be pointless and boring.

people who buy those magazines are doing it to read about their divorces, personal problems, stuff like that.
But if your just looking at poker players professional records and not their personal lives, then thats more akin to someone who keeps track of their favorite actors latest movies then someone who wants to know how brad pitt raises his kids.
so I dont really think theyr the same

but if your digging into their personal lives to guess at how it will affect their poker game then your basically the same degen pleb imo.

you shouldn't feel bad about either because celebrities are professional attention whores and tabloid magazines are the vehicle for that, similarly top poker players attract attention like a sport, reading hsdb is nothing more than checking football scores or something

i think its the same since you are geared to look towards poker as its your passion job life or whatever

non poker players are just doin there own way, which most the time is buying those magazines and watching that E! kinda news. Its all about a small group of people, just who you are interested in, and who they are interested in.

Yeah a bit similar I would say.

Same thing as a being a fan of a certain sport and staying up to date with rumors concerning certain teams and the top players (I do this for the NBA).

Not really as interested in reading about a lot of the poker gossip/news these days as what I use to. Difference between poker gossip and say reading about who Kim Kardashian was rumored to be twerking on last weekend is that sometimes the poker gossip directly correlates with our occupations, whereas the celeb gossip is purely entertainment for most and almost always has nothing to do with that specific audiences' everyday lives

I think it is awesome to ask yourself these questions. I started realizing I wasn't as cool as I thought I was when I started to observe the way I made judgements.

To answer the question, I think its always good to try to be the star of our own lives more, and stop living through watching other athletes etc. A lot of people get caught up in it (including myself) and its something to work on for me.

Not everyone is the same. When you stop having expectations of people, your life will be a lot more happier. People have different interests, some more lame than others. I try not to look down upon others for their lifestyles because we've been on the other end(people veiwing poker players as degenerate gamblers).

Sometimes i feel like im a pushover though and am just more tolerant of others. maybe i need to up my talking crap of other people in my everyday routine. I think everyone gossips about people to a certain degree. We naturally, as humans are always trying to learn and get the best of everything, and we cant do that if we dont distinguish what is crap in our society.

So in summary i think your normal.

First thing that comes to mind is that they are similar but some differences.

As professional gamblers I think there is a distinction that there is some educational value?

Like, "Wow, this guy seems to be absolutely crushing PLO but loses all the money everywhere else, why?"

or

"I would like to get a bit better at o8 h/l, why are these guys that are crushing over large samples crushing over large samples?"

Almost like it is good to keep up with trends. I see a lot of it as closer to keeping up with edgy trade journals than flat out glossy gossip mags but maybe that is just self-justification.

Even some of the non-poker stuff. Like certain "stars" that get addicted to oxycontin, or pit games, or strippers, or whatever could kind of illuminate in a way some pitfalls to steer clear from.

I remember picking up on some things some nosebleed players were doing and it led to me making more money. Sometimes lots more.

I remember seeing some cautionary tales or hearing certain anecdotes that saved me from some certain misery down the road.

Just thinking though to compare. The way the world is setup: many young women are learning from these gossip mags, for better or for worse. I would take the position of 100% for worse but in some ways it helps them know what kind of clothes to wear to be "cool" and more attractive if they want to navigate "a young socialite", or "cool mom" social sphere better. That idea is tough for me because my position is that the lie of materialism and worldly items is damaging humanity but it is hard for me to say that they are being illogical for keeping up with the gossip, and trends, and fashions.

I do not know. I think I have written myself out of steam for now. Really cool topic though.

I would like to write more some time on Hollywood deities and poker deities and the effect of deities in any social sphere. I do not know why I wrote that out. Maybe so I would not forget or to get encouragement or something.

So, in conclusion, I am not sure. There is a lot of grey area. A lot of dark matter. Great topic.

I'd say both things are pretty much the same, I've thought about this myself a few times, only difference I could find is that I put no value into the useless information and try to distinguish what bits might actually be worth something, we're blasted with such information anyway - nothing you can do about it, cant help but laugh about Kanye West's daughter name for example, I wouldnt search for such info, but considering its forced upon me might as well make the most of it.
Guess most of us justify reading about nosebleeds is that we potentially can gain value from it ( I know I do) , end of the day we re just excited to see the sickness those guys present.

Overall I'd say there s no way to run away from such gossip/tabloid kind of shit anyway and such information can do no harm unless you actually think its meaningful ( or unless you spent hours doing so you lazy bastard! ) , so why even care about such stuff?
Then again who knows, i might've reached this conclusion just to sit into a nice comfortable denial?