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Is Poker worth learning?

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    #32
    BuChan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 657 ✭✭✭BuChan


    FeetMagic wrote: »
    No way. You get involved in poker in any way seriously and it is of no advantage to to you imo. Ive won a good bit of money from poker but have lost valuable time with family/friends by spending way too much time online/in casinoes. Anytime Im in a casino also the "regulars" there are for the most part badly affected by the game. Obv its fine if you have a very healthy balance between health/work/poker/family/friends but this is usually not the case, from what Ive seen anyway. Poker has thought me nothing in life except the lack of value money can have to people and how easily a person can fall from reality.

    this balance exists basically nowhere regardless if your a degen gambler, a winning player, a stock market mogul or a ****ing saint.


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    #33
    BuChan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 657 ✭✭✭BuChan


    imo


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    #34
    FeetMagic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,100 ✭✭✭FeetMagic


    ok, a sort of balance so. more than most who play poker have in comparison to people who dont IMO.


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    #35
    BuChan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 657 ✭✭✭BuChan


    maybe, but as was pointed out before if you were the type to take something too far you'd end up there anyway with booze or drugs. i really believe that poker can be considered as positively as any form of business. my mom and stepdad were buisness types. they were working 10+ a day, often 6 days a week. this type of behavior is commonplace, necessary and respected in todays world. it's only different from poker because of societies norms. n reality it's the same buzz.


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    #36
    phantom_lord
    Registered Users Posts: 10,894 ✭✭✭✭phantom_lord


    Grafter wrote: »
    Poker is extremely addictive and can be terribly destructive, both financially and in terms of families and relationships.

    you're doing it wrong imo


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    #37
    fatguy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭fatguy


    It's scary how similiar this conversation is to ones I've seen about World of Warcraft...


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    #38
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    http://www.compatiblepoker.com/Addiction.cms.htm


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    #39
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    FeetMagic wrote: »
    No way. You get involved in poker in any way seriously and it is of no advantage to to you imo. Ive won a good bit of money from poker but have lost valuable time with family/friends by spending way too much time online/in casinoes. Anytime Im in a casino also the "regulars" there are for the most part badly affected by the game. Obv its fine if you have a very healthy balance between health/work/poker/family/friends but this is usually not the case, from what Ive seen anyway. Poker has thought me nothing in life except the lack of value money can have to people and how easily a person can fall from reality.

    I totally agree.. I watched my ex-bf fall apart before my very eyes and according to him he had no problem... he was just playing "for fun". Granted, when he started playing about six months ago, it was only an hour or two and slowly built up to him playing every waking moment of the day... social life together went out the window and so did conversation. Did you ever try and speak to someone who is engrossed in a poker game?Well dont try cause you will be talking to yourself. He was always in a zombie like sake from lack of sleep and swollen eyes from 11 - 15 hours (sometimes more) of poker playing. Wrecked to point that he was falling asleep in work. He lost interest in everything and constantly irritable and moody.... probably from worry due to the credit card he had maxed out to the limit. He constantly lost money striving to build up his "bankroll". If there are any online poker players out there who have found a healthy balance between health/work/poker/family/friends well fair play to you. From my personal experience there is NONE.


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    #40
    RedJoker
    Registered Users Posts: 1,461 ✭✭✭RedJoker


    gwhiz wrote: »
    http://www.compatiblepoker.com/Addiction.cms.htm

    This article would be o.k. if it changed every reference of "poker player" to "gambling addict" (or any other type of addict). Otherwise it's just highly inaccurate.
    Look at the characteristics of most poker players and you can similarly compare them to cocaine addicts. Their appearance tends to be underweight, jittery, incapability of thinking of other things besides their addiction, twitches, and many other side effects.

    I don't think I've ever met a poker player who fits this physical description. A lot of them tend to be overweight.
    Having a full meaningful conversation with someone after or right before a poker session is inconceivable. You might as well forget trying to ever talk to an online poker player while during a session. You could be talking directly to them and they probably don’t even know you exist. It’s not that they don’t care its just that they’re addicted.

    Or maybe they're concentrating. The same thing can happen when a person's watching TV for example.
    Let me ask you this. Have you ever noticed that time just disappears when you play poker? You can sit down at a table and not ever realize or care that you spent 12 hours playing poker. In fact you could probably go another 12 hours if you didn’t have to go to work or your body didn’t shut down on you. I have never in my life found one thing that makes time go by faster.

    Man, I wish I could play that long. None of my sessions ever last longer than an hour and a half, two hours at most. It would be incredible to have that sort of work ethic.
    One thing that poker players are cursed with is they remember all the bad hands as opposed to the good ones. How many times have you replayed a good winning hand? Probably not as many times as you’ve rewound those numerous bad beats in your head. It’s a cycle, a drug, and an addiction that can only be fueled by bigger wins and bigger losses.

    This is just selective memory and happens with many other things in life. In fact, some players are delusional about their poker abilities and only remember the times they made the correct plays or when they had winning streaks. So they have selective memory in the opposite direction.
    The aftermath of a long poker night can feel worse than a real drunken hangover. Staying up until 3am playing online poker will take its toll and can make you really sick. That combined with slouching over, not eating, and not stretching will cause you to become a real ugly figure.

    That's true with anything.


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    #41
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    gwhiz wrote: »
    From my personal experience there is NONE.

    Your personal experience being one person? Too small a sample to draw that conclusion to be fair.

    Although, if you check back over many of the "should I start?" or "what advice have you for a beginner?" threads you'll notice a lot of people, myself included, tell people to get out before they start.

    That said; some of your points about the social detriments are a bit off as generalisations. I have made a few good friends from poker, we have had a few football matches organised through this forum and when I needed help with raising money for a great cause the players here banded together to help me out without me even knowing.

    There are negatives to be sure, and positives too, but like anything in life it is the person who determines what they gain or lose from it. If your ex let himself become immersed in it then so be it. That is not an indicator of the nature of the game, it is an indicator of the nature of the man.


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    #42
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    RedJoker wrote: »
    This article would be o.k. if it changed every reference of "poker player" to "gambling addict" (or any other type of addict). Otherwise it's just highly inaccurate.

    Disagree... I can relate to at least 90% of this article.

    I don't think I've ever met a poker player who fits this physical description. A lot of them tend to be overweight.

    Dont know any poker players other than by ex and he got fatter and fatter from lack of physical excercise.... didn't have any strange twitches either so I agree, this is not accurate.

    Or maybe they're concentrating. The same thing can happen when a person's watching TV for example.

    I disagree. I dont sit in front of the TV for 12-15 hours. They are not concentrating, they have just removed themselves from the real world and are floating in poker cyberspace.

    Man, I wish I could play that long. None of my sessions ever last longer than an hour and a half, two hours at most. It would be incredible to have that sort of work ethic.

    Ha ha... Obviously you are not a serious poker if thats all the time you spend playing.


    This is just selective memory and happens with many other things in life. In fact, some players are delusional about their poker abilities and only remember the times they made the correct plays or when they had winning streaks. So they have selective memory in the opposite direction.

    True... I only every heard about the big "wins" he had.


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    #43
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    gwhiz wrote: »
    Ha ha... Obviously you are not a serious poker if thats all the time you spend playing.

    LOL.


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    #44
    northwestguy27
    Registered Users Posts: 132 ✭✭northwestguy27


    Grafter wrote: »

    (married more than 20 years)

    Sorry to hear that Grafter :D

    Still on my Honeymoon period in comparison (3 years).

    My wife awoke this morning to tell me that she had a dream, something about horses and red shoes. So, at this moment, I'm flicking through todays ABC guide looking for said horse to bet on!


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    #45
    RedJoker
    Registered Users Posts: 1,461 ✭✭✭RedJoker


    gwhiz wrote: »
    RedJoker wrote: »
    This article would be o.k. if it changed every reference of "poker player" to "gambling addict" (or any other type of addict). Otherwise it's just highly inaccurate.

    Disagree... I can relate to at least 90% of this article.

    Yes but your boyfriend was a gambling addict so it's natural that you'd relate to the article.
    gwhiz wrote: »
    RedJoker wrote: »
    Or maybe they're concentrating. The same thing can happen when a person's watching TV for example.

    I disagree. I dont sit in front of the TV for 12-15 hours. They are not concentrating, they have just removed themselves from the real world and are floating in poker cyberspace.

    I was referring to the part about being able to get their attention and hold a conversation. If I'm concentrating on something I have a tendency to block out other things, whether that's poker or watching TV.
    gwhiz wrote: »
    RedJoker wrote: »
    Man, I wish I could play that long. None of my sessions ever last longer than an hour and a half, two hours at most. It would be incredible to have that sort of work ethic.

    Ha ha... Obviously you are not a serious poker if thats all the time you spend playing.

    :).

    I usually play two sessions a day, typically with a break of a couple hours in between. So generally around 3 hours a day. Although during college I confined my play to the weekends only.

    Also, like nearly all successful players, a significant amount of my time is spent learning and improving my game. If your boyfriend spent that much time playing then he likely had little time for studying. That doesn't make him serious about poker, that makes him serious about gambling.


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    #46
    jimbling
    Registered Users Posts: 4,053 ✭✭✭jimbling


    gwhiz, think you need to realise that your bf was a degenerate gambler first, poker player second.


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    #47
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    Ok so I had one BAD experience with someone addicted to online poker but the point I was trying to make was how it had affected MY LIFE....
    I might have gone off the rails a bit at time but never meant to make ANY generalisations. Judging from some of the posts, I obviously offended SOME of the "poker players" on the thread but this was not my intention. So I have voiced my opinion on this and im off now.
    BYE BYE........ :P


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    #48
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    jimbling wrote: »
    gwhiz, think you need to realise that your bf was a degenerate gambler first, poker player second.


    Maybe you are right........... Good riddance to him anyways.:D


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    #49
    RedJoker
    Registered Users Posts: 1,461 ✭✭✭RedJoker


    gwhiz wrote: »
    Ok so I had one BAD experience with someone addicted to online poker but the point I was trying to make was how it had affected MY LIFE....
    I might have gone off the rails a bit at time but never meant to make ANY generalisations. Judging from some of the posts, I obviously offended SOME of the "poker players" on the thread but this was not my intention. So I have voiced my opinion on this and im off now.
    BYE BYE........ :P

    I wasn't offended and I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with poker.

    While it's obviously fine to voice your opinion on this, it's to be expected that people who have had positive experiences with poker will voice their's as well.


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    #50
    dougee19
    Registered Users Posts: 1,361 ✭✭✭dougee19


    gwhiz..... fiona??? im sorry sweetie


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    #51
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    RedJoker wrote: »
    I wasn't offended and I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with poker.

    While it's obviously fine to voice your opinion on this, it's to be expected that people who have had positive experiences with poker will voice there's as well.


    I know I said BYE BYE but im back again... ha ha..
    Thanks for that Redjoker.. I think I might have been venting my anger just a little bit on this thread..... "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and all that...... :mad:


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    #52
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    dougee19 wrote: »
    gwhiz..... fiona??? im sorry sweetie


    :P:P:P:P:P:P:P


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    #53
    zap27
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭zap27


    So have you any contact with your ex any more-do you know is he getting help for his addiction or anything like that?


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    #54
    Chucky the tree
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,341 ✭✭✭✭Chucky the tree


    Let me ask you this. Have you ever noticed that time just disappears when you play poker? You can sit down at a table and not ever realize or care that you spent 12 hours playing poker. In fact you could probably go another 12 hours if you didn’t have to go to work or your body didn’t shut down on you. I have never in my life found one thing that makes time go by faster.


    Ugh Football manager ftl.


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    #55
    shoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,924 ✭✭✭shoutman


    Chucky the tree wrote: »
    Ugh Football manager ftl.

    I am absolutely adamant that if it wasn't for Football manager and its predecessor, Championship Manager (the proper one not the one that is released these days), I would be now finishing a masters and facing the onslaught of not having a job or a future, thankfully I did terribly in my leaving cert and as a result am still a year away from finishing my honours degree....

    Football manager is the best/biggest waste of time ever.

    Oh yea don't learn poker, it is rigged afterall.


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    #56
    Vamoose Killers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 384 ✭✭Vamoose Killers


    Jesus, the number of hours I gave away to Championship Manager was unreal. Glad that FM was poo.


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    #57
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    zap27 wrote: »
    So have you any contact with your ex any more-do you know is he getting help for his addiction or anything like that?

    Hi zap
    Only split up a couple of weeks ago but have spoken to him a couple of times on the phone. I dare not mention the word "poker" or its like.. "ah here we go again". He doesn't think he has an addiction so he would never consider getting any help.


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    #58
    a-k-47
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,298 ✭✭✭a-k-47


    pretty sad oul story, buy him one of these and kiss and make up.

    degenerate_poker_tshirt_lg.gif


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    #59
    Moneymaker
    Registered Users Posts: 9,846 ✭✭✭Moneymaker


    Some of the condescending, stereotypical rubbish i've read in this thread has put me on lifetilt.


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    #60
    Mullicker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 356 ✭✭Mullicker


    Championship/Football manager is too too addictive, i've lost days of my life to that game:eek:

    I now spend a lot of time playing online poker, some live poker and a lot of time learning about poker. If i was 100% honest i would say i am at least mildly addicted.

    I changed from sng's to cash to be slightly less degenerate after i was 8 tabling $11 sngs in bed and a couple of my friends called out of the blue to organize a stripper for another friends 21st. They knock on the door asking for me and i have just started a the set. I was like s*** hold on a second, then i had to decide whether to bust out of 8 $11 sngs or invite all the lads in and watch me clicking like a madman so i invite the lads down to watch me play sngs. Not many of them have much of a clue about poker and thought i was some complete gambling addict who plays poker all night. I ended up busting out of all 8 sngs whilst trying to hold a conversation. I have rarely played sngs since.

    Also, I dont know how tourny regulars do it week in week out. Last Sunday i decided i would play mini Ftops event 24 and 25 and the double deuce. I wasn't feeling great from a night out before and a dodgy kebab. Played most of the tourny on the jax ended up busting out of the tournaments on purpose just by playing really aggro and messing with a few people before i busted out. The joys of online poker. Just a couple of hours or less at the cash tables a day for next few weeks.


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    #61
    gwhiz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭gwhiz


    Moneymaker wrote: »
    Some of the condescending, stereotypical rubbish i've read in this thread has put me on lifetilt.


    ohhhhh... really
    So sorry about that NOT :rolleyes:


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