BLACKJACK PROBLEM!!!!

[Jorge V]

PairTheBoard, everything you say is clear as day and I realize that, but why is it so hard for me to actually do?

[Jorge V]

Honestly, like I mentioned earlier, I did try going to GA for a while, but it was useless because they want you to quit all forms of gambling. The thing that I feel makes BJ so attractive for me is that it is the complete opposite. In poker, I am grinding, trying to find edges and exploiting the mistakes of others, while being patient enough to wait for the correct situations in which to utilize them. BJ is a fast paced game where you are just "Gambling it up" with no edge, at least not for me. The fact that I have lost so much, should make it so easy to stop, but why can't I?

[Alex424]

Because you addicted to gambling, and this includes poker. The only difference is you win at poker but you are still addicted. Some people are addicted to alcohol, but they live well enough.

I would seriously consider quitting poker and all forms of gambling altogether as you clearly have a problem - an illness even

This is a bold statement but if you are serious about it you should quit and get a regular job

[omaha]

[ QUOTE ]
Omaha, thanks, that was the best advice anyone has ever given me. I will definitely look into the books you recommended. You gave me tons of things to think about that I have never really thought of before in my poker career. As for my career as a gambler, I am not sure how I feel about it. Obviously, I never would have envisioned myself doing this 5 years ago; it was just something that gradually happened until I got to the point where I was making enough to support myself fulltime. Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

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[ QUOTE ]
Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

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BINGO

[ QUOTE ]
Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

[/ QUOTE ]


Bingo


[ QUOTE ]
Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO

[ QUOTE ]
Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

[/ QUOTE ]


BINGO

[ QUOTE ]
Even though I "feel" I work hard at my job and put in a lot of hours, there is a sense that the money comes very easily and maybe I don't really deserve it.

Jorge

[/ QUOTE ]


BINGO!

Simple, really, isnt it? You simply do not truly think that you deserve to keep the money. SO you dont. You give it back at the table.

SO why the self esteem issues?

Lets compare you to me. I dont know a whole heap about you, so ill just add two and two together (please excuse any judgments I make about you, but i will prolly be close to the mark!)

I worked my butt off during the last two years of high school, came in the top 2.3% of the state. Went to uni and became a dentist, a borderline fail student in all years. Graduated, fell in love, had three kiddies, got divorced.

PIcked up a book about limit and 7stud soon after the divorce, read it a few times before going to the casino. Went and played $5/10 limit. Played very well, was up, then stayed far too long, game went short handed, and i got slaughtered (the book was too weak tight for a full ring, and shocking for shorthanded) Lost about 200 all up. Only a year later (after not returning) did i realise I only lost by the rake, which was a shocking 75cents per hand, ie 7.5bb/100 hands . THey have jacked this up to $1 per hand now, a shocking 10bb per 100 hands!

So, i whack 500 into party and start losing gradually. Read the book again and again, still going down. So i find out about 2+2, and everyone says to get SSHE. SO, i get it, and continually read and reread it. Needless to say, my graph starts to point north, and i clear bonuses on party, paradise, pokerroom, and sidestep a couple of others that I am outclassed in.

I learnt o8, and plo8, and have just learnt nlhe, particularly tourney plays. Profitable in all (breakeven in limit o8), but very low stakes. There is no use in being the tenth best player in th e world if the other nine are across from you on the green felt!

Have about 30 poker books, and spend far too much time playing. But I love it, am good at it, and wish to learn. At the stakes i play for, even if i was a solid loser all week, I would blow less money than my exwife would in one morning shopping for nothing!

Play a bit live at the pub, have come second in a freebie night, and just won two cash game buy ins $22, for a win of $946 and $230

COmpared to the other donks at the pub, I am soooooo far ahead of them in all areas its not funny.

SO, why do I tell you all this?

To brag, or to make myself look good

On the contrary, it is to make YOU look good.

You see, currently you have a real bee in your bonnet. Okay, you didnt come in the top 2% of your year, didnt go to uni, probably didnt study even remotely hard at school, and turned your part time enjoyment and fun (ie poker) into a small winner, then a bigger winner, and then a part time and full time job.

But, heres the rub, I KNOW how bloody hard it is to even win at small stakes, and the huge difference in ability and skill in just moving up one level

I cannot personally even begin to comprehend what it is like at a level 100 times what I can play profitably.

That is your skill level. If you were to compare yourself to me, (in poker ability), it would be similar to comparing myself to the fish at the freebie nights.

And how much extra work, practise, reading, hand posting and thinking have you done about the game?

I would consider the amount of work that you have done at poker to EXCEED the amount of hard slog and effort that it took me to obtain my dental degree.

And you have problems realising that you earned that money, by outsmarting and outplaying people who are much smarter than myself??????????

You obviously have a talent, much like brain surgery, yet significantly less socially acceptable to the majority of retards that walk this earth

I am very happy that you spent ten hours on the poker table without pissing your hard earned, god given talent away on the bj tables

My further advice

Count your blessings

Get a part time 'real' job. This will cure you of the social stigma of living and sleeping on the casino floor, and will get you out and about.

Reassess your female relationships. My mega mega tilt session on plo8 was due to a huge number of personal issues. Trust me when I say to sort these out.

Ever considered some sort of volunteer work? Personally I am heaps to busy and far too lazy, but you need to feel as though you are putting something back into society, rather than just sucking all the money out from the table

[PairTheBoard]

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PairTheBoard, everything you say is clear as day and I realize that, but why is it so hard for me to actually do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know Jorge. With me, if I make a $1000 bet at blackjack with a -1% edge I don't think about winning or losing the $1000. I think about the fact that I'm spending $10. Maybe one time for a thrill I can afford to do that. But not hand after hand. I just can't afford it.

PairTheBoard

[Jorge V]

Alex424, i have read and reread all of my previous posts and have a hard hard seeing why you think I am addicted to poker as well? The only thing I ever say about poker is that I am a winning player, play for a living, and play about 50 hours a week. Maybe you see something that I don't, but it puzzles me how you can give someone career advice ("This is a bold statement but if you are serious about it you should quit and get a regular job") without knowing enough about that person. I only have a problem because I have not given nearly enough information ablout my poker life for you to come up with these ideas. I would appreciate it if you would enlighten me with your thought process. Thanks

Jorge

[kash munni]

Is there a way to explain your situation to the casino and ask them to not allow you to play BJ?

[Jorge V]

nope, tried that already

[Alex424]

Jorge, you seem to have taken my response very sensitively.

The fact of the matter is that you gamble away large chunks of your money on a game where you know you are going to lose. That is a GAMBLING ADDICTION whether you like it or not. I have seen it first hand.

I realise we have never met, but this is pretty obvious to all concerned. You do not have the ability to stop losing large chunks of your money on a game that cannot be beaten.

I do not believe there are any words of wisdom that any of us can say that wil make you stop. YOU have to want to stop more than anything and the only way is to stop going in casinos.

I realise i sound like a GA representative but i have seen this first hand. You cannot control yourself in a casino environment, and playing poker IMO is just adding to that fact.

Many poker players would say they are not addicted to poker, but i believe many would seriously struggle to stop playing poker altogether if if they wanted to. The fact you are a winning poker player to me is disguising the fact that you have a gambling problem. Some of the top poker players in the world have admitted to having a serious gambling addiction.

I know this sounds blunt, but i am genuinely trying to help you. I have seen first hand a friend of mine with a similar problem and the only way he could stop was to stay out of the casino environment. It does no good to be in a gambling environment, if you struggle with gambling. This is not just a blackjack problem, but a pschological problem with money in general.

Please don't take this as personal attack, but from advice from somebody who has seen this problem first hand.

I would give serious consideration to listening to GA again and following their advice.

Good Luck

[omaha]

I think i would take an opposing view to Alexs

If you were a losing poker player, and played bj like the way you have in the past, then you certainly qualify as an addict.

Yours is a very interesting scenario, where you are a winner in a difficult, hard game, yet seem to throw it away on another.

Check out the trading for a living books i was talking about, the psychiatrist who wrote is -alexander elder is just brilliant at distilling ideas, feelings, and the tilt scenario.

BTW, what did you think about my last post, particularly about getting a 'real' part time job, even if its just flipping burgers at minimum wage at maccas two shifts a week?