Gamblers Anonymous!

[SnappyJoe]

Hi, my name is Jesper Pedersen and I'm a compulsive gambler.

This might get long and it might get boring but this is my story and I feel like it might help someone.

It all started about 8 months ago, I saw Gus Hansen win some wpt event on the tv and it caught my attention. Later that week i deposited 25$ on Eurobet after surveying different sites I found out that they had rakeback and a monthly 25$ reload. I grinded my 25$ at nl10 fullring and I ran really good and the more I played the more it devoured me. Soon I had a couple hundred bucks and I moved on up to nl25 when I discovered 2p2. This was when I started seeing potential in poker, the first time I thought this could be a prosperus adventure into the world of gambling. Back then I was naive and a bit of a megalomaniac. Over the months I switched to 6max as 2p2 dictated, I read all the books but this just wasn't the game for me, of course I couldn't see this myself. I moved up a bit and my bankroll reached a maximum at 1800$ with me taking shots at nl100 thinking the breakthrough and wealth was well within reach. It all peaked on april 28th when I found myself in irc on #msnl looking for people willing to take propbets of 2.000$ on me being able to play 100.000 hands of nl50 with my roll of aproximately 1000$ in may. Clearly the most -ev bet I had ever been willing to take since the most I'd ever played was 25k. I had stepped over the thin line from happy gambler and straight into a state of compulsive gambling.

Luckily one of the guys from #msnl handed me a wake up call. Ghaz(ninjapon) took a lot of his time to try to explain to me how -ev my propbet was and why I should quit poker. I had some revelations while talking to Ghaz. Before starting poker I was playing and coaching american football, I was lifting weights 3-4 times weekly, my social life was as good as it had ever been and there was a special girl in my life. Basically I was a 220 pound 6'7 extraordinare athlete with everything under control. After playing poker for 8 months my sleep schedule is [censored] up, I'm pale, I've lost about 22 pounds of bodyweight (most likely most muscle) without noticing it untill a couple of days ago, I find myself cancelling plans with friends, isolating myself to play poker if I'm stuck and I ruined my relationship with my now former girlfriend.

Why should you care?
I needed a serious wakeup call and luckily Lucas was there to help me out. I know you're probably not all as [censored] up as I was before realizing how bad it was, but look at yourself now and look at yourself before you started playing poker. Then make a life ev calculation and see if it's REALLY worth playing poker for so many hours every day.

Reclaim your life, it's not easy and I'm still trying to do it!

Best of luck and best of wishes
Jesper (Effectively off poker for good)

PS. Holla @ Lucas for saving my life (literally)!

And please save your taunts and ridicule for another thread, this is serious stuff and I expect to be taken serious.