What the hell is bumhunting?
From the sound of it, bumhunting has nothing to do with poker, and everything to do with spending the night in jail for sexual harrassment.
"Bumhunting" is when someone deliberately seeks out bad players ("bums" to play against), and insists on
only playing when those bad players are in the game. When the bad player busts and leaves the table, the bumhunter will usually leave immediately as well, because they don't want to risk their money against the other players at the table.
It's a problem because it can make the fish/bums feel harrassed, and make them walk away from the tables for good. It can also result in games breaking prematurely - if the bumhunters hung around a while longer the game would keep going, and other fish could join. If they table breaks though, nobody gets any more action.
I didn't know Peter Eastgate was a private person like that, and it's certainly his right, but I do believe there should be some requirement for players to promote the sport in which they earn their living. I agree with Hachem, where would poker be now if guys like Moneymaker and Raymer hid away all the time???
I take your point, but poker is very different to golf or darts. In most other professional sports, players trace most of their their paydays back to sponsors and advertisers. It's the sponsors who put up the money that eventually ends up in prize pools or pay player contracts.
Doing the right thing by those sponsors is the sensible thing for them to do - without them, there effectively wouldn't be a sport.
Poker is very different because the players provide their own prize money.
Sorry we(the younger generation) are very competitive and like to win. Who plays a game to lose? Losing is not fun. Since poker is a game where there is a skill gap there will always be fish and pros. Its just the way it is.
Joe's point was that the two don't need to be mutually exclusive though. You can be a winning player without berrating the fish and driving them away. He specifically mentioned Antonio Esfandiari as a guy who people like to play with, even though they know they'll probably lose their money, because he's a fun guy to be around and makes them feel welcomed.