online poker psychology research

[thehotspur]

Hi there, I’m a psychologist and online poker player who is conducting research for my postgraduate thesis on the psychology of online poker players. I have a questionnaire up at www.pokerthesis.com. When you have a few minutes to spare please consider taking part. It is anonymous but, for those who choose the option, I will provide you with email feedback on your results. This involves giving you results and interpretation on your online play from a psychological point of view. This is free of charge for helping me with my research, and you won’t get it anywhere else because I’m the first researcher to adapt psychological instruments to assess online poker playing.
My ultimate goal is to help people who develop a problem with online poker playing, so it is in a good cause. Poker karma anyone?
Thanks for your time, and thank you in advance to anyone who takes part, I really appreciate it. Please feel free to promote the site to others whom you know or play with online, I want to get as many participants as possible.
Best of luck with your poker,
I can be reached at rjhotspur@netscape.net for any questions.
Rob.

[Aytumious]

Hello Rob. I just completed your questionnaire and I found the essay at the end to be quite interesting. I recently met up with an old friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in about 6-7 months. We got to the topic of poker and I explained to him how the game had both humbled me and taught me to put things into proper perspective. The concept that your wrote about in your essay is certainly very powerful when a person is truly able to apply it continually to his life. One of my recent goals is to make a conscious effort to maintain that state of mind throughout the day until it becomes habit. Thanks for the interesing essay and good luck in your research.

[Dov]

Hi, I just took your questionaire.

It's not bad, but I'm thinking that your results may be a little bit skewed by having pros take the test.

A couple of examples:

18) In the past 12 months with online poker, have you needed to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling of excitement?

If you moved up in limits then you would have to answer yes to this question, but it won't be for the reasons you will assume.

17) Thinking about the past 12 months, have you felt guilty about the way you gamble on online poker or what happens when you gamble on online poker?

If I went on tilt, and felt guilty about it, but recovered my game, what will that tell you about me? My answer to this question will either be false or misleading for you.

22) In the past 12 months, has your online poker gambling caused you any health problems, including stress or anxiety?

You may want to reword this to something like extreme stress or anxiety. I think everyone who plays will experience some stress if they are doing their best.

28) On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) how good an online poker player would you say you are?

I assume you mean at your current limit. If so, you should probably specify this.

In your clinical test (the second part) you ask:

4) In the last 12 months have you claimed to be winning money gambling but weren't really? In fact, you lost?

I answered No to this question because I understand what you are getting at. However, there are some times when it is better to lie about this information, especially at the table. As long as you don't believe your own lies... (I'm not sure how you should rephrase the question, but it is something you should be aware of)

Just some thoughts.

Good luck with your research.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi, I just took your questionaire.

It's not bad, but I'm thinking that your results may be a little bit skewed by having pros take the test.

A couple of examples:

18) In the past 12 months with online poker, have you needed to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling of excitement?

If you moved up in limits then you would have to answer yes to this question, but it won't be for the reasons you will assume.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was my thought as well.

[Jarekb]

Like said above, well written essay after the survey. I saved it to read everytime I go on tilt.

[SittingBull]

evaluate me psychologically. Any offer that's free,I'll accept. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] BTW,ur the first doctor I'v seen in more than 25 years. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
SittingBull

[YoungOne]

Interesting piece of essay at the end. I'm a pretty big michael jordan fan and remember him saying the same thing you said (Everytime you try, you succeed).

For example, he can't accept not trying. That's why he retired from basketball and tried out for the mlb. Even though he never made the mlb, he succeeded becaused he tried.

real cool idea that successful people know about.

-YoungOne

[popniklas]

Hey!

Good survey, but I missed the essay on the end. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Any way that you could e-mail it to me at niklas82@gmail.com or send me a link that goes directly to the essay?

I really want to read that essay, but I don't want to fill in the survey again, as that would shrew the results.

[LuvDemNutz]

I filled out the survey.

I like the essay.

[Wes ManTooth]

Filled out the survey. It was very good, though some questions should not be asked straight in "yes/no" format.