Warning signs of compulsive gambling.

[TripleH68]

Some warning signs of compulsive gambling:

-Cashing in savings to gamble.

-Preoccupation with gambling and getting money to gamble.

-Loss of control over the time spent gambling, or the amounts spent.

-Repeated, unsuccessful attempts to cut back.

-Lying to others to conceal extent of gambling.

-Inability to meet financial obligations due to gambling.

-Feelings of guilt or shame because of gambling.

[TStoneMBD]

thanks tripleh, you will have saved many lives from this post.

[TripleH68]

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thanks tripleh, you will have saved many lives from this post.

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lol. Not a one. No preaching here.

I read through this list every day. Though I have never missed a financial obligation or gambled with money I could not afford to lose, I have suffered some of the downside of gambling. And have answered yes to a few of these questions.

[mackthefork]

[ QUOTE ]
Some warning signs of compulsive gambling:

-Cashing in savings to gamble. N

-Preoccupation with gambling and getting money to gamble. Y/N I read too much lol.

-Loss of control over the time spent gambling, or the amounts spent. N

-Repeated, unsuccessful attempts to cut back. N

-Lying to others to conceal extent of gambling. N

-Inability to meet financial obligations due to gambling. N

-Feelings of guilt or shame because of gambling. Y

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Mack (guilty as charged)

[ravballz]

-Cashing in savings to gamble. NO

-Preoccupation with gambling and getting money to gamble. NO

-Loss of control over the time spent gambling, or the amounts spent. YES/NO - but really this is nothing with me, I could play MMORPGs, or Quake 3 or whatever until 3 at night on a workday. It's dumb, but I do it anyway. No problem with the amounts though.

-Repeated, unsuccessful attempts to cut back. NO

-Lying to others to conceal extent of gambling. YES

-Inability to meet financial obligations due to gambling. NO

-Feelings of guilt or shame because of gambling. YES

[Bodhi]

What bothers me is that the time and effort expended to improve at the game is only considered compulsive or pathological because it's gambling. Along with my regular coursework, I spent hours and days in college studying to become a better chess player, and everyone approved. Then when I learned learned to play poker, people looked at me like "dude, you're going downhill." Obsessive-compulsive behavior is encouraged in the American workplace, in academia, in the shopping malls (which can cost a lot more than poker)... but apply that passion to poker and you're a sick person. The only thing that quite compares to the bad reputation of poker is skateboarding, where bycicles, rollerblades and all other means of transportation are allowed, skateboarding is often prohibited.

[Pocket Trips]

[ QUOTE ]
What bothers me is that the time and effort expended to improve at the game is only considered compulsive or pathological because it's gambling. Along with my regular coursework, I spent hours and days in college studying to become a better chess player, and everyone approved. Then when I learned learned to play poker, people looked at me like "dude, you're going downhill." Obsessive-compulsive behavior is encouraged in the American workplace, in academia, in the shopping malls (which can cost a lot more than poker)... but apply that passion to poker and you're a sick person. The only thing that quite compares to the bad reputation of poker is skateboarding, where bycicles, rollerblades and all other means of transportation are allowed, skateboarding is often prohibited.

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You are right. People don't understand that for most of us it is not the gambling involved with poker that we are consummed with, it is the game itself. I love THE GAME of poker. I would play for match sticks or M&M's or just about anything you could use to keep score with. To me poker is about competition more than it is about money. As long as people play to the best of their ability I love playing poker. ( wow I feel like Ray Liota in Field of Dreams writing this [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])
Unfortunately the only way most people can play with any intensity at all is when money is involved, and when money is involved most people associate poker with other forms of gambling. I think most people who are not familiar with the game of poker view poker players as people who are deluded into thinking they are going to make a quick score a la Moneymaker or Raymer. To these people playing poker is no different than playing slot machines.

The people I work with give me strange looks when I sit in the lunch room with a poker book or magazine, and they invariably bring up the WPT or WSOP and say something sarcastic like "oh so you are gonna win this year's WSOP huh?" When I tell them I spent the weekend in AC playing poker they look at me like I am a degenerate gambler or like I just told them I spent the weekend molesting their daughter. This really gets to me, especially when you hear the other people my age talking about spending the weekend in bars getting wasted, but yet they look at me like I am a low-life scum wasting my time gambling.

[Al Schoonmaker]

My "Nobody understands us" discusses the public's inability to understand the difference between poker players and degnerate gamblers. It's at cardplayer.com. Click on magazine, writers, and my name.

Fortunately, TV has made our image a bit less negative, but we have a long way to go.

Although I regard poker players as considerably different from crap shooters, etc., this thread's basic premise is valid. Some of us are pathological gamblers.

If you answer "Yes" to too many of those questions, you may have a serious problem.

Regards,

Al

[Gin 'n Tonic]

[ QUOTE ]
You are right. People don't understand that for most of us it is not the gambling involved with poker that we are consummed with, it is the game itself. I love THE GAME of poker. I would play for match sticks or M&M's or just about anything you could use to keep score with. To me poker is about competition more than it is about money. As long as people play to the best of their ability I love playing poker.

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I'm not sure that the above is true for 'most' Poker players. Personally, I wouldn't play the game at all unless there was some money involved somewhere.

Mind you, it's probably true to say that I wouldn't play any game unless there was some money involved somewhere - so maybe this just puts me at the wrong end of the bell-shaped curve gambling wise.

[smoore]

Haha, welcome to my world, fellow scumbags. The attitude from non-poker players is NOTHING compared to how citizens look at bikers.

"Life ain't easy when you're fat and greasy." -and- "Born to lose." are not just cute slogans to put on patches.

Just look at the citizen like you're ABOUT to molest his daughter and the problem usually turns around and walks away. If you can't deal with how people percieve you then either lie or quit.