When does poker become an obsession?

[Dwayne]

I play poker ten-hour sessions on Friday and Saturday nights every other weekend. Every other day of the month when I am not playing I find myself thinking about poker. I re-play hands over in my mind, calculate odds, and think about the habits and tendencies of opponents. I also spend time every day on the 2+2 forum and reviewing books and articles. I feel this has improved my game, but if I talked about poker as much as I think about it the people around me would think I was some kind of a nut.

I enjoy poker and want to play the game the best that I am capable of playing, but I do not want poker to dominate my life. How much poker is too much? At what point does poker become an unhealthy obsession?

[thomastem]

People "sink their teeth" into jobs, hobbies, and religion with fervor as well. I think each person has to identify for themself How much is too much.

For me I draw the line if Poker threatens some quality time with my family. I for one could careless what other people think. They think I'm crazy I just ask them if they've seen my Possum.

[daryn]

right... imagine that there are people out there who, monday through friday, spend their days in an office from 9am-5pm or more? i call it jail, now that's an obsession

[AmericanAirlines]

An old quote...

"Gambling isn't the problem... losing is!".

In other words, it's an obsession of it's bad for you!

Or on another tack... a rich man's eccentricity is a poor man's disorder. And all that other wishy washy psychiatric BS. :-)

To be honest, you'll know when it's time to quit.

Sincerely,
AA

[jaybee_70]

On the radio show LoveLine, one of the hosts (Dr. Drew) is an addiction medicine specialist. He often says that something has become a problem when you choose to continue doing it despite negative consequences. You have to ask yourself honestly what you are missing out on by focusing so much on poker, and balance that with the knowledge that most people who are 'great' at anything possess tremendous drive to reach their goals. Define your goals in poker and determine how much you are willing to sacrifice to reach those goals. Good Luck, Have Fun!

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Easy answer. When you'd rather play poker than have sex.

[PlanoPoker]

I play on average 6 hours a day, 3 days a week. I've always been focused on my main hobby, which is now poker, so I'm not concerned with the time spent. My actual concern is with how much of my mind I've devoted to the game. I find myself thinking about poker all day. Today as I pulled out of my driveway on the way to work, I saw a white car and it reminded me of a poker hand I played last night. It was a very abstract association, but it was clear that the car reminded me of a hand. This is just an example of how poker-minded I've become. Can anyone relate to this?

[SittingBull]

have a 'burn-out' side effect.
MOST creative individuals produce their most productive works during their younger years. the reason they do not continue to be creative after "x" number of years is because they are usually mentally "burned-out". This is what happened to many scientists and artists who try to continue their creative momentum in their later years.
Hence,if U want to continue to play poker for many more years at a sustained productive rate,divert your attention to other matters in life--Give your mind many periodic rests from thinking of poker.
I enjoy reading non-poker books and associating with family members while listening to THEIR views on various matters.
It's a refreshing "vacation" from poker thinking.
HappyPokering, /images/graemlins/smile.gif
SittingBull

[Al Schoonmaker]

Dwayne,
From your description it is clear that poker has already become an obsession. The next question is: What are the consequences of that obsession?
The most obvious consequences are financial. If you are losing money, but playing and thinking about poker all the time, you are a pathological gambler and should seek help. If you are winning, you must consider other negative and positive consequences. The positive ones can easily be obscured. For example, virtually all successful people are obsessive. It's that old joke: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. Is it obsessive to practice and practice and practice when other people are playing ball, dating, going to the movies, etc.? Of course, it is, but you don't get to Carnegie Hall without doing it.
If you want to succeed at anything, you have to focus on it, and doing so INEVITABLY means that other parts of your life will suffer. It is not an accident that so many extremely successful poker players, athletes, movie stars, surgeons, business executives, etc. have bad family and social lives. The drive to succeed interferes with their relationships.
In other words, it's a question of priorities. How important do you want poker to be? If you're comfortable with the current pattern, leave it alone. Your question suggests that you (and perhaps the people close to you) are not happy with the pattern. In that case, you should re-examine your priorities and life pattern and make some adjustments.
Regards,
Al

[baggins]

I am always thinking of poker on some back burner in my head, if not directly. i play license plate poker with myself (really just analyzing license plates and determining what hand it represents. a lot of good hi-low hands on license plates). i am always making poker analogies to real-life situations. i got a (fake) tattoo of an A /images/graemlins/spade.gif w/ a skull on the center. I sometimes shuffle a deck of cards while i stare off into space and let my mind wander. etc. that doesn't mean i'm obsessed.

[skaboomizzy]

The other night Yahoo had a headline: "Amazon goes after Google with A9" or something like that. A9 is the name of Amazon's search engine.

I instantly started thinking about when/if I'd limp in to see a flop with A9.

[Moonsugar]

[Ragnar]

When you go shopping do you think in terms of how many "big bets" something costs?

Ragnar

[Vehn]

Doesn't everyone?

[Jezebel]

Do you call your first child "flop" and second child "the turn"?

[RollaJ]

My obsessions:
I too am guilty of liscence plate poker

I have read the word "At" as Ace-Ten

I actually got an illegal turn ticket this morning and figuerd "hey its only 3 BB" (happy Im not playing 2-4 anymore

I read poker at work all day, because there is nothing else to do

Called my mother the nuts on her B-day card

Use the term "outs" almost daily

Umm......many others too

[hutz]

Called my mother the nuts on her B-day card

Awesome. So, does she know that's a compliment?

[baggins]

i've done the Ace-Ten thing too! i figure things in BB's. i've used the term 'Out/s' in non-poker related situations.
i tend to think of things in a 'raise or fold' manner.

[Al Mirpuri]

Tangentially, I was reading a gambling encyclopedia and it contained the 20 questions that Gambler's Anonymous asked its clients. If you answered yes to 7 you had a gambling addiction however other authorities have argued that 11 yes answers were required before one could be deemed to have a problem.

How many did I answer yes to?

4.

[RollaJ]

I did remind her but she had heard "nuts" from me many times before

[Jeststeve]

I would think that just the fact that your concerned is a good sign. You are aware you spend a lot of time on Poker. You are aware that it impacts the rest of your life, and it seems you make strides toward making sure it doesn't overwhelm you.

That should tell you that you don't have a problem. When you start playing with your rent money and skip work to play. When you don't feel like your in control of the game, then the game controls you and you have a real problem.

I think if you stay on top of your play and make sure to balance your life so that you feel like your in control and it doesn't affect your social / family life. I think your fine.

I agree that the only way to get better at something is practice. I like to think of it like this. If I were spending that same amount of time pursuing a different hobby would anybody worry. If you can honestly answer no then your fine. Again as long as your the one in control.