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If you want to gain self control, you can work at that in other activities than poker (like guitar). You have an entire thread of people advising you to quit and you still end your post with the same question. Listen to yourself. It's classic denial. Quitting poker should actually take a lot of self control for you so it'd be a great way to achieve the goal.

self awareness arises to self control, you are simply not there yet.. dude you are still young, nobody expects you to master this yet.. im just saying... stay in touch with it.. and quit poker for all sake, but stay in touch with yourself

"Here is where I failed bad. I hurt myself so bad, in a psychological way, that I can't believe it yet. Yes, some of my actions resemble the gambler disease, but I think it's because I entered a dimension in which I have no control and no knowledge yet."

everybody is trying to be your mother here, where's your father?

i dont wanna fight everybodys thoughts in here anymore.. all i can say is that i been there where you are, i lost everything and found myself in nearly the same spot.. i started writing about it, i got in touch with myself.. i still find myself in situations i cannot handle, but i am working them out. i wish i could tell you that you have to do this or that.. i guess you just have to experience everything and be focused on everything yourself, which is kind of the hardest job i ever had to do.. but it is totally worth it to be able to not just live with how you are at the moment, but find adjustments to how it needs to be to succeed in a specific field.

it is risky, destructive and everything people pointed out to you... either it kills you or you start growing..

so my voice is going to fade to grey now... stick to what others said, i kind of am the devil in this one

dont hate!

btw i find it interesting that everybody is one the same train here while im alone with my opinion.

I didn't actually said I will try to find self control in poker :-). I said it could improve not only my poker, but other things in life.

I also have a new one. Why did I quit all hobbies like guitar, piano, aquarium ..., others, ... and maybe poker? There must be an explanation.

Here is what I think now: nothing of the above satisfied me. And probably nothing will.

Here I stop. Thanks for everything!

hey, wish you the best

My opinion is maybe you are super unhappy in life so you take up all these hobbies because you think it will be the one to give you what you are laking whatever it may be general happiness wealth fame you name it.....

Some spectacularly bad thinking on the part of duffte in this thread, but fortunately others have called his arguments on the carpet effectively.

On the broader topic this thread touches on, we frequently see people who struggle with discipline and tilt issues of all kinds in the forums. In many of these cases, people are angry, frustrated, depressed, or some combination of the above. What I have always failed to understand is why people put themselves through these sorts of things chasing down some level of mastery over a game that means so very little in context of actual living.

Of course, for professionals and semi-professionals, my point is moot, because they often need to work through these issues to further their chosen career or continue to put food on their tables. But, for those who don't rely on poker for income, why do folks torture themselves again and again? I'm not talking about those who are simply venting about a bad session/week/downswing. I am more focused on those who have stories like the OP. We've all probably read a good handful of these sorts of threads.

Bottom line -- I just don't know why people put themselves through unpleasantness over something that's really very inconsequential.

I think the best thing to take for this is that poker has made you aware of some things that you'd like to improve on. I'd suggest not giving up on this pursuit of self improvement but just to direct your focus and energy to some other hobby.

If you keep getting the same patterns reappearing and you find yourself unhappy about it maybe seeing a good psychologist might help you out.

Best of luck in your future endeavors

Bottom line -- I just don't know why people put themselves through unpleasantness over something that's really very inconsequential.

I don't think the following explaination is fact, but I have read it more than once; it is said that compulsive gamblers actually subconsciously want to lose to punish themselves.

I think a lot of people dream of leaving their shitty job and sitting around in their underpants with a bong collecting checks from online poker

I think a lot of people dream of leaving their shitty job and sitting around in their underpants with a bong collecting checks from online poker

Thats my reality though.. awkward but

wire transfers <3

Some spectacularly bad thinking on the part of duffte in this thread, but fortunately others have called his arguments on the carpet effectively.

Bottom line -- I just don't know why people put themselves through unpleasantness over something that's really very inconsequential.

i think it is very very very very arrogant to not want to work out issues like that. its uncomplicated to be ignorant isnt it? some people are just not as stubborn, thinking that their way to appraoch things is naturally (godlike), some people will sort out the occuring problems and not ignore them. and you call that spectacularly bad thinking. congratulations.

the only reason i reply here is to defend my own approach to this problem (just like everybody else did/does). and my thoughts are not spectacuarly bad, they are more in an examplary manner than others. i felt like i had to raise my voice. it was me taking all the heat in here, still not one argument was brought up against my way of approaching all those issues. only things named were close to insults..

i dont accept people saying you should give up on things, just because you have issues dealing with them. everybody in here thinks they drive people to their goods and everybody has a different approach to that. why am i being hated for mine? everybody said, if this was sports, guitar or something.. great fight it. and i was not saying anything different. i never said he should play poker, i said _working out things_ has to be the focus in this discussion and NOT quitting.

i wanted to lead the discussion in the direction where we could talk about how to work out those issues, you? no dont do it.. its stressfull and all that. have a beer, thats more uncomplicated.
we could have talked about great things, but. but you.

thank you for the discussion. i was able to define myself in here, did you? this discussion was not about finding the solution, but a, but yours. and i will continue working, what will you do.

I'm going to assume you aren't a native English speaker, because your grammar and syntax makes it pretty hard to understand you. I'll give it a try.

I don't think anyone has told him that giving up as a standard option to any hardship or obstacle is the thing to do. But, if anyone imagines that EVERY activity is a net-neutral with respect to quitting or persevering, they're fooling themselves. Gambling, for people who have predilections for compulsive behavior, is NOT a net-neutral activity. It is not like playing guitar or sports. It is an activity that can, and does, ruin the lives of many. And, since OP is not a professional, it's an activity that is potentially injurious to him and provides no apparent positive benefit to him by his own account. Why on earth should anyone advise him to not "be a quitter" when evaluating his situation?

I agree with you that persevering and working through problems is important. But, people who struggle with compulsive gambling behaviors, or just those who are trying to master poker but only end up being driven crazy or made miserable, should not be using poker to work out their problems. There are many, many other worthwhile areas of life where they can work on their discipline in a positive, constructive way.

Bottom line -- your advice is the same as someone telling a problem drinker that they don't need to quit drinking, but rather just find a way to work through their issues and learn to drink in moderation. That, as any therapist or addiction specialist will tell you, is spectacularly stupid thinking.

@ duffte- I get the feeling that you don't believe in the concept of addiction outside of the physical part relating to hard drugs.

Addiction is a complex process going way beyond physical withdrawal- dealing with this process in no way involves learning moderation.

It certainly is not weak or ignorant to say "I cannot drink, do drugs, or gamble at all because I can't control it".

who said OP was a gambling addict?

Here is where I failed bad. I hurt myself so bad, in a psychological way, that I can't believe it yet. Yes, some of my actions resemble the gambler disease, but I think it's because I entered a dimension in which I have no control and no knowledge yet.

this is the cause of tilt. so everybody tilting is a gambling addict in your understanding.
mental game of poker, tommy angelos stuff on here.. is treatment for gambling addicts?

i would not treat a drug addict nor a gambling addict the way you are implying i would.
i just dont see OP as a gambling addict. i think what he is suffering from is tilt. and tilt per definition is what?


who said OP was a gambling addict?

Maybe he isn't (yet) but he seems high risk for it.