Addiction to Poker?

[PokerMatt]

Hi, my name is Matt Domm and I am writing an article this week about people who are or have been addicted to poker.

This article is to be in the new student newspaper, Canvas, which published out of the University College for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey.

I want to raise general awareness of how such things can spiral out of control, and how one may not realise they have a problem, especially seeing how popular online poker now is. I need to gather some profiles of a few people who have recovered from being addicted to poker, or who are even going through it now.

I am looking for people who would be willing to answer a few questions about their struggle or how they overcame addiction so that I can highlight the dangers but also show that there is a way around it.

If you know anyone who fits the criteria then please can you or they reply to this post, email me or PM me.

Thanks for your co-operation and taking the time to read this.

Matt Domm
Canvas Newspaper

[scrawnybob]

hi

interesting post and planned article - but

just one question / point when it comes to the way non poker players / media portray poker

how do you define someone who is addicted to poker ?

is on time spent / money made / lost or what ?

if someone plays 10 hrs a day and makes $2000 per day, day in day out ...

are they addicted ? or just really well paid for a skill that they have developed ?

if someone only plays one hour a week but manages to loose $1000 are they addicted ?
or are they just too rich to care about an hour of letting off steam ?

would the media find it as interesting to write about people who were addicted to collecting stamps as they seem to be about "being addicted to poker" ?

One would hope that to some extent everyone has something in their life they enjoy and strive to become good at or find a rewarding challenge

for many poker is just that

for others it's skydiving, knitting, DIY or train spotting

everyones hobby / sport / pastime costs money

I just hope your article isnt going to be one of those narrow - nanny knows best pieces

or I'd assume your getting fair comparision by also finding out how the guy who collected $1000's of comics or star wars figures conquered his / her addiction to collecting

how about doing a study on the far larger community of weekly "addicted" lottery ticket buyers who have so close to zero chance of winning / and zero skill / enjoyment factor in buyin a wad of tickets for 2 mins of seeing their numbers not come up

grumble over ;-)

cheers scrawnybob

ps. just to add - my grumble it's nothing personal against you pokermatt - I appreciate that you want to write this article probably because you have an interest in poker -

so my grumble is not specifically aimed at you but I really hope you consider that the majority of people are not poker players - so they already have made up their mind that we are all to a man and a woman "degenrate gamblers with a problem addiction"

again nothing directed at you - but from personal experience I find it really irritating how "non poker players" look down their noses at poker players as if they themselves have no vices or "addictions" and then proceed after giving poker players a sermon about addiction to go off and buy 5 lottery tickets, invest in stocks and shares and will happily screw anyone they deal with in business down to extract the last bit of profit they can ... and yet think we poker players are evil for taking advantage of weaker players ;-)

[mafalda34]

sometimes i have to tell myself to stop playing but it doesnt happen very often. My parents are always telling me not to play cash games, but as long as im playing for free it doesnt matter. Some days i realised that if i wouldnt have played so many hours the day before i would have slept much more.

I hope with your article u can help somebody but i dont think u can make as change our minds. Please whenever u finish it post it here.

[Shad]

I think I am developing a problem. I lose alot of sleep, and I've had problems in relationships because of poker.

[scrawnybob]

hi

ok - I hear voices in my ear (I feel a PM or maybe 2 coming my way) "dont be rough on the guy he's just writing an article"

and indeed I dont want to rough on anyone - but I really really would like to see some objective reporting on the "addiction of poker" shown in context to other sports / hobbies etc

I think this is certainly a good subject for next weeks poker ramble on the blog.

It's been far to easy for the general media to cast poker in whatever light makes for easy copy and sweeping statements - And I genuinely hope Matt can find people to make a balanced piece and redress this imbalance ;-)

below are some impartial resources on gambling addiction - in fact if anything they are certainly not in favour of gambling (and I suppose poker is included even though it is a skill game which is a distict difference)

what is really important to point out with problem gambling is the absolute vast majority by a massive margin are slot machine players / video poker (not poker) and total games of chance (bingo / lottery etc etc) - & NOT poker.

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/

http://www.gamcare.org.uk/

the thing is that whilst 90% of poker players might be net lossers over the long term - of that 90% of "losers" the vast majority don't actually loose that much

the percentage of "problem gamblers" in poker is a far far smaller %

I'm not having a go at anyone when I say that I hope online poker / poker in general is fairly represented rather than misrepresented

the general public have a very odd view of what is acceptable gambling (stocks and shares / betting on horses / bingo / lottery) yet seem to put poker in with slot machines etc as an evil pastime.

I do feel very strongly that whilst addicts of all kinds should be helped - it simply is not fair on the vast majority of people who can enjoy something responsibly to ban it for a small minority.

otherwise we would get into banning just about everything - food, clothes, alcohol etc etc
(obviously there are some common sense things that are banned bacause they're bad for everyone even in moderation)

health and safety is another area where the fun is taken out of things because of a small element of risk which suddenly becomes too much for risk averse safety officers - and then we cant go skiing, wlaking down stairs ... anything just because of a couple of accidents

good luck with the article - but I do hope that my posts whilst maybe not sugar coated give you some food for thought and a desire to frame poker in a proper context

cheers scrawnybob

ps. of course I would encourage anyone who thinks they may have a problem to contact a support or ganisation - which is why we have always had a GA link at the bottom of all our pages.

[PokerMatt]

Hi, sorry I've only just been able to reply.

I do have an interest in poker and play casually myself. The idea for this came about as I needed to introduce a topical/human interest angle in order to write a piece about poker.

I understand how you think it could be a "nanny knows best" piece but I can tell you this is not my intention, I need around 1500 words and I will indeed be writing it in perspective - i.e. how poker relates to other addictions and how it is of course different to other types of 'gambling' due to the large element of luck involved.

I think my definition for 'addiction' will be when it takes over someone's life, and I suppose has mainly detrimental effects. As for the "10 hrs a day and $2000 a day" - in this case it may not be addiction if they are professional, but if it affects their life for the worse in other aspects e.g. family life - then it may well be - I will be sure to make this clear so a hobby can not be confused for addiction.

I also see your point that things such as collections are possible additctions - but surely you can also see it is unlikely to have the same effects - maxed out loans and credit cards, loss of family etc. It may well do but I'm sure there are more cases of poker having this effect than stamp collecting. Also, another point to this is poker, be it online or live play is much more glamorous and widely available (in terms of getting into it) than collecting things... although this obviously is only my opinion - and is probably why "the media" have more interest.

Oh and also in no way am I trying to get poker banned or anything likde that - I am merely raising the issue and showing another side for people who see poker as just a glamorous thing that cannot go wrong.

And mfalda34 - I am not trying to change minds, just raising more awareness of how things can go wrong.

Sorry to anyone who got the wrong idea and thanks

Again, anyone who knows someone who could talk to me about being addicted, having been addicting or even has the fear of it please get in touch, thanks

Matt
mattdomm@gmail.com

[mafalda34]

Theres a film called "lucky u" or maybe "lucky me" its pretty new, and it shows some ofd the typical problems of an addicted player. I think the film is trying to give a different vision about the game, because some people thinks its just sitting there and winning tons of money or thats what tv is trying to show us. I recommend seeing it its pretty cool

[scrawnybob]

hi Matt

thanks for your reply - I have to be honest and put my hands up that I am defensive of poker players rights to be addicted or play sensibly, play for fun, play for profit or whatever they like

so in that sense I guess I am biased

this isnt really a very focussed post so I'll just ramble (maybe a more ordered ramble of this topic on Monday)

personally I dont understand how people get into debt buying big TV's, luxury items etc and
its really their own responsibility - although it seems to be in vogue to portray them as victims
no-one put a gun to their head

I absolutely dont agree that other addictions eg. being a Cliff Richard fan or collecting Star Trek memorabilia arent as bad as "being addicted to poker"

AFAIKS there are two issues surrounding what the media see as an "addiction to poker" which
actually apply to everything in life and not exclusively poker - this is why I have issues with people singling out poker

a) the time involved - eg. neglecting family, friends, work of commitments

this issue is just as if not more likely to happen with any other pastime or indeed with addiction to work as with I would think 80% of people with family and a job - work becomes an unhealthy "addiction"

equally one partners unhealthy addiction for playng computer games or for hobbies

b) the money involved - eg. spending money you cant afford to spend / use of credit cards

now money is the currency of poker - but that IMHO is where any link starts and ends

should we ban clothes because some women (& men) spend more than they can afford on fashion ?

should we ban sofa's and big TV's because some people are irresponsible with their credit cards buying things they cannot afford and arent prepared to save for ?

like players moaning about bad beats (most of them are self caused) , badly losing players are generally losing players because they lack experience, enthusiasm to learn and improve and not enough discipline to use skill rather than just chucking money away - they are generally already addicted to gambling / casino games - and think you can play poker the same way


IMHO if your writing an article on poker it should reflect the reality of playing poker
including both the very small percentage of "addicts" the majority of very marginally net losing players / recreational players who loose an affordable amount and enjoy their hobby and also the 10% that are net winners

if you write an article on addiction - then you should cover all addiction - fashion, drink, gambling (generally and including poker), credit card debit on buying houses, tv's etc etc

I hope some of this makes sense - I guess my point is most player enjoy the game within their limits responsibly - the ones who are addicted are equally likely to already have addictive personalities to other things as well

I really dont think that just because someone chooses to play freerolls or within their budget (eg. saving their beer money for a week) for lots of hours of their lives - that makes them addicted -
I really dont think it does - If they are single, happy and not stressing out anyone else out - I really dont think thats unhealthy and equally we have several happy couples on the forum who enjoy poker together

cheers scrawnybob

[scrawnybob]

hi Matt

I guess there are three things I would mention in short

1) Arnold Palmer commented on golf ...

"It's funny the more I practise ... the luckier I get"

(it equally applies to poker - but not slot machines or casino games)

2) Lots of men happily sit in pubs all night, every night slowly supping beer

does this make them addicted to alcohol because they spend alot of hours drinking slowly

and should people who enjoy an occasional drink or a spend alot of time in the pub be stereotyped or put in the same group of being drinkers and compared to the minority holigan who gets plastered and paints the town red ?

3) Addiction is addiction - and that can be an addiction of anything - poker isnt unique in that respect or statistically a very good example of addiction (it just happens to be fashionable to cast it as such)

cheers scrawnybob

[Shad]

Theres a film called "lucky u" or maybe "lucky me" its pretty new, and it shows some ofd the typical problems of an addicted player. I think the film is trying to give a different vision about the game, because some people thinks its just sitting there and winning tons of money or thats what tv is trying to show us. I recommend seeing it its pretty cool

Yes, that is a good movie. The storyline is very interesting. It does show a problem and how it may affect relationships.

Anyone see the movie "Deal" yet? I want to but can't find it anywhere.