Yesterday, I went to my first Gambler’s Anonymous meeting in my area and something quite remarkable and enlightening struck me. After a short car ride, but long adventure searching for the Gambler’s Anonymous room in the addictive substance wing at my local hospital, my friend and I were warmly greeted by a welcoming group of gambling addicts. We took two available seats and were handed two small yellow books filled with aphorisms and commandments a recovering gambler must obey to overcome their addiction. During the first half and hour, we all took turns reading passages from the book and vowing to follow the steps to recovery. The second half of the meeting consisted of sharing our personal stories and our encounter with compulsive gambling how it affected our lives today. As each person volunteered sharing a brief anecdote of their gambling career, I noticed one similarity between them all – they were all losers, stuck and in the red, through playing games of chance such as slots and various table games. As a poker player, I could not identify with them. Poker is a game of skill and the luck element is eradicated through playing more and more. Also, being part of a poker forum and constantly discussing strategy and skill, I justified to myself that poker was completely different and that in the long run it is skill and strategy that decides the winners from the losers.        

       But, is poker really any different from other forms of gambling? I’m a winning cash game player at the low stakes online and live arenas over a statistically significant sample; however, began to question whether or not my time was being used most effectively to deliver the greatest overall happiness in my life and for my family in the future. I think the major obstacle poker players face is the fact that they can justify their gambling in the name of statistics and chasing long-term expected values and thus, will be winners in the long run. Hell, winning poker players have the best excuse ever with beautiful graphs that go straight up over statistically significant samples. Is this crazy delusion? I argue that winning can delude you even more from the truth because quitting can be so hard when you’re a proven winner. After I told my story that I had played poker since high school and through college, a fellow GA member raised an extremely interesting argument that struck me really hard. I told the group that through poker I had made enough money to support myself in high school and through college; however, as I began to enter a new chapter in my life and graduate to work a real job, began to question that future sustainability of poker. That fellow GA said that although you may be a winner at poker and capable to beat the game and make a decent income -- the human existence, ultimately was not created to wake every morning and enter a live or online card room. We are born to exemplify love, compassion, loyalty, responsibility, care, and the like towards our loved ones and ourselves. We are born to work toward ambitious goals and to create value that will benefit not only ourselves, but also our friends, family and the rest of society. It is not to gamble. It does not matter whether if you’re a winner or loser. Losers may hurt more and lose everything they own, but I argue that even if you’re a winner at the game – you’re still losing out on life. Despite winning money, a winner still exemplifies many of the undesirable characteristics of a compulsive gambler. Please see the GA’s 20 questions compulsive gambler questionnaire below. By definition, if you answer yes to more than 7 of the 20, you’re a compulsive gambler.

20 Questions

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? Yes

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? Yes

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? Yes

11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling? Yes

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? Yes

14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned? Yes

15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry, trouble, boredom or loneliness? 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? Yes

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? Yes

20. Have you ever considered self-destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling? No