Stranger,

No you cannot gamble in moderation without your disease of addiction escalating. You need to admit defeat in this area of your life and find healthy hobbies to replace it.

How do I know this? I spent 10+ years of my life trying to kill myself with Cocaine. I sacrificed everything normal in my life for the euphoria that the drug offered me when I used. I did not use the drug because it made me excel in other areas of my life, I wanted the rush it gave me.NO MATTER WHAT THE COSTS. Thankfully, thru the "one day at time" method you so despise, I have 4 years of clean time and have been slowly rebuiding my life. But for me to start thinking that I can use cocaine again in moderation, would be absolutely insane. It would all start again and I would lose everything. plain and simple.

Ask yourself this? What separates me from the people who play poker successfully?How come they can play and I cannot? The answer is simple. They play to win money, and you play for the rush you get when you play. This is why you go to higher stakes because it offers more for you. This is why you call when you know you hold the losing hand, because you want the rush NOW. Not later on when you hold the best hand.

Also, this is the absolute worst place you could ask this question. You cannot expect regular poker players to help you find the answer. If an alcoholic of 20 years without a drink walks into a bar and explains his life to complete strangers, and then suggests to them that he thinks he can now have a drink now and again, at least half the bar will be willing to buy him the first drink to get him started.

Life has dealt you your hand,accept it for what it is,or be prepared to lose everything.

Hope you make the right choice, and good luck.

Down_N_Dirty

"The Definition of insanitity is reapeting the same mistakes over and over again, and then expecting different results [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]