Are all Poker Professionals Addicts?

lets assume gamble=play poker. Even tho totally untrue it's not gambling if you know youre gonna win, you know just like russian roulette.

1 no
2 yes - my ex bitches' fault tho. Can't you see that I'm at 16 tables and have to end session before I acknowledge your presence bitch?
3 yes - in the eyes of haters, fuck haters tho
4 no - I pay my rent and whores with this, in fact I often feel remorse after not gambling
5 yes
6 no

1) Poker is work.
2) Being unhappy or in a bad mood isn't the same as having an unhappy home life. And how can you say they have less sex/no gf? Being a Pro would assume they're making some nice $ and I would also assume they enjoy getting out of the house more than most as they work there too (online pros at least)
3) Pretty sure they're referring more to a bad reputation because you're an excessive gambler.
4) Remorse is an extreme word, it'smore than just being annoyed liek when I stub my toe on a door.
5) You could argue this one but then a Poker Pro would argue that Poker is more a game of skill than gambling when you're playing for a living.
6) If they move to Vegas that doesn't instantly mean you don't care for your family. It's not like they disown them, they have just moved from their home. If I move from England to Spain, do I no longer care for my family too? Welfare doesn't mean anything, if you've moved to Vegas as a Pro then you're probably using your own $ and not theirs.

My thoughts

Isn't the same true for working extra hours?

Poker pros are just workaholics, but they're fully responsible for their wellbeing and strive to maximise its longterm expectation and, more importantly, the strength of their personality that will be able to stoically wither any misfortune in the real life.

It's different from a real gambling addiction, when a person doesn't feel that his activity is subtracting from his wallet and wellbeing in the long run, doesn't want to improve the personality, lacks self-responsibility.

Habitual videogamers have sometimes even more workaholism, normally don't earn money in this pursuit, but usually aren't considered addicts needing treatment, except extremely grave cases, just because they don't lose money.

Those who think that engaging in a risky but profitable activity (like any business; poker is in fact less risky than any 'true business') is an addiction are just too risk-averse. They won't experience big lows in their lives, but neither will they achieve greatness. To get to the top, one has to make a lot of mistakes and learn from them.

#1 Poker is work. How can you lose time from work by working to much? And some poker pro's do go to school. Its that same as working full time and going to school if thats your thing.

#2 Obviously your unhappy at times due to stress and other shit that comes with this bussiness. But then again you can be unhappy in any other job where you have to deal with bitchy costumers or annoying bosses. And yes i do quit a +EV spot to spend time with friends and thats a non-brainer. Unless your playing nosebleeds you really don't have to be avaliable 24/7 when one fish shows up.

As for the sex part i don't see why you would have less sex with your GF if your a poker pro.

And you do not need a girlfriend to have sex, you just need a girl

#3 Can't really answer that one as i don't give a fuck about what ppl think about me or about what i do, but generally i get good reactions about what I do.

#4 I don't really see what you mean by that one. Yeah you get annoyed after making a bad call but i wouldn't go as far as using a word remorse.

#5 NO. I play on my own roll, i own my own apartment thats paid in cash and i own my car thats also paid in cash. I never took a loan and never planning to either. On the other hand you have regular ppl taking out loans for new TV's on and other crap on daily bases. So i can argue that they have to work in order to pay their debts.

#6 I play midstakes on stars that run 24/7. My schedule is as flexiable as it can be, the only thing i have to do is find 6 hours in a day to put in some volume

Replace poker with any other job and you will get similar answers, for example a lawyer.

1) Laywers don't go to school or have another job.

2) Lawyers wont quit when they have deadlines.

3) Some people like lawyers and some people don't.

4) Imagine if a lawyer is working 16 cases and gives some bad advice from time to time. Then they feel bad about it.

5) Doesn't really apply

6) Think of all the lawyers who's offices move to a different place and they have to leave their families.

So are all lawyers addicts?

It's a good debate op but I know many consummate professionals who safely answer no for each of those.

The simple fact is that questionnaire was not designed to acknowledge the existence of professional poker players. It's always going to look like they are all degens

1. I don't see an issue here
corporate slave or rake slave, whats the difference? ♦

2. If you reject pussy for poker, youre in deep shit. Don't do that!


3. redundant question -

depending of your own environment your reputation is always affected in a negative or positive way - universally true, no matter if you play poker, chess, or do ballet ...

I don't see how other peoples view would affect the classification of your own mental state.

4.Yes, I feel remorse every single time I push over a chip to one of you!
Problem?! ♠_biggrin:

5. debt = slavery

never stretch over your sheet - again, this is universal law and independent of poker

6. Never! Niemals! Jamais!

to conclude:
if you answer yes to point 2 your an addict,
if you answer yes to point 5 and 6 youre stupid,
in all other cases your just a naughty boy!

Which means youre all addicts because of point 2! All of you, Except me!

the answer to your topic question is
no

this survey is also anti-poker-biased too. I could probably make the same survey about being a stock broker, or any other job where you dont have guarantee monthly income, mind you.

poker prof is just like any other job, even if many people refuse to accept it. its not like they are playing slots for living, lol

Not really sure why being a broker/investor for life is considered 'normal', its a job where you could go from millions to zero in no time - if playing poker, and apparently making some decent, money while doing the thing you love, is a no go in many people eyes