So the past 5 – 6 years or so I have been apart of the online poker communtity. I am now also becoming a part of the Vegan/Plant Based Food community, however I have found that they are very similar in a variety of ways.
Regulation
Poker is highly regulated, currently USA players essentially cant play online at this point in time and Europe is being regulated more and more. The PPA is a great asset for the poker world however, and as far as I am aware there is not quite something the same in the Vegan industry that reaches such a large audience. The regulation in the food industry is generally lacking, with dairy/meat/junk food companies being able to do what they want essentially, twisting facts to there own benefit.
Monsanto…..lets not even go there 🙂
Minority
In terms of poker, most of the general public have negative views about online poker. They believe it is all luck despite all the different results proving statistically that it is a game of skill given that there is the element of imperfect information.
Vegan/Plant Based Foods are not the mainstream. You hear people saying ‘where do you get your protein for’, ‘dairy is healthy for you’ etc. This is despite many studies showing that eating a plant based diet has many benefits and that eating meat and dairy is not going to do you good (The China Study is best next to Forks over Knives etc)
Enthusiasm for improvement
Twoplustwo.com is the biggest of the hundreds of poker forums out there, and the fact is that some of the best players in the world help beginners out for free. The same can be said for Vegans, sites such as Veganbodybuilder.com and many of the 100’s of individual blogs there are where people share idea’s, what works and doesn’t etc.
Both communities do not hide info, everyone helps each other to improve as you can learn something from everyone.
Innovation
Despite Poker’s regulators making it tougher and tougher for the sites too attract new players, they are becoming more innovative with there promotions and the fact there sponsorships are getting into main stream media more and more (Sports teams etc). The Vegan community is also doing the same, new books are coming out, more festivals are being held and sport stars are promoting there Plant based eating ways. They are both building steadily over 10+ years, they are by no means are trends at all, they are here to say.
There are many more I am sure, in fact this has barely touched the subject but I thought it was interesting! I have enjoyed being a part of both communities and will continue to do so 🙂
You are what you eat 