Are you addicted?

[cwar]

Im writing a semester long research paper on the online poker 'subculture' and one of the first points that really make poker playing a subculture in relation to normal society is how poker players regard addiction.

For example if you tell a random person on the street that you play 30 hours of online poker a week they will probably try and get you to go the nearest GA where as a lot of people on this forum STRIVE to play greater than 30 hours a week.

So this is what I want:
1.Tell me what characteristics make you qualify someone as addicted (losing player, # of hours a week, state of mind, life outside poker, table games, anything else you can think of)
2.Are you addicted and have you ever been (stories would be great)?
-If you consider yourself a reformed addicted poker player what has changed to make your poker playing healthy?
3.A quick question if you dont feel like elaborating on 1 and 2: A player makes $50 an hour and plays 50 hours a week, is he addicted/not or does it depend?

[canada_dry]

Addiction is unhealthy, uncontrolled behaviour.

Usually the "uncontrolled" part is what leads to losses.

Excess hours playing may or may not be unhealthy, depending on the person and his/her situation.

[cwar]

Thats kind of what Im shooting at with quesiton 3: If someone is playing 7 hours a day but making a lot of money this is probably not healthy but are they addicted in your eyes (Im really looking for subjective answers)?

[canada_dry]

[ QUOTE ]
Thats kind of what Im shooting at with quesiton 3: If someone is playing 7 hours a day but making a lot of money this is probably not healthy but are they addicted in your eyes (Im really looking for subjective answers)?

[/ QUOTE ]

First off, seven hours a day is on par with a normal working job. This person making solid earn, I would suspect, has controlled behaviour. So in this case no.

Generally speaking, winning poker players are not "addicted" in the same way a GA attender is. Because winning poker players are patient, disciplined. GAers are not. I suppose you can be a winning player and be addicted in that poker is your sole purpose in life, but if that person is happy and fulfilled then who is to say it's wrong?

[lef1000]

i know for a fact that i am addicted to poker.
When im up i cant stop playing because i feel the action is too good to stop and when im down i feel like crap cuz i know that i can normally beat whatever level im playing at and that i just need to keep at it to overdue the vairence.

I have been winning recently which is great so this isnt too much of a problem... my philosophy is that poker is my life and as long as i can make money from it and enjoy it and as long as it DOES NOT INTERERFERE with important things in my life like going out with friends and studying and doing things i normaly would be doing, then it isnt that bad..... although i know i am addicted because its 1:45 and i cant stop trying to find people to play heads up limit rite now [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] oh well I made money today and am ending the day in a good mood. I have seen friends of mine keep playing a game that they are consistantly losing at which is sometin i never do and that is a VERY VERY scarey thing. ie: my friend lost 8 heads up games in a row to me at $20 a piece... i thnk that could be a problem

[LionelHutz00]

I wish I was addicted to poker. I have to force myself to play so I can make moneys.

[Split Suit]

[ QUOTE ]
So this is what I want:
1.Tell me what characteristics make you qualify someone as addicted (losing player, # of hours a week, state of mind, life outside poker, table games, anything else you can think of)
2.Are you addicted and have you ever been (stories would be great)?
-If you consider yourself a reformed addicted poker player what has changed to make your poker playing healthy?
3.A quick question if you dont feel like elaborating on 1 and 2: A player makes $50 an hour and plays 50 hours a week, is he addicted/not or does it depend?

[/ QUOTE ]

1. the addiction is generally the inability to stop, so overall, an unhealthy mental mindstate. this inability leads to all of the other qualities u described (hours, loss rate, table games...). i say loss rate not because an addict is necessarily a loser, but they will b LR because they are not focused on +EV betting, thus making any 'strategy' they take -EV

2. yes, i was an addict for about 1.5yrs. (story will b provided if u really need it). I would consider myself a 'reformed gambler', if there really is such a thing. gambling addiction is just like other addictions, its a chemical imbalance in the brain. so i will always b an addict, i just have strategies set so i dont revert or blacklight. (such as stop/loss, timelimits...blah blah blah)

3. completley depends on the mental of the player.

hope this helps...

[Poker Plan]

[ QUOTE ]
1.Tell me what characteristics make you qualify someone as addicted (losing player, # of hours a week, state of mind, life outside poker, table games, anything else you can think of)
2.Are you addicted and have you ever been (stories would be great)?
-If you consider yourself a reformed addicted poker player what has changed to make your poker playing healthy?
3.A quick question if you dont feel like elaborating on 1 and 2: A player makes $50 an hour and plays 50 hours a week, is he addicted/not or does it depend?

[/ QUOTE ]


I have a full time job and a young family so time is precious but a typical day for me:

Check 2+2 while I'm making breakfast at 06:30am

I listen to poker blogs / Little Green Book in the car, to and from work.

I play online every lunch time at work- on my laptop / work's wi-fi access.

Play 1-3 hours in the evening.

Read poker books in bed for half hour.

Think about the game for (seriously) about 80% of my waking time.

I have been playing for 14 months online. I have never gone busto. I have absolutely no intentions of easing up until I get to at least medium stakes. I become more fascinated with the game with each day that passes.

So am I addicted? I don't know. Although I am beating the levels I play at, I exercise good BR management- step and Step DOWN when required. I've done over 30K hands at 10c/20c and below- so it's not about the money!!!


I think it's more about a passion than addiction- but in my case, I suspect it's a VERY thin line.

Ask me to never play again? I know I "could" stop, but I definitiely wouldn't want to.

[omaha]

I would personally LOVE to read your research paper, I would be happy to commment on it before you send it in , if you wish

There are dislikes, likes, passions, unbridled passions and addictions, which all sorta kinda flow into each other.

Take women and shoes, handbags and earrings. The amount of time, effort, and money put into something totally irrellevant and not needed is ridiculous. For fuuucks sake, if you have 13 pairs of shoes, why do you need to spend a weekend and a months wages to buy the fourteenth?

SImilar with poker.

At what level am I?

Interesting, I am sure that someone standing on the outside looking in would view my time, effort as wasteful, and quite silly.

But, what do I do in my leisure time? ANswer, what I enjoy. What do I enjoy? Well, a lot of people smoke, drink at the pub, shop for shoes, snort coke with hookers, or 'do coffee' and catch up and talk about relationships.

Not me, i like to play poker, and a lot of poker. Unhealthy level? Sure, but there are a lot worse things, like when the

I am divorced (started playing after separation, which sorta filled in a lot of time!), see my three boys every second fortnight, and hold down a full time job.

I think the addiction is when your love of poker affects things very adversly. ie finances, relationships, jobs.

YEs, gambling can and does ruin all of these.

If you are a loser (like the vast majority of playrers) and you play with your rent money, then bye bye to everything.

If you play so much to exclude your wife and kids, you will lose them. Wake up message to Poker Plan. You are already divorced, you just havent realised it yet. WOmen will put up with so much, then emotionally leave you, but stay and say they are happy. Then you separate and divorce, as I am positive you will if you continue to play this much. I could play this much, because i dont have the wife and children, I am effectively single

The true test of an addiction is if you could give it up NOW, and not want it. Ask a coffee drinker, they are not addicted, but could give it up tomorow if they wanted (bullshiit) Same for smokes,booze, alcohol and poker

[Poker Plan]

[ QUOTE ]
If you play so much to exclude your wife and kids, you will lose them. Wake up message to Poker Plan. You are already divorced, you just havent realised it yet. WOmen will put up with so much, then emotionally leave you, but stay and say they are happy. Then you separate and divorce, as I am positive you will if you continue to play this much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I note your comments- but I always put the family first. You may not think that from my post- but that's my fault for not making things clear. I son is only 7 months old, so goes to bed about 6:30pm, after we have all had tea. Then I spend time with my partner- THEN, the 2 hours of poker is played on the laptop in the lounge- when she is watching tv or reading a mag, etc.

I am VERY, VERY lucky in the fact that I am with someone who appreciates my passion for my hobby and "allows" me some time to enjoy it. Obviously in return, it's my responsiblity to not abuse that privelged position. I hope one day to be able to add a significant amount of additional cash to my income, every month- through poker. Obviously to get to that point, I need to get "stuck in" and progress. I gave myself approx 1 year to see if I have the basics to become a winning player- and I do. So logically, there seems no reason to stop playing & progressing.

Just like poker, life is a balance.

What I should have said is that I cram poker into EVERY "SPARE" moment of my life- that is spare, AFTER my family.