Warning: For Those Who Want To Go Pro
My goal and dreams was to be on TV at the WSOP, Ivey, Daniel, and the all the legends of poker at my table. I let this dream take over my life. My world was all about poker. From my everyday experiences right down to the lingo. I let this dream blind sight me from the reality of life. It is a game of luck, and somewhat skill. I started off playing home games, saw myself getting to the final table on many occasions. With my largest buy-in at $40 dollars. Then came multitable tourney's small buy-in but larger reward. I played 4 of those no where near the money, nor final 30 players. With my largest buy in being $80. Then came the casino branford. Started off as a 2-5 player, then moved way up to the 5-10 eventually hitting the 10-20 each time I moved up, t'was not because I was making a profit. I was chasing my loses back. $17,000 Dollars later (dating back 2 years ago to the present time) I found myself admiting to a problem. Having gone to a univeristy city, all my friends were poker players. Everyday poker was around me, friends loaning me money so we could all go to brantford for the night, got introduced to online poker for the first time...and then it happened.
My addiction wasn't noticable to me at first, my friends, girlfriends, and family finally figured something was wrong. Grades were dropping, Maxing out my Credit Cards, Sleeping in all day, losing sight of reality, losing friends, feeling depressed. All because of a dream to become the next poker legend.
I found Online poker harder then the Casino, it's hard to laydown AA, AK, or KK because when you are dealt those hands, you figure "oh, finally i'm gonna win this hand lets see how much I can squeeze out of thise other players" but then you run into a flop which makes chasers hit there flush or at best a straight.
I then thought of playing No Limit because it would get rid of the chasing, bad idea...you need at least 2 pair or a set to call the river.
Long story short, I became addicted to gambling. I was enrolled in Gambler's Annoymous by my friends who were concerned with me. To this day, I regret even picking up cards and saying the words "ALL IN"...because technically it foreshadowed my life.
Now, I watch from the sidelines and repaying my debts...just 3,000 more and i'm out of the red.
Just wanted to share this with anyone taking up the game who all had or have the same dream about going Pro.
My addiction wasn't noticable to me at first, my friends, girlfriends, and family finally figured something was wrong. Grades were dropping, Maxing out my Credit Cards, Sleeping in all day, losing sight of reality, losing friends, feeling depressed. All because of a dream to become the next poker legend.
I found Online poker harder then the Casino, it's hard to laydown AA, AK, or KK because when you are dealt those hands, you figure "oh, finally i'm gonna win this hand lets see how much I can squeeze out of thise other players" but then you run into a flop which makes chasers hit there flush or at best a straight.
I then thought of playing No Limit because it would get rid of the chasing, bad idea...you need at least 2 pair or a set to call the river.
Long story short, I became addicted to gambling. I was enrolled in Gambler's Annoymous by my friends who were concerned with me. To this day, I regret even picking up cards and saying the words "ALL IN"...because technically it foreshadowed my life.
Now, I watch from the sidelines and repaying my debts...just 3,000 more and i'm out of the red.
Just wanted to share this with anyone taking up the game who all had or have the same dream about going Pro.
Comments
I am glad for groups like GA, AA and others who held people overcome their addicitions. The toughest part is to wake up, look in that mirror and say "It's me". Congrats on making that call. Good luck it will always be hard.
Best of luck to you.
It's amazing to me the number of players who have dream of going pro before ever beating this game at any level.
I play at one underground where there are only 3 winning players out of a regular pool of 50 or so.
Glad to hear things are going better for you now.
there are alot of people who can learn from this post.
Stop and think
If I stopped playing poker right now, how much would it effect my life?
Good for you Ali
stp
If you're enrolled in GA, why would you join a poker forum?
I am not a member of any support groups as I have been able to avoid letting addiction get ahold of me (to date). I don't really know the rules or guidelines of the recovery process. I would imagine though, that if one was an alcoholic, one might not choose to belong to a scotch tasting club.
I can understand maintaining an intertest in poker, as it is a truly involving game. I just wonder what you gain by participating in a forum focused entirely on a hobby/game that you have given up (hopefully for good and to your benefit).
If this is a sensitive thing for you, djalikool, you need not answer. I am only curious, as I stated above.
And for the record, I am familiar with the path you walked. I managed to win my way out of my hole and then decided I was far too involved in the game. I was playing 80-100 hours a week (besides high school and university, which I skipped more than occasionally). I chose to walk away from the game for a number of years once I felt a little close to the line. I play sparingly and only recreationally now.
I know that this is a very serious subject, and like GTA I mean no disrespect to the OP, but when I read that line I was swallowing a mouthful of coffee that I just had to wipe off my shirt.
Send me the dry cleaning bill. Sorry.
But I just wanted to know what the appeal is in belonging to a group whose main focus is something you have given up for the rest of your life.
stp
p.s. I've never understood that saying, "fell off the wagon"..
stp
There's this new thing, called the internet: http://www.joe-ks.com/phrases/phrasesO.htm
More exhaustively...
I had a dream for a while. I wanted to me one of the biggest porn legends. I wanted to shag with the best of them. Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy was "the man". I would study his moves, his ins and outs, speed, hand position and simple sentences. At anytime I was willing to be his stand in should the need arise but there was one thing holding me back. A not so large penis.
As I followed Ron's career I tried to mimic him. I ate and ate and ate ... food. I started growing hair in places that hair really shouldn't be. During my exreme regiment of "getting into a shape" I tried to work on that one thing that kept me out of "the business". I would yank and tug, tug and yank. I would do this on busses, at ball games, I couldn't stop, I had to realize my dream.
I finally realized I had a problem when I had to start shaving my hand twice a day, it hurt to walk and I seemed to be running out of fluids faster than I should be. It was time to admit that the porn industry was something I could not grasp, err, attain. I tried to go cold turkey but that failed when my search turned up a series of "wifey" flicks. My 5 minutes of porn sobriety came to a shuddering halt.
I am .... SkittlePoker
stp
I think keeping detailed stats for every single game of poker you play is very important.
If you keep rigorous stats on your $ spent and $ won, you can see when things are heading down the wrong path....you have to keep yourself honest - and stats does it for me - so I promote keeping good stats as one possible way to help people avoid getting into too much trouble (although, it won't work for everyone) with gambling. You just cant argue when the cold facts are staring you in the face...
i'm investing my time
I have more control over my actions, I can be around poker and still enjoy the games from the sidelines.
My original post was more of an eye opener for others, as its really easy to fall into the trap especially the young people out there who have a dream to becoming the next poker legend.
I do the same thing and totally agree with you.
With keeping track you know how much you win or lose and how much time you have put into it and if you have a problem it will be right there for you to see.
wat?
Read Busto to Robusto imo.
LOL!!! Great parody SkittlePoker! Very creative!
As far as gambling addiction is concerned, I don't really understand it. Let's say I buy in for $50 and start playing $0.02/0.04 Limit games. If I run out of money, I know that I am not going pro anytime soon, and therefore I do not buy-in for any larger of an amount.
If on the other hand I double my money, or increase it a great deal, then I would increase the amount I am betting to the next level, which is maybe $0.10/0.20 or whatever it is. If I lose my money at the next level then I am not going to buy in for $500 the next time.
There is no reason why anyone should get addicted. If you can't win at the lowest value games in No-Limit, then you ain't gonna win with the largest. Start small and work your way up slowly. Stop increasing your betting at the last level that you are successful at.
No disrespect intended toward the person who is addicted, just rather I'd like to submit my theory of how anyone should approach playing Poker. Taking my approach I don't know why anyone should become addicted. That said, not everyone thinks like me...
Licentia
To me it seems like you have grown from all of this and u now have the implied odds on disipline to help you with your future endevours, possibly worth the experience ??
im not one to talk, because im a person that played poker 12 hours a day for a good 10years str8...literally- eat- breathed and slept poker
however to me its still a passion... and i wouldnt know what the heck to do with my time away from the game...sooo on that note i gotta get the hell off of here... cause its cutting into my poker time
anywhoooo....Good Luck Canada !!
Yukon