Poker Gambling

[TheniT]

No doubt what makes poker more interesting is the ability to make money, if you consider poker as a game just for fun I think there are other games that are much more interesting. Of course if you play with your friends money is not so necessary.

 

[Transcendence]

You're wrong.
Good example can be found at games.mail.ru

This is a site where you can play games for free, backgammon, pool, chess and many other card and table games.

They've started online poker section, with texas holdem. There is no money involved, virtual chips only, you can't exchange these chips to money, however you can buy chips with money... It's insanely popular and this popularity is growing.

We've been playing live poker many times for different interests, sometimes with no interest. It's still fun. Playing for push ups is interesting too. 1st place makes no push ups, 2nd makes 20, 3rd = 4-, 6th place = 120. It was fun, cause we've been bit drunk, wearing costumes during the after party at the second day of the wedding. I did 40, guy who did 120 during like 8 attempts was wet and funny with his red face on top of the white shirt and white suit.:elefant:

I understand you, but I would like a little bit not about it. The point is that, YES, that SQUATS MAKE POKER POPULAR. Type's. I mean, would it be fun to play Poker, on a completely CONDITIONAL CHIPS? Or the air? I think not. You are talking about Poker where again there is a bet. The same chips they buy for the same games.mail.ru. And if you win, then change the bonuses. But if you lose, they wait a whole day until they credit chips at poker stars you will have to wait 03.00.00 hours to poluchit their cherished chips to play Poker. THAT'S THE PRICE! AND I'M TALKING ABOUT POKER WITHOUT A PRICE - IT IS NOT INTERESTING. What type I will be nothing and I lose nothing, and certainly not to gain. and play match no wonder it is so endless bluff.

Understand what I want to tell you, the rate that is MADE, there is no price, otherwise it is not interesting. PRICE FREE CHIPS games.mail.ru is time. If you could have an infinite number of chips it would not be interesting.

THE BLUFF MUST HAVE A PRICE, (RISK), OTHERWISE, I WILL CALL ALL YOUR BLUFFS.

 

[MishkaZL]

I agree with you. The interest should be in any case. Although poker is a hobby for me, in any case the success of the player is measured in the money won.

 

[finaltable1]

I understand you, but I would like a little bit not about it. The point is that, YES, that SQUATS MAKE POKER POPULAR. Type's. I mean, would it be fun to play Poker, on a completely CONDITIONAL CHIPS? Or the air? I think not. You are talking about Poker where again there is a bet. The same chips they buy for the same games.mail.ru. And if you win, then change the bonuses. But if you lose, they wait a whole day until they credit chips at Poker Stars you will have to wait 03.00.00 hours to poluchit their cherished chips to play Poker. THAT'S THE PRICE! AND I'M TALKING ABOUT POKER WITHOUT A PRICE - IT IS NOT INTERESTING. What type I will be nothing and I lose nothing, and certainly not to gain. and play match no wonder it is so endless bluff.

Understand what I want to tell you, the rate that is MADE, there is no price, otherwise it is not interesting. PRICE FREE CHIPS games.mail.ru is time. If you could have an infinite number of chips it would not be interesting.

THE BLUFF MUST HAVE A PRICE, (RISK), OTHERWISE, I WILL CALL ALL YOUR BLUFFS.

What exactly are you trying to prove?

Do you understand the difference between subjective thinking and objective thinking??

Poker is a game, main interest is to beat the opponent or many opponents, secondary interest is the price you're playing for. There might be no secondary interest, people might play just for the win, millions of people are playing card/board games without any interest. JUST FOR FUN. Or you're not getting it? it's something like football(soccer) several thousands of professionals in the world are playing football for money in their teams at professional football arenas and fields, but millions of people are playing football at streets and they have no interest, they just like the game. Same with poker. There is a category of poker players who think of the buy-in like if it's a price for the service.

P.S. What you're trying to say is that "At this bar all visitors must drink alcohol, drinks without alcohol are useless and stupid" but you know, people can drink alcohol-free beer or tea or juice or water, because they can and because they like their favorite drinks. By saying that poker must have interest you're trying to say that "drinks at the bar must have alcohol in it, or there is no point in drinking".
Adios amigo:bandit::star:

 

[mtmigmike]

Without playing for money, poker loses interest, you will play without excitement, you will not care whether you win or lose, you will risk without thinking about losing money.

 

[Transcendence]

What exactly are you trying to prove?

Do you understand the difference between subjective thinking and objective thinking??

Poker is a game, main interest is to beat the opponent or many opponents, secondary interest is the price you're playing for. There might be no secondary interest, people might play just for the win, millions of people are playing card/board games without any interest. JUST FOR FUN. Or you're not getting it? it's something like football(soccer) several thousands of professionals in the world are playing football for money in their teams at professional football arenas and fields, but millions of people are playing football at streets and they have no interest, they just like the game. Same with poker. There is a category of poker players who think of the buy-in like if it's a price for the service.

P.S. What you're trying to say is that "At this bar all visitors must drink alcohol, drinks without alcohol are useless and stupid" but you know, people can drink alcohol-free beer or tea or juice or water, because they can and because they like their favorite drinks. By saying that poker must have interest you're trying to say that "drinks at the bar must have alcohol in it, or there is no point in drinking".
Adios amigo:bandit::star:

What I'm trying to say is that they should BET, you know ... [BID]! What bet? In Poker you can not play just like that, you need to make some kind of bet. And you can PLAY FOOTBALL JUST LIKE that, but you CAN't play POKER! BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO BET!

WHAT KIND OF BET IS THAT?

The main here, RATE! What bet do you make if you play for free? Matches?

 

[Transcendence]

Without playing for money, poker loses interest, you will play without excitement, you will not care whether you win or lose, you will risk without thinking about losing money.

You're right. I will call any of your bluff and the very aesthetics of bluff, that is, the presumption of the game, as the risk of losing something worthwhile, will disappear.

 

[swoopdonk]

The only time I will play for no money is when taking a tutorial or test to sharpen my skills. Poker workshops are a good example.

 

[Zvezda kz]

I do not know how others are. But I definitely won’t play it all the time. I play poker for the sake of constant earnings.

 

[SAKhur]

Poker is a fight for a pot of value. The winner of each round wins the pot as a reward. If the pot has no value, players will enter the pot with either hand without fear of losing their chips. Play will not be interesting.

 

[korneel]

I wouldn't play online poker without the money aspect.
But live poker is still interesting without the money for me.

 

[finaltable1]

What I'm trying to say is that they should BET, you know ... [BID]! What bet? In Poker you can not play just like that, you need to make some kind of bet. And you can PLAY FOOTBALL JUST LIKE that, but you CAN't play POKER! BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO BET!

WHAT KIND OF BET IS THAT?

The main here, RATE! What bet do you make if you play for free? Matches?

Lol are you blind or what? Chess has figures and board, backgammon has board and cups, pool/snooker and billiards have their own attributes. Poker has following attributes: cards and chips. Chips can be stones, matches, equal pasta, M&Ms, nails, bullets - whatever. Even pixels at your screen that are drawing numbers that you believe are dollars in your bankroll - their value is nothing until you withdraw money to your wallet... EVEN MONEY, DOLLARS IN YOUR POCKET HAVE NO VALUE, IT'S JUST A CONDITION! YOU'RE NOT EATING DOLLARS, NOT WEARING DOLLARS, YOU'RE NOT FUELING YOUR CAR WITH DOLLARS. Money is a promise and condition at the same time, they are useless for you until you spend them. Don't you get it?

Some people are doing their job because they like it, not because of the money. Same with poker, some people will play it not because bets have value. And it makes game more honest you know. Cause crook or con artist will think about the profit during the game, but the player will be thinking about the win.

The price for each chip can be zero, or each chip can have value if all participants have agreed to set the value for each chip, or host of the game declares such rules. BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE MAIN CONCEPT OF THE GAME. Conditions can be different, but main concept remains the same. Different conditions make game more flexible. You can clearly see it when you'll compare NL Cash game vs MTT. Condtions are different, but concept of the game remains the same. In cash game you can leave the table when you've doubled or tripled your stack and these chips will be your profit. At the same time in the MTT, if you have a 120K chip stack while starting stack was 5K it's not a guarantee that you will win a penny if it's still 2 hours left to play till the money bubble. You're not even guaranteed to win x24 times more than you've invested if your stack is 24 times higher than the starting stack at the time when you're in the money...

See now? Different conditions for the same game. If you're playing poker against someone you don't know or against someone you want to beat then often you can't discuss conditions of the game, you just have to accept proposed conditions like minimal buy-in and size of BB. But if you're playing with friends, and all of you like to play the game - will you be interested in robbing your friends using poker? What if 4 couples of friends want to play poker, 4 married couples. 4 wifes and 4 husbands. 2 couples can afford to play for cash, other 2 can't afford or don't want to play for cash. What will they do? Will 8 of them sit to the table and play poker for fun, or will 4 of them sit and play for cash, while other 4 will be observing the game? It's personal decision for each individual, millions of time in such cases people will play for fun, and millions of times in such cases people will play for money. BUT! It's not changing the concept.

P.S. One of the biggest poker losers of all time, the owner of Circus Du Soleil... Laliberte is his last name if I'm not mistaken. Nobody knows exact amount of money he has lost. He keeps losing and losing for years, many millions. Do you think he's a stupid fish or something? Do you think that he's playing poker for money? Do you think that playing poker to win $10K is interesting for a billionaire? He's such a human, he has such character, he likes the game. Unlike you he will play a cheap game or game for free, even for CHARITY! And what about you? Will you be playing seriously in SnG with 2cent buy-in if your bankroll is $20K? I guess not, you like money, but you don't like the game. You're mentally unstable cause you don't see obvious things and I guess that it's because you're too young and still haven't found your place in life. I guess that you don't have a stable source of passive income, and it makes you think that whatever people are doing - they must do it for money. That's your mistake. It makes you blind. Open your eyes... You can find people here who play freerolls here for fun, they don't care for the prizes, they just love the game. They clearly understand that $20 for the first place during next 3 hours isn't better than 1 hour spent at their job, they clearly understand that they will win the 1st place just few times per year, so it's not a wise way to spend the time if they're looking for money, but they keep playing because money is not the main interest.

That's all, I'm not going to continue this conversation, I've said enough, if you're not getting something, then read it again. it's all right here, scroll it up and read it again. Good luck and I hope you'll find the time to learn the difference between objective thinking and subjective thinking, I'm out of here:heeeellll

 

[albosaltenio]

obviously that players who live on this or those who seek to earn some money will stop playing it.
I do not think they stop playing it absolutely everyone since there are many players who play for fictitious money but ¿why the sites put this modality then?.

Now tell me something that is done without any interest

 

[FoxMS]

I think poker can only be played for money. Otherwise it is like a non-alcoholic beer.

 

[neptun1914]

Of course people do not play poker only for the money but poker have and always had a gambling element which attracts players. If there is nothing real which you can win or loose you can not have serious game of poker. It is not needed to be money always. You can play poker on the beach for free beer for example but there should be prize for which you play.

 

[Transcendence]

Poker is a fight for a pot of value. The winner of each round wins the pot as a reward. If the pot has no value, players will enter the pot with either hand without fear of losing their chips. Play will not be interesting.

Here! Here is this most the right, written! That's what I meant. Absolutely exact.

 

[Transcendence]

Lol are you blind or what? Chess has figures and board, backgammon has board and cups, pool/snooker and billiards have their own attributes. Poker has following attributes: cards and chips. Chips can be stones, matches, equal pasta, M&Ms, nails, bullets - whatever. Even pixels at your screen that are drawing numbers that you believe are dollars in your bankroll - their value is nothing until you withdraw money to your wallet... EVEN MONEY, DOLLARS IN YOUR POCKET HAVE NO VALUE, IT'S JUST A CONDITION! YOU'RE NOT EATING DOLLARS, NOT WEARING DOLLARS, YOU'RE NOT FUELING YOUR CAR WITH DOLLARS. Money is a promise and condition at the same time, they are useless for you until you spend them. Don't you get it?

Some people are doing their job because they like it, not because of the money. Same with poker, some people will play it not because bets have value. And it makes game more honest you know. Cause crook or con artist will think about the profit during the game, but the player will be thinking about the win.

The price for each chip can be zero, or each chip can have value if all participants have agreed to set the value for each chip, or host of the game declares such rules. BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE MAIN CONCEPT OF THE GAME. Conditions can be different, but main concept remains the same. Different conditions make game more flexible. You can clearly see it when you'll compare NL Cash game vs MTT. Condtions are different, but concept of the game remains the same. In cash game you can leave the table when you've doubled or tripled your stack and these chips will be your profit. At the same time in the MTT, if you have a 120K chip stack while starting stack was 5K it's not a guarantee that you will win a penny if it's still 2 hours left to play till the money bubble. You're not even guaranteed to win x24 times more than you've invested if your stack is 24 times higher than the starting stack at the time when you're in the money...

See now? Different conditions for the same game. If you're playing poker against someone you don't know or against someone you want to beat then often you can't discuss conditions of the game, you just have to accept proposed conditions like minimal buy-in and size of BB. But if you're playing with friends, and all of you like to play the game - will you be interested in robbing your friends using poker? What if 4 couples of friends want to play poker, 4 married couples. 4 wifes and 4 husbands. 2 couples can afford to play for cash, other 2 can't afford or don't want to play for cash. What will they do? Will 8 of them sit to the table and play poker for fun, or will 4 of them sit and play for cash, while other 4 will be observing the game? It's personal decision for each individual, millions of time in such cases people will play for fun, and millions of times in such cases people will play for money. BUT! It's not changing the concept.

P.S. One of the biggest poker losers of all time, the owner of Circus Du Soleil... Laliberte is his last name if I'm not mistaken. Nobody knows exact amount of money he has lost. He keeps losing and losing for years, many millions. Do you think he's a stupid fish or something? Do you think that he's playing poker for money? Do you think that playing poker to win $10K is interesting for a billionaire? He's such a human, he has such character, he likes the game. Unlike you he will play a cheap game or game for free, even for CHARITY! And what about you? Will you be playing seriously in SnG with 2cent buy-in if your bankroll is $20K? I guess not, you like money, but you don't like the game. You're mentally unstable cause you don't see obvious things and I guess that it's because you're too young and still haven't found your place in life. I guess that you don't have a stable source of passive income, and it makes you think that whatever people are doing - they must do it for money. That's your mistake. It makes you blind. Open your eyes... You can find people here who play freerolls here for fun, they don't care for the prizes, they just love the game. They clearly understand that $20 for the first place during next 3 hours isn't better than 1 hour spent at their job, they clearly understand that they will win the 1st place just few times per year, so it's not a wise way to spend the time if they're looking for money, but they keep playing because money is not the main interest.

That's all, I'm not going to continue this conversation, I've said enough, if you're not getting something, then read it again. it's all right here, scroll it up and read it again. Good luck and I hope you'll find the time to learn the difference between objective thinking and subjective thinking, I'm out of here:heeeellll

You don't understand me. I asked a question. WHAT ABOUT POKER WITHOUT MONEY? MY OPINION AND MY ANSWER IS NO. Poker need MORE TIME YOU REPEAT the POKER NEED a [[[ RATE ]]] Man must understand the need Poker bet! Like you told me about Football! But in Football bet you don't!!! And in Poker you need a BET! You KNOW? You can't play Poker without a BET. I'm asking you!"!! What bet??? What bet? Yes I understand you can and so play Poker, But I personally am not interested.

I'm asking you a question! How about a friendly game of CASH POKER? What are you offering me, to bet, for a place of money? If there is no money that we will bet? WHAT, WE'RE GONNA BET POKER, NO MONEY? WHAT BET?

If it's free, every hand, I'll go all in.

There's nothing you can do to stop me.
In Chess, price is a piece. Fear of losing shape.

 

[Transcendence]

Lol are you blind or what? Chess has figures and board, backgammon has board and cups, pool/snooker and billiards have their own attributes. Poker has following attributes: cards and chips. Chips can be stones, matches, equal pasta, M&Ms, nails, bullets - whatever. Even pixels at your screen that are drawing numbers that you believe are dollars in your bankroll - their value is nothing until you withdraw money to your wallet... EVEN MONEY, DOLLARS IN YOUR POCKET HAVE NO VALUE, IT'S JUST A CONDITION! YOU'RE NOT EATING DOLLARS, NOT WEARING DOLLARS, YOU'RE NOT FUELING YOUR CAR WITH DOLLARS. Money is a promise and condition at the same time, they are useless for you until you spend them. Don't you get it?

Some people are doing their job because they like it, not because of the money. Same with poker, some people will play it not because bets have value. And it makes game more honest you know. Cause crook or con artist will think about the profit during the game, but the player will be thinking about the win.

The price for each chip can be zero, or each chip can have value if all participants have agreed to set the value for each chip, or host of the game declares such rules. BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE MAIN CONCEPT OF THE GAME. Conditions can be different, but main concept remains the same. Different conditions make game more flexible. You can clearly see it when you'll compare NL Cash game vs MTT. Condtions are different, but concept of the game remains the same. In cash game you can leave the table when you've doubled or tripled your stack and these chips will be your profit. At the same time in the MTT, if you have a 120K chip stack while starting stack was 5K it's not a guarantee that you will win a penny if it's still 2 hours left to play till the money bubble. You're not even guaranteed to win x24 times more than you've invested if your stack is 24 times higher than the starting stack at the time when you're in the money...

See now? Different conditions for the same game. If you're playing poker against someone you don't know or against someone you want to beat then often you can't discuss conditions of the game, you just have to accept proposed conditions like minimal buy-in and size of BB. But if you're playing with friends, and all of you like to play the game - will you be interested in robbing your friends using poker? What if 4 couples of friends want to play poker, 4 married couples. 4 wifes and 4 husbands. 2 couples can afford to play for cash, other 2 can't afford or don't want to play for cash. What will they do? Will 8 of them sit to the table and play poker for fun, or will 4 of them sit and play for cash, while other 4 will be observing the game? It's personal decision for each individual, millions of time in such cases people will play for fun, and millions of times in such cases people will play for money. BUT! It's not changing the concept.

P.S. One of the biggest poker losers of all time, the owner of Circus Du Soleil... Laliberte is his last name if I'm not mistaken. Nobody knows exact amount of money he has lost. He keeps losing and losing for years, many millions. Do you think he's a stupid fish or something? Do you think that he's playing poker for money? Do you think that playing poker to win $10K is interesting for a billionaire? He's such a human, he has such character, he likes the game. Unlike you he will play a cheap game or game for free, even for CHARITY! And what about you? Will you be playing seriously in SnG with 2cent buy-in if your bankroll is $20K? I guess not, you like money, but you don't like the game. You're mentally unstable cause you don't see obvious things and I guess that it's because you're too young and still haven't found your place in life. I guess that you don't have a stable source of passive income, and it makes you think that whatever people are doing - they must do it for money. That's your mistake. It makes you blind. Open your eyes... You can find people here who play freerolls here for fun, they don't care for the prizes, they just love the game. They clearly understand that $20 for the first place during next 3 hours isn't better than 1 hour spent at their job, they clearly understand that they will win the 1st place just few times per year, so it's not a wise way to spend the time if they're looking for money, but they keep playing because money is not the main interest.

That's all, I'm not going to continue this conversation, I've said enough, if you're not getting something, then read it again. it's all right here, scroll it up and read it again. Good luck and I hope you'll find the time to learn the difference between objective thinking and subjective thinking, I'm out of here:heeeellll

obviously that players who live on this or those who seek to earn some money will stop playing it.
I do not think they stop playing it absolutely everyone since there are many players who play for fictitious money but ¿why the sites put this modality then?.

Now tell me something that is done without any interest

At fictitious chips-price-TIME. They're not free.
Everywhere there is a price chips.
If you lose on pokerstars Conditional chips you will have to WAIT 3 HOURS to get 15 000! Remember that! Price 15 000 conditional chips-3 hours!

 

[Transcendence]

I played slots for free. Play chips. It didn't do me any good. I can win $1,000.000.000.000 play money chips. What of it?

 

[akgross]

It is possible to play poker responsibly only with a real bet price. Then they play more balanced and adequate. Game money gives only peace of mind, as you lose air.))

 

[bianconi_10]

The guys have matured a question. Will you play poker if there is no money in It? Do you play poker just for the money, or for some other reason? Personally, I don't see any interest in playing poker without interest. To play Poker you need at least some interest! On a blank piece of paper to play it again. Will there be live Poker if you take away from it money or some prizes? Will Poker live if we all play for play money? My opinion is that if you cancel the Money or Prizes and to keep only play money in a year will be 100.000 and 50.000 in 2 years 25,000 and three years, 0 human. Only money or some material prizes keep Poker popular. It is hardly interesting to play it from an Intellectual point of view, without material rewards. Your thoughts on this matter, what do you say?
__________________

If the players wouldnt care about money, the biggest guarantee wouldnt matter and they just play for fun at all.
Iplay for money, the indicator of sucess in this game its money that you win.

 

[jfofla]

[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]Friend, nobody plays poker just for pleasure, it is nice to play poker, but if it is not worth anything, even if it is an ice cream stick, it is bland and purposeless.[/COLOR]​

 

[finaltable1]

You don't understand me. I asked a question. WHAT ABOUT POKER WITHOUT MONEY? MY OPINION AND MY ANSWER IS NO. Poker need MORE TIME YOU REPEAT the POKER NEED a [[[ RATE ]]] Man must understand the need Poker bet! Like you told me about Football! But in Football bet you don't!!! And in Poker you need a BET! You KNOW? You can't play Poker without a BET. I'm asking you!"!! What bet??? What bet? Yes I understand you can and so play Poker, But I personally am not interested.

I'm asking you a question! How about a friendly game of CASH POKER? What are you offering me, to bet, for a place of money? If there is no money that we will bet? WHAT, WE'RE GONNA BET POKER, NO MONEY? WHAT BET?

If it's free, every hand, I'll go all in.

There's nothing you can do to stop me.
In Chess, price is a piece. Fear of losing shape.

You're still not getting it.
You see, we're paying price each second of our life.
100 year life is 24h * 365d * 100years = 876.000hours.
Your potential 100 year life is 876K hours. That's your stack of chips. You're paying ante every second of your life. Some time has passed already, 30% is sleep time... Will you live to 100 years? Washing in the shower, brushing your teeth, food, sex, poker, street, job, vacation = all of these things will eat your time.

We live in the capitalism, each object has a price, so when objects(items) have been created they have value and must be sold to extract the profit. This is how you think about poker = bets must have value. Now let's say that some company, like Boeing for example... Boeing makes planes. Boeing has 4 factories in 4 different places, one factory makes wings, other one makes electronics, 3rd factory makes body, 4th factory assembles it all together. SO Do you understand why these 4 factories of the same company are not paying money to each other for the parts of the plane? These 4 factories are the 4 poker players, they're united by the same goal, and they don't want to extract profit from each other. SO their policy is to be united and work against their opponent = market. They are a team that works for or against their consumer.

In your example, with free chips provided by the pokerstars, you falsely believe that you're on the same team with pokerstars. You are a consumer, Pokerstars has a goal to extract the profit and their main instrument is the rake. PokerStars is interested in teaching you how to play poker, but they're not interested in letting you play poker for free, they will be using all available methods to extract profit from you while you're using their software.

In general poker is a great game even if there is no interest or profit involved. IF you're playing SnG game with 5 of your friends, if you'll be pushing all in each hand, then you may find yourself being observer really soon, while others are still playing... this will be your price.

Can you play football without ball and without feet? Yes you can, you can play FIFA on PlayStation and you'll be using your arms and pixels at your screen, and you will believe that you're playing football... There is a table version of football also..

So assuming it all:

Everything has value, cause if you spend time for it, then you;re paying with your time. You can even calculate the price of whatever you're doing, cause there is average hourly income rate for any country. Bets in poker can have monetary value, or abstract value or no value at all, except for the time. Such are objective facts. While your thoughts are very subjective. My point can be explained even using much more simple logic: "It can be just because it can"

 

[DS3]

The problem with this particular thread is people simply talking past each other.

No one is denying the origins of poker as a gambling game. No one is claiming that for many, the only form of poker is one where money is wagered.

The issue is people ignoring huge numbers of people engage in playing poker with no money involved. The implication (repeatedly) is poker without a real gamble is not interesting or involving.

That is patently nonsense. My estimate would be a several million people a week play poker for no stakes (one international play/practice site alone has close to 1.5 million members- heaven knows how many play US sites).

It feels as though some of those who play strictly for money feel irritated by the fact others do not play for money - as though such people do not take the game seriously. They obviously do and in large numbers.

In fact I would not be surprised to find in any given week around the world, more people are playing poker with no stakes involved than are actually gambling for money.

 

[Transcendence]

You're still not getting it.
You see, we're paying price each second of our life.
100 year life is 24h * 365d * 100years = 876.000hours.
Your potential 100 year life is 876K hours. That's your stack of chips. You're paying ante every second of your life. Some time has passed already, 30% is sleep time... Will you live to 100 years? Washing in the shower, brushing your teeth, food, sex, poker, street, job, vacation = all of these things will eat your time.

We live in the capitalism, each object has a price, so when objects(items) have been created they have value and must be sold to extract the profit. This is how you think about poker = bets must have value. Now let's say that some company, like Boeing for example... Boeing makes planes. Boeing has 4 factories in 4 different places, one factory makes wings, other one makes electronics, 3rd factory makes body, 4th factory assembles it all together. SO Do you understand why these 4 factories of the same company are not paying money to each other for the parts of the plane? These 4 factories are the 4 poker players, they're united by the same goal, and they don't want to extract profit from each other. SO their policy is to be united and work against their opponent = market. They are a team that works for or against their consumer.

In your example, with free chips provided by the pokerstars, you falsely believe that you're on the same team with pokerstars. You are a consumer, Pokerstars has a goal to extract the profit and their main instrument is the rake. PokerStars is interested in teaching you how to play poker, but they're not interested in letting you play poker for free, they will be using all available methods to extract profit from you while you're using their software.

In general poker is a great game even if there is no interest or profit involved. IF you're playing SnG game with 5 of your friends, if you'll be pushing all in each hand, then you may find yourself being observer really soon, while others are still playing... this will be your price.

Can you play football without ball and without feet? Yes you can, you can play FIFA on PlayStation and you'll be using your arms and pixels at your screen, and you will believe that you're playing football... There is a table version of football also..

So assuming it all:

Everything has value, cause if you spend time for it, then you;re paying with your time. You can even calculate the price of whatever you're doing, cause there is average hourly income rate for any country. Bets in poker can have monetary value, or abstract value or no value at all, except for the time. Such are objective facts. While your thoughts are very subjective. My point can be explained even using much more simple logic: "It can be just because it can"

When you play Poker with your friends, what do you bet?