Weakness or an addiction

Is gambling it a weakness or an addiction?

Gambling isn't either of those things by itself.

Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer is a pro sports gambler who supported his family that way.

Many people make a living or side money playing poker.

Other break even or lose money but have a great time playing in home games or Vegas trips.

While there are definitely people who have gambling addictions and should get help for it, for many or most who gamble, it's neither a weakness nor an addiction.

Addiction is all that is practiced and ends up disrupting the other actions of your daily life. Addiction weakness is when you think of nothing but what you do and have been messing up the areas of your family life. Choose to go to real places to give you new insights into actions in your life.+_+

Gambling, in my opinion, is still addictive. Unfortunately, I have no evidence. This is an intuitive look at these things.

Gambling is supposed to be a recreational activity for which people are expected to pay, meaning to lose. Ironically it's the times people win that lead to addiction.
While gambling per se is not necessarily bad, there are better recreational activities that are based on the same type of variable ratio reward (I personally prefer fishing and hunting).

Hi.
Obviously, this is an individual question. I think it depends on you first and foremost. For me personally, poker is a hobby that always brings me pleasure and sometimes money.
Good luck.

Could be both. Depending on several factors.

I think that the rush, the high, the excitement of poker can lead to addiction.

The potential money that can be won can entice some into a addiction as well.

Do you spend too much time playing to the point it is detrimental to your physical/mental/spiritual health?

Does playing poker cause you financial strain?

In the end, poker is as egoic a game as they come. Well. Most, if not all competition tends to be egoic. It's a bunch of people competing for money. It doesn't get more egoic than that. Usually, egoic things aren't good for your overall health. So, the less you do them, usually, the better for your overall wellbeing.

In my opinion, poker can be both an addiction and a weakness because I've seen it take over me in the past. I know I was addicted to poker at some point, and addictions are usually weaknesses so they go hand in hand.

Keep in mind that there is a very important difference in playing live poker and clicking every few seconds during online poker. One of them is more impersonal, the other is more social and healthier in a way. If one were to choose between live and online poker, I'd say live is the healthier choice because of how a computer screen can damage your eyes, clicking excessively and typing excessively can give you carpal tunnel, arthritis, among other things. At least live you get to look at actual people instead of a screen name. There's more life and fun to the game live in my opinion. Online is more robotic.

Collin Moshman said:

Gambling isn't either of those things by itself.

Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer is a pro sports gambler who supported his family that way.

Many people make a living or side money playing poker.

Other break even or lose money but have a great time playing in home games or Vegas trips.

While there are definitely people who have gambling addictions and should get help for it, for many or most who gamble, it's neither a weakness nor an addiction.

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Excellent response and perspective.

With work, we can get what we set out for in poker. With mediocre effort, we can have fun along the way and hopefully broke even. With bad tendencies, as with almost anything else, we can frustrate ourselves, develop a problem and make excuses.

rayrc said:

Everywhere, and this forum is no exception, people always say that gambling for fun, that it is a hobby, that it is no addiction and may be true in many cases. Yes, it is very fun when you can control it, but if not, it becomes a serious problem, ludopathy. In my case I thought that, that I could control it, I tried to pay my family's expenses before playing and just playing the money that was "left over", I never really had any money left over, suddenly I am so in debt that I cannot with the expenses from home, I owe to banks, stores, loan houses. The worst bad beat of my life. It's like a drug, when I made money I only thought about using it in the next game. Anyway, I don't think I'm the only one, there must be millions around the world, but people keep saying it's just a hobby, I hope that's the case...

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Hey man. You can surpass any struggle you've been through or are in. I've suffered from financial struggles my whole life. We can do it man. We can figure it out and live a happy life which is what's important. Being happy is the most important. Find what you love, and find a way to make money with it so you can pay off those loans. Take care of your health first. A healthy you can take care of the people that you will meet in life. Poker isn't for everyone. It might've been in your past but it doesn't need to be in your future.

satcitananda said:

Hey man. You can surpass any struggle you've been through or are in. I've suffered from financial struggles my whole life. We can do it man. We can figure it out and live a happy life which is what's important. Being happy is the most important. Find what you love, and find a way to make money with it so you can pay off those loans. Take care of your health first. A healthy you can take care of the people that you will meet in life. Poker isn't for everyone. It might've been in your past but it doesn't need to be in your future.

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Another quality and insightful response. Get the most happiness and satisfaction out of your situation while taking care of your responsibilities. If poker is compatible with that, cheers. If not, you had a good run.

when gambling consumes your money, family and your life that is an addiction but every addiction makes you a weak person since it is a disease, when you have this type of problems you need professional help, that is why it is so important to keep control over our money and the time we spend gambling in casinos or sports bets

This is a pleasant hope and hope for a happy future. There are many examples when ordinary people become rich, why do not we become richer:five:

Of course, poker is a weakness and dependence, it is dangerous, because this type of activity is directly related to money that can be won or lost.

for me poker is neither weakness nor addiction is a way to make money to help with my commitments

rayrc said:

Everywhere, and this forum is no exception, people always say that gambling for fun, that it is a hobby, that it is no addiction and may be true in many cases. Yes, it is very fun when you can control it, but if not, it becomes a serious problem, ludopathy. In my case I thought that, that I could control it, I tried to pay my family's expenses before playing and just playing the money that was "left over", I never really had any money left over, suddenly I am so in debt that I cannot with the expenses from home, I owe to banks, stores, loan houses. The worst bad beat of my life. It's like a drug, when I made money I only thought about using it in the next game. Anyway, I don't think I'm the only one, there must be millions around the world, but people keep saying it's just a hobby, I hope that's the case...

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You are very right about this ludopathy term. I'd never heard of this before you mentioned it. I recommend other poker players in this forum to search ludopathy and read the information provided by various websites. Some of you might have or had ludopathy. Or suffer from some of the symptoms. I know I can relate to some of the symptoms of it.

Gambling is fun for emotionally stable and financially independent people. For me personally, this is one of the options for a good time.

Gambling is addiction, as is alcohol, drugs and smoking. you can lose everything overnight if the level of the problem is very high. If you feel, I recommend finding help or a specialist consultation

satcitananda said:

You are very right about this ludopathy term. I'd never heard of this before you mentioned it. I recommend other poker players in this forum to search ludopathy and read the information provided by various websites. Some of you might have or had ludopathy. Or suffer from some of the symptoms. I know I can relate to some of the symptoms of it.

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In fact, gambling is a disease, such as alcoholism or drug dependence. It is gambling addiction, and should be treated as such.

It is a difficult question to be answered by those around the player. They see best how the player behaves and could give a correct answer. If we answer, we who play, we may not be objective.

Gambling can be a way of life or good fun. If you lose control becomes addiction, disease ...

I would say that for some, or maybe for most players, gambling is an addiction, but at some points you can quit playing and you will not have an addiction and switch to something else, I used to play a lot of slot machines and was very addicted then at some point I switched to poker and now I spend time in the game for fun and if the game is very good at winning, then I win money, so now poker is like a hobby in my free time!

I find it highly addictive but I do seem prone to this in other areas. All the clicking, the sounds draw me in. I've heard its a lot to do with dopamine, so you are getting a brain reward just for playing the game.

Saying that If I was losing a lot of money or losing money I can't afford to, I'd stop playing and choose one of my many other addictions instead!

Addiction is being a slave to impulse. Like some hidden power is drawing you towards it as if you have no free will. Being a slave to impulse is the beginning of becoming a pawn of the devil!

There are many games of chance.And everyone perceives gambling in their own way.The very word EXCITEMENT speaks of dependence.Unambiguously -- dependence.

Zvezda kz said:

Gambling, in my opinion, is still addictive. Unfortunately, I have no evidence. This is an intuitive look at these things.

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Have you ever heard of anybody getting the shakes because of missing gambling? Calling gambling an addiction is not fair to people with real addictions.