[Guy F]

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I do think I am kind of addicted to poker though, I love the game and play almost everyday, if I don't then I'm usually reading about it. I'm not sure how that fits in with me being unhappy about something though.

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I think you've hit on two important questions that only you can answer, with or without guidance from someone else as you choose (shrink, clergy, trusted friend, spouse, random strangers on an online forum, etc).

One, is it an addiction? Being wildly enthusiastic about something right now doesn't make it an addiction. Obsession...perhaps, but that's not necessarily destructive. If it's causing problems in other parts of your life, though, then, yes, it is an addiction. The dividing line is when it starts to screw up the rest of your life. One way to measure this is whether people are avoiding you more now, and you're smart enough to figure out other ways to measure this. Sex, shopping, drugs - there are lots of things people get addicted to, and very few people kick addictions on their own.

Two, what is it, exactly, that makes you angry when you lose? This is a harder question to answer on your own and requires brutal honesty, but getting away from it for a while may give you some perspective. Only having partial control over events when you want total control (note: this one's mine, although I tend to get depressed instead of angry)? Fear of not feeding your family? Shame of being thought of as a "loser"? Generic sense of injustice in a disorderly world? The answer to this is unique to each person, but those are a few of the many possibilities. When you know the answer to this one, you'll know how to stop being angry and things will seem to get better almost by magic.