THE SERIOUS DANGERS

THE SERIOUS DANGERS

We all play poker for our own reasons and at levels and standards we are comfortable with. The game has moved on at such a fast pace over the last 2 years its incredible and also with the glam and hype of televised tournaments and millionaire lifestyles of the selected few players featured so much on TV now its easy for some to get carried away living in fantasy land.I often wonder for each succesfull profitable poker player how many losing players are out there?
Anyway as I think I have previously posted early days, it was my son who was only 14 at the time who got me playing poker. Walked in one day with him playing poker online and that was it, within an hour I was signed up on Will Hill on play money.Oh how thankfull I am that although he is now 19 and still playing he at least understands the dangers of the game and plays well within his pocket and fully appreciates the value of money. Some might say they would guess where that comes from me being a reet tite git.It wasnt that long ago that he had this crazy idea he could make a fortune with a particular betting system on the horses and as such to nip this in the bud I explained to him it was a load of b*****ks and I would prove it to him. I gave him £500 one Saturday morning and told him 50/50 prove to me this works. Well before the end of racing the cash was gone and a very valuable lesson learnt by him which I know has stood him in good stance since.
Years before this I also had a minor problem with my daughter who was 14 at the time showing a possible addiction to slot machines. My answer to this was to sit her down and explain the dangers but its in one ear and out the other cos most kids of that age obviously know better. So I bought her a slot machine and put it in her room. You can play on that to your hearts content now and within 2 weeks the slot machine was redundant and stood in the garage and the urge to play on slots was cured.
Lucky for me I have 2 sensible kids but alot of people out there are not as fortunate.
We now come to the whole point of this post. Linked to this blog is a blog named 88% Concentration i.e. Bluescouse which within a year has had over 300000 hits. Hes a young lad from Wales called Ed Hollis who it seems is a total gambling addict and it tells of his incredible roller coaster ride he has been on over the last few years. It seems he has totally no value for money now and is like a poker Heroin addict unable to stop playing and control his bankroll within a safe level with a serious danger now of causing so much harm not only to himself but I would guess to his close family as well.To maybe understand this situation in more detail read this item from a writer on Gutshot called LuckyJim who has followed the roller coaster ride. Some of the forum stuff on Gutshot and the Hendon Mob site give more in depth details as to daily activities of the guy and the following he has. Theres also alot of example hands and pots shown as well.
http://gutshot.com/articles/view.php
http://www.poker-king.com/poker-king-articles.php?article=363

If this post gets through to only one potential addict and helps them then it will have done its job.

I remember seeing groups of young players in St Kitts and at Vegas who you could see were attempting to "live the dream" yet concerned me as to their attitudes and total disrespect for other values that successful players need to achieve their goals.

P.S. 2nd HAND FRUIT MACHINE WITH TOKENS FOR SALE-BEST OFFER. OR FREE TO POTENTIAL ADDICT.