Gambling

United States
July 30, 2007 4:47pm CST
I have been gambling for several years now and am starting to think I might be addicted. I played blackjack for several years and started getting into Texas Holdem Poker. I stopped playing blackjack because of the house odds and now play Texas Holdem Poker exclusively. For two years now poker has helped pay my bills, but lately the money has decreased due to laws prohibiting online poker and a run of bad luck. Here are my questions? At what point are you considered addicted to gambling? What advice can you give on taking someone's mind off of gambling? Any suggestions on stopping or should I keep playing until the bad luck disappears? If you have been gambling for years, how did you stop, or continued to win? Thank you for your responses and good luck to you
1 response
gizmoshere2
@gizmoshere2 (408)
• Canada
30 Jul 07
Hi I to enjoy playing poker online and visiting some casinos offering free cash to play for a limited amount of time. I think that if poker is starting to upset your regular life than there may be a problem, or you are spending more money than you can afford to. The good news is there are many places to play poker for free that you can still win money. If it is no longer fun you need to find something else you enjoy doing. I wish you lots of luck this can be a tough problem to deal with. Have a great day
jerrybearjr
@jerrybearjr (71)
• United States
31 Jul 07
Yeah it is hard to distinguish if I am having fun or if I am gambling for money. Everyone likes to win. Thank you for the response, I guess I wouldn't really enjoy it if there wasn't much at stake, or if I didn't win money.
lpetges
@lpetges (3036)
• United States
1 Aug 07
if your playing with money you need to eat with or pay bills with, you have a problem. if you charge your poker money or cash checks to stay in the game., then you have a problem. i love to gamble, and go to casinos... tables, slots, all of it. but i never take any debit or credit cards, or checks, just 4o or 50 bucks. thats all im willing to lose, and its not very often that i go. sometimes i get lucky and win,,,then walk away... that is important. the casinos are the winners, thats how they have them...so becareful..
jerrybearjr
@jerrybearjr (71)
• United States
1 Aug 07
Thank you for your response gizmoshere2. I am starting to see that gambling can become very addicting and that winning consistently is harder to do than it seems. I should just consider playing for fun and when I have extra money around.