Poker and Suicide

[lehighguy]

After reading a post on this forum I wanted to talk about my friend too. He started playing online poker and was horrible at it. He did it because he saw me making so muhc money and though he could too. However, he sucked at poker. I told ihm over and over not to play but he did anyway. Sometimes he would win a lot of money and be convinced it was his good play. Then he started moving up the limits, eventually reaching 15/30 and multitabling, despite not being ready for it at all. He lose $13,000 dollars. It was almost all debt he owed, he wrote bad checks for thousands of dollars. Anyway, he stopped going to class or tests or doing anything. He signed up for ten online poker sites and played freerolls all day long hoping he might wina few bucks in one and be able to rebuild his bankroll. The whole thing was said to watch.

Apparently, he was planning on committing suidice. However, after taking our advice he contacted like a million of those internet spam debt consolidation places. Most told him he was screwed, but one specialized in poker debt. Apparently they deal wiht it all the time, and you don't even have to pay the full amount you owe cause they negotiate it down with party poker. You just need to make monthly payments (in my friends case $180 a month, he got a few jobs to pay for it). Having got out of debt he decided not to kill himself, and he's fine now.

Now I will say this. My friend is a dumb fucknut. He was a moron with an addictive personality before poker and a moron with an addictive personailty after poker (now he drinks all the time). So I wouldn't get to worked up over his story if your worried about that happening to you. But at the same time if you have friends that suck at poker and want to play online do this, beat the crap out of them if they play on credit. If you ever find out thier playing on credit [censored] make them stop. If I had known my friend was on credit I would have done the same. ANd they won't stop just from telling them, you have to take action. Treat it like a crack addiction.

ANyway, I hope that helps the person who posted about thier friend killing himself.

P.S. I thought for awhile if playing online was moral after what happened to my friend. Perhaps its having worked on Wall Street that has made me so indifferent to taking other peoples money(after all, that's a respectable job where your pretty much doing the same thing as poker). At least in poker we all play by the same rules, whereas on Wall Street the mom and pop investor doesnt stand a chance. SO I don't lose alot of sleep over it anymore.

[Jonny]

good post. Only morons would play on credit.

[fyodor]

Since when does PartyPoker let you play on credit?

[EliteNinja]

Wow, man.
That's a fantastic post.
It really emphasizes the fact that you have to catch these things early before it gets to be a huge problem.

4% of gamblers are problem gamblers with addiction to gambling. A pretty big chunk.

[bisonbison]

4% of gamblers are problem gamblers with addiction to gambling. A pretty big chunk.

If that's accurate, I'd say that's a pretty small chunk.

[stinkypete]

[ QUOTE ]
4% of gamblers are problem gamblers with addiction to gambling. A pretty big chunk.

If that's accurate, I'd say that's a pretty small chunk.

[/ QUOTE ]

depends how "gamblers" are defined... if everyone that puts $5 into a slot machine on their vegas vacation is considered a gambler, i think 4% is a pretty huge chunk.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
4% of gamblers are problem gamblers with addiction to gambling. A pretty big chunk.



[/ QUOTE ]

must be someone who has never played B&M.

[bisonbison]

well, it also depends on what they define as addicted.

[stinkypete]

hmm, yes. good point. you win.

[bisonbison]

Well, I say it because the addiction guidelines that groups like MADD come out with for alcohol and such are always very broad. If you went to a local college, I'm gussing that some huge percentage of students would be problem drinkers.

Now, I'm not saying they don't drink too much, but the guidelines are entirely without nuance or context, and tend to overstate the long-term dangers. Most people who drink too much will self-correct and stop drinking so much. Most people who gamble too much will self-correct and stop gambling so much.

So without knowing how they're defining addiction, I'd say that having only 4% of a population with a gambling problem is pretty small. I'm guessing 4% of the civil-war reenactment population has a civil-war reenactment problem, but we tend not to hear about the guy who spent his life savings on an authentic confederate uniform and matching boots.

[BusterStacks]

[ QUOTE ]
Since when does PartyPoker let you play on credit?

[/ QUOTE ]

cash advance to checking account, deposit. Don't be retarded.

[CORed]

Truly, this is the dark side of poker. Some of the players we (winning players) take money from are compulsive gamblers. I know I would much rather be taking money from a rich guy who's just gambling for fun and won't be greatly harmed by the loss, but I have no way of knowing (especially online) whether the person I beat is an in-control recreational gambler spending discretionary funds, or a compulsive gambler whose family is going to be homeless because he just blew the rent money.

[pokerjo22]

They may only be 4% but I'm guessing they're a pretty important chunk. There was a study in the UK I believe, which showed that the drinks industry makes 50% of their profits from 'problem drinkers' (which I believe was defined as 30+ drinks a week). While only a small fraction of drinkers actually drink that much, because they're spending so much money, they account for a large fraction of the profits. I'm guessing the same would be true for the gambling industry.

[pokerjo22]

I remember reading a story about one of the old time road gamblers (it might be Johnny Moss, but I could be totally confabulating. I think it was pre-table stakes, so I may well be making that bit up. I'll call him 'Johnny').

He was playing an Englishman one night and the guy ended up oweing him $10,000. Next morning the guy came down, wrote 'Johnny' a check for $10,000, and then smiling took out a gun and blew his brains out in front of 'Johnny'.

It turned out the check was good, but 'Johnny' was pretty shook up and took time off poker. He found out the guy had a wife and kid back in England who had no idea he was a gambler, and that the ten grand was everything they had. He ended up wiring them the cash back so the story goes.

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
Now I will say this. My friend is a dumb fucknut.

[/ QUOTE ]

This made me laugh /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[bisonbison]

They may only be 4% but I'm guessing they're a pretty important chunk. There was a study in the UK I believe, which showed that the drinks industry makes 50% of their profits from 'problem drinkers' (which I believe was defined as 30+ drinks a week). While only a small fraction of drinkers actually drink that much, because they're spending so much money, they account for a large fraction of the profits. I'm guessing the same would be true for the gambling industry.

I think I've heard similar things.

I guess my point is that most people actually aren't in danger of becoming addicted to gambling or poker or drinking. People often experience a period of overindulgence that leads to bad things (f-ed up friendships, health problems, losing a job, going broke), but most of those bad results are fixable and temporary, and act as a warning bell to the person who's been over-indulging that they need to stop doing what they're doing the way they're doing it.

I think the people who experience these warning bells and don't take a step back tend to either be too young to know how to deal with telling themselves or their family and friends "hey I f-ed up everything" or to have preexisting problems like depression.

And I say that with all the empathy in the world for people who feel trapped. I just don't think that the vast majority of people who get attracted to gambling or poker are going to end up pathological about it.