[driden00]

Hey All,

So I am a 21 year old college student and I have been in quite a bad spot for a long time. I am looking here for help and advice on how I can get this gambling monkey off my back. First, I’ll tell you a little about myself and my past.

When I was younger, I was aware of gambling, but it never really interested me. I knew how to play poker and I knew that I could beat just about any of my friends on any given day but I was much more happy to go do anything else. As I got into high school, gambling never really crossed my mind either. I live in a small town and there is only one casino in town so about every few months, me and some buddies would go to the casino and take $50 and pass some time. We didn’t care to lose the money, we were just there to have a good time and maybe see some people we knew. As high school came to an end, most of my buddies were applying to colleges hundreds of miles away and I was going to be attending the college right next to my hometown. So has the summer came and past, I had no one. I went from being the class favorite and having almost too many friends to my dog being my best friend. This was very embarrassing for me. Every one of my buddies were going to chase their dream. Whether it was playing baseball on a scholarship or going to join a fraternity, they seemed really happy about their future situation. Then there was me. Hometown kid staying around and going to college and not having the slightest clue what he wants to do with his life. So when school started back, I got back in the groove of doing homework and studying. A few weeks went by and then before too long I’m looking at Facebook and Instagram seeing pictures of my buddies having the time of their life. That’s when I decided I hated social media. I felt so embarrassed that I was furious at them for having a good time. I thought and thought, man, I want my life to be so much better than theirs. How can I do that when I don’t have any friends? I think you can see where this is going. I wanted money. I wanted adrenaline. I wanted a good time. I was starving for all of these things. Money was going to be my best friend.

It started out just being playing $0.10-0.25 poker online. I would buy in for $25 and I remember the first time I did it. I was up over $100 and I felt like I was on top of the world. I believe I even cashed out and pocketed a profit. I was amazed. I just laid in bed and I won more money in one hour than I do at a shift at my job. This is awesome. That’s what I thought anyways.

I did this for probably a few months, winning and losing pretty evenly. Then it just became stale to me. Why win $50 when I can win up to $500? I was confident in my skills. I had enough money saved up that I could risk it. I was so eager to test the higher stakes water. That’s when the sleepless nights began. Countless number of nights I would deposit hundreds of dollars and within a matter of hours my account would be saying it was low on funds. That pissed me off. I didn’t like losing. I’ve always been a very competitive person. It runs in the family. So what is the worst thing a poker player can do? Go on tilt. Night after night, I would just be chasing my money back, telling myself “Once you get even, you’re done”. Well, even never came. I even spend my fair share of money on sports gambling. Month after month, I just saw my bank account declining. That’s when the depression set in. Now I want you to know, I have always had one of the hardest work ethics that I know. During all of this gambling, I was a full-time engineering student, managed two jobs, and did umpiring on the side. And one of the saddest things for me during this whole gambling problem has been my work ethic. I had no interest in school, hated my jobs more than anything, and just wanted to spend 23 hours of the day gambling and hopefully fit in an hour of sleep. This has been my life for the last year and a half, and it has been nothing short of long, exhausting, and full of depression.

Now I know this isn’t one of those super depressive stories where I’m homeless and my girlfriend left me because of my gambling problem (Lord hope it doesn’t get there). But if I don’t resolve this problem, I do believe that that situation is not out of the realm of possibility. I guess the moral of the story is I want my life back. I want to be able to have a good time without seeing a pile of chips pushed my way. I just don’t know how to do that. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading.

[G Rec]

Welcome to the forum driden00 and well done on taking a positive step.

While I understand that where you currently are feels like a low place, you can take some positives that you have recognized the problem and are looking to take steps to address it at a relatively early stage/age. You also mentioned that you are have always had one of the hardest work ethics that you know, if you can take some of that work ethic and apply it to doing everything you can to stay gamble free, that will go a long way in helping.

As Dunc mentioned, the new members groups are a great place to start, there Charles can provide you with some great tips, advice and suggestions for next steps. The groups are also generally small allowing you to explain your specific situation, and receive the most relevant information.

[投稿者]

投稿