Answering the Gamblers Anon 20 questions

[uw_madtown]

I've glanced over them before, but never actually filled them out. Saw them brought up in CroShow's thread and thought it'd be interesting to see other serious poker players' answers and a discussion of the questions.

Answer Yes or No only. You can justify the ones you answer Yes to at the end.

TWENTY QUESTIONS
Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling? Yes
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy? No
3. Did gambling affect your reputation? Yes
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? No
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties? Yes
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency? No
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? No
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? Yes
9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone? No
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling? No
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling? No
12. Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures? Yes
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family? No
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned? Yes
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble? No
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling? No
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? Yes
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble? No
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling? No
20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling? No

Total: 7/20

Discussion of those 7 "Yes"s:

1: I've skipped class to play poker. Of course, I regularly skipped class before taking up poker. So while I must answer Yes, it's not specific to poker. And if I had a job at the moment, I would NOT skip work to play.

3: People are stupid, and my father is semi-proud that I'm doing well playing online. So I'd imagine there's a few people from back home who think I'm a degenerate gambler by now.

5: It's my income for extra spending money. I'm not sure if that's "solving financial difficulties" or not. But if I wasn't pulling in some poker money, that'd mean less beer money, and I consider that a financial difficulty.

8: After a good upswing, of course I have the urge to get back on Party and keep it going. After a big loss, I'm the opposite -- it's hard to get motivated to sign back on the next day.

12: Of course. That's just proper bankroll management. If I ever want to get to 5/10 and beyond, I need to spend LESS of my bankroll, not more.

14: Of course. If I'm still feeling awake and the games are good, and I don't have anything I'm supposed to be doing that playing longer would conflict with, then I'll gladly stick around an extra couple hours.

17: Yes. 8-tabling for a few hours and then trying to sleep doesn't work very well. Cards get stuck in my head and I keep playing in my sleep. I'll usually wait a half hour before going to bed.



I think the biggest flaw in the questions when applied to poker players is that it mainly focuses on actions, not emotions. For example, questions like 8, 14, and 17 should examine the motivation behind those actions, not the actions themselves -- there's a huge difference between gambling longer than you planned because you're stuck $2k at blackjack and you want to win it back and gambling longer than you planned because there's a real juicy 20/40 table going at your local cardbarn. Do you have trouble sleeping because you're sick to your stomach after losing $500, or because playing 8-tables damn near gives you an epileptic fit?

Similarly, I question the inclusion of the reputation question. MOST people who gamble recreationally will take a hit in reputation from someone they know, whether they're an addict or not.

And, as many people have said previously, most justifications to these questions that are true for a serious, winning poker player sound VERY SIMILAR to the justifications an addict would spout if confronted. Which is frustrating.

Anyway, other people want to comment on the questions or fill it out and discuss why you say yes to certain questions (or no to others)?

[TStoneMBD]

i got 9, but im not a gambler in any sense. ive never taken a bet that i thought was -ev except for playing slot machines a few times to kill time. i gamble to make money not to have fun.

i think this test is dumb.

[ckessel]

More or less the same here as TStone. I think I only answered yes to a couple of them, but I don't think of poker as gambling. It's a game, I like games, and my $ is my score. I only play with money I've won so it has no impact on my real life finances.

Poker basically replaced computer games as my "gaming" time. The only issue I suppose would be if my score ever reach zero (busted out), but moving down levels doesn't bother me so that's pretty unlikely.

[reddred]

I answered yes to seven. Some of my answers were the same as OP's, and reasonings the same.....playing longer than expected, having trouble sleeping after a long session, etc. Some of the the questions, the way they are worded, like" have you ever", if you are being honest with yourself, you'll get a yes for. For instance, have you ever chased losses, etc. Yeah, I chased loses on 2 occasions, like a year and a half ago(when I first started playing), and both times, it made situations worse. Lesson learned. Won't happen again. Very similar to the AA questionaire, "Have you EVER blacked out from drinking".....yeah, I blacked out on more than one occasion, like 13 years ago when I was in college. Haven't blacked out since, and frankly, rarely drink. But according to the black and white questionaires, answering yes to that question just moved me 1 step closer to being an alchoholic.
Poker is gambling, but it's definitely a different animal than most other forms of gambling, b/c the the greater degree of skill involved, and the absence of a house edge stacked against you. Unfortunately, I don't think folks outside the poker world realize this, and thus don't look at it the same way we do. And I doubt Gamblers anonymous makes any distinction between poker and craps, or blackjack. If someone has a problem with gambling, or poker, I think they know it deep down, without even having to answer the silly questionaire.

[BluffTHIS!]

Note: fixed post first

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to poker?

No. This is my work.

2. Has poker ever made your home life unhappy?

Yes. I work at home so if I lose I am unhappy.

3. Did poker affect your reputation?

Yes. When I have made stupid mistakes other players thought I was a donk.

4. Have you ever felt remorse after poker?

Yes. See #2 above.

5. Did you ever play poker to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?

Yes. I do it every month.

6. Did poker cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?

No. Quite the opposite.

7. After losing at poker did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?

Yes. The very next day.

8. After a win at poker did you have a strong urge to return and win more?

Yes. Greed and the natural stupidity of so many other players made this urge irresistable.

9. Did you often play poker until your last dollar was gone?

Yes. Then I pressed the rebuy button.

10. Did you ever borrow to finance your poker playing?

Yes, but those days are long past (I hope).

11. Have you ever sold anything to finance poker?

No, but poker has financed many nice purchases.

12. Were you reluctant to use "poker money" for normal expenditures?

Yes. I don't spend my bankroll.

13. Did poker make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?

No. It has provided for their welfare.

14. Did you ever play poker longer than you had planned?

Yes. When the games are very good my ass stays fixed in it's seat.

15. Have you ever played poker to escape worry or trouble?

No, but it has been the cause of worry and trouble when the fish have sucked out on the river repeatedly.

16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance poker?

No. Playing winning poker finances itself.

17. Did poker cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?

No. I maintain a proper bankroll so I sleep like a baby even when I lose.

18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to play poker?

No. They only create an urge to inflict bodily harm on others, but I usually refrain.

19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of playing poker?

No. Playing poker provided that good fortune.

20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your poker playing?

No, but some of my opponents probably have.

[poker-penguin]

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling? No
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy? Yes
3. Did gambling affect your reputation? No
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? Yes
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties? Yes
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency? No
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? No
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? No
9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone? No
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling? Yes
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling? No
12. Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures? Yes
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family? No
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned? No
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble? No
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling? No
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? No
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble? No
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling? No
20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling? No

2 - My parents strongly dislike gambling, so I had to hide poker from them when I lived at home
4 - Only after I played like a donk.
5 - Paid off my student loan, and proud of it.
10 - Yes, I was backed for a while
12 - Bankroll is bankroll.

Doesn't this come up every couple months?

If you're a consistent winner over a statistically significant period of time, you don't have a problem.

EDIT - any more than workaholism, which is still generally socially acceptable

[reddred]

Note: fixed post first

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to poker?

No. This is my work.

2. Has poker ever made your home life unhappy?

Yes. I work at home so if I lose I am unhappy.

3. Did poker affect your reputation?

Yes. When I have made stupid mistakes other players thought I was a donk.

4. Have you ever felt remorse after poker?

Yes. See #2 above.

5. Did you ever play poker to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?

Yes. I do it every month.

6. Did poker cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?

No. Quite the opposite.

7. After losing at poker did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?

Yes. The very next day.

8. After a win at poker did you have a strong urge to return and win more?

Yes. Greed and the natural stupidity of so many other players made this urge irresistable.

9. Did you often play poker until your last dollar was gone?

Yes. Then I pressed the rebuy button.

10. Did you ever borrow to finance your poker playing?

Yes, but those days are long past (I hope).

11. Have you ever sold anything to finance poker?

No, but poker has financed many nice purchases.

12. Were you reluctant to use "poker money" for normal expenditures?

Yes. I don't spend my bankroll.

13. Did poker make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?

No. It has provided for their welfare.

14. Did you ever play poker longer than you had planned?

Yes. When the games are very good my ass stays fixed in it's seat.

15. Have you ever played poker to escape worry or trouble?

No, but it has been the cause of worry and trouble when the fish have sucked out on the river repeatedly.

16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance poker?

No. Playing winning poker finances itself.

17. Did poker cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?

No. I maintain a proper bankroll so I sleep like a baby even when I lose.

18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to play poker?

No. They only create an urge to inflict bodily harm on others, but I usually refrain.

19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of playing poker?

No. Playing poker provided that good fortune.

20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your poker playing?

No, but some of my opponents probably have.


I love it

[TripleH68]

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling? Yes
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy? Yes
3. Did gambling affect your reputation? Yes
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? Yes
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties? No
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency? Yes
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? No
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? Yes
9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone? No
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling? No
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling? No
12. Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures? Yes
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family? No
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned? Yes
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble? Yes
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling? No
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? No
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble? Yes
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling? No
20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling? No

I score a 50%.