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Online Poker Addiction: The Dark Side

There was an article I recently read where scientists did a study on poker players and cocaine abusers. An MRI revealed that the brain of a crack head and a gambler look very similar during play or getting high. I’m just waiting for the government to come out with an ad slogan that says, “This is your brain, this is your brain on online poker.”

Poker can be extremely addictive when not gambling responsibly and one of the reasons it’s banned in so many countries and states in the USA. Poker can give you similar feelings as that of being on drugs or pills. Look at the characteristics of most poker players and you can similarly compare them to cocaine addicts. Their appearance tends to be underweight, jittery, incapability of thinking of other things besides their addiction, twitches, and many other side effects.

Not everyone is prone to these problems because gambling problems don’t show their ugly heads in everyone but it can wreck some people’s lives. Online poker addictions are becoming more prevalent in today’s society of the poker boomers.

The Side Effects of Online Poker Addictions

Some of the side effects I’ve personally gone through with online poker addiction are the inability to eat and constant uneasiness. It seems that poker can cause really bad stress in your life and make you lose your appetite. It’s like this weird trance you can go in where all you think about is poker.

The thought of doing something constructive with you day just makes things worse and you end up playing even more poker. It gets so bad sometimes that you’re so deep into playing that the only thing you could possibly even think about is playing some more.

Having a full meaningful conversation with someone after or right before a poker session is inconceivable. You might as well forget trying to ever talk to an online poker player while during a session. You could be talking directly to them and they probably don’t even know you exist. It’s not that they don’t care its just that they’re addicted.

Where Did the Time Go?

Let me ask you this. Have you ever noticed that time just disappears when you play poker? You can sit down at a table and not ever realize or care that you spent 12 hours playing poker. In fact you could probably go another 12 hours if you didn’t have to go to work or your body didn’t shut down on you. I have never in my life found one thing that makes time go by faster.

Poker players really do live in a whole different world. They see the world different than others. Even when they’re not playing poker they’re definitely thinking about it. Numbers run through their minds even while they sleep. Past beats haunt them as they wonder what they could have done differently.

One thing that poker players are cursed with is they remember all the bad hands as opposed to the good ones. How many times have you replayed a good winning hand? Probably not as many times as you’ve rewound those numerous bad beats in your head. It’s a cycle, a drug, and an addiction that can only be fueled by bigger wins and bigger losses.

The Hangovers of Online Poker

The aftermath of a long poker night can feel worse than a real drunken hangover. Staying up until 3am playing online poker will take its toll and can make you really sick. That combined with slouching over, not eating, and not stretching will cause you to become a real ugly figure. If you are a losing online poker player and an addict I would consider going to counseling. It’s not that you can’t cure it on your own but you might need faster help so that you don’t lose all your money and hurt your family.

Internet poker has got a lot better in helping players out with their addiction. They place automatic holds on player accounts who deposit too quickly. There are deposit maximums you can set to stop you from losing too much in a given week. I would even suggest contacting the poker rooms and having them ban you from their site to keep you from playing. Call or email all the sites you have accounts with and put an end to it. You can even call your bank to not let them accept any more transactions from poker sites. Now this is an extreme measure but is advisable for the addicted losing player who can’t stop. Cut off the source and over time the urge will disappear.

Curing the Addiction

They’ve got a lot of gamblers anonymous sites online but I personally believe that the only way to cure something is by doing it yourself. There has got to be balance in your life or you will go crazy. Try to put your life back in perspective. Bring yourself to realize what you used to be like and what life was like. Take a good look at yourself.

If you’re an addict you’re probably not looking too good in the mirror. First your body goes and then your mental state goes. Think to yourself, do you really want to be one of those people that don’t care about themselves and look like they just woke up in a garbage can?

Quitting poker can leave an empty feeling inside. Don’t worry it’s only temporary. I can remember speeding home just to play online poker. Being away from the table for more than 5 hours was just brutal and I craved it. You have just got to resist the urge and it will eventually go away. In about a week of not playing you will feel so much better. This is what will keep you off it. This new found joy of being free from it will give you a great sense of joy.

Try finding something else that takes away from the urge to play. Go golfing, or find a new sport to get into. Be competitive at it too. My poker addiction is the main reason this website exists. It keeps my mind off playing and let’s me be competitive with other poker sites at the same time. The reason poker is so addicting to you is you’re a competitive person and love winning. Challenge yourself to new and better things.

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I hope you find a way to stop your addiction before it hurts you or your family. If you are a new poker player and have previous experiences with addiction I do not recommend playing poker or gambling online.

The 2021 partypoker MILLIONS Online $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew a field of 1,084 entries to surpass the tournament’s $5 million guarantee and a $5,420,000 final prize pool that was paid out among the top 160 finishers. In the end the largest share was awarded to Endrit Geci, who took home $774,838 as the champion. This was the largest career score for the Manchester, UK resident, beating out the $223,978 he earned as the runner-up in a 2020 World Series of Poker Online $1,000 buy-in event.

Geci overcame a stacked final table on his way to the title, outlasting the likes of 2020 WSOP Online $25,000 high roller champion Christian Rudolph (6th – $146,300), Polish tournament star Dzmitry Urbanovich (4th – $276,128), and high-roller regular and bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress (3rd – $422,422).

The final day began with nine players remaining and Geci in the lead with 72 big blinds. The eliminations came fast and furious early on, with Jonathan Proudfoot being the first to fall. He lost. preflop race with AQ against the pocket tens of Hermogenes Gelonezi to finish ninth for $72,260.

Martin Brinkmann’s run in this event came to an end when his QJ clashed with the AA of Geci. The AK4 flop gave Brinkmann a royal flush draw while improving Geci to top set, but the K on the turn meant that Brinkmann would need to hit the 10 on the river in order to stay alive. The 6 on the end was no help and Brinkmann settled for $91,542 as the eighth-place finisher.

Richard Mullen began the final day as the shortest stack with just 11 big blinds. He managed to outlast two opponents, but ultimately hit the rail when his QJ failed to outrun the A9 of Christian Rudolph. Mullen earned $115,425 for his seventh-place showing.

Despite having just busted Mullen, Rudolph was the next to be eliminated. He ran AK into the pocket tens of Geci, who made a set on the river to lock up the pot. Rudolph cashed for $146,300 while Geci extended his chip lead heading into five-handed action.

Daniel Dvoress earned his first knockout of the day when he picked up pocket eights facing a three-bet shove from short stack Hermogenes Gelonezi. Dvoress called and found him up against a smaller pair in pocket sevens. Dvoress flopped a set and held from there to send Gelonezi home in fifth place ($189,320).

Dvoress overtook the lead during four-handed action, only to have Geci regain the advantage. Dvoress then turned the tables yet again by busting Dzmitry Urbanovich in fourth place. The Polish all-time tournament earnings leader got all-in with AQ against Dvoress’ pocket queens and has unable to come from behind. Urbanovich earned $276,128 for his latest deep run.

The two largest stacks ended up playing a massive pot during three-handed action, with Geci four-bet shoving 88 and receiving a call from Dvoress’ AK. It was a classic preflop race for just shy of 60 percent of the chips in play. The board ran out Q4224 and Geci’s superior two pair took down the massive pot. Dvoress was eliminated not long after when his pocket tens failed to hold up against the Q10 of Francisco Correia, who turned a queen-high straight to send Dvoress to the virtual rail in third place ($422,422).

With that Geci took 616,020,780 into heads0up play against Correia’s 467,087,462. Correia managed to battle his way into the lead, at which point the two struck a deal.
Correia locked up $731,960 while geci secured $724,838, with the two players setting aside the title and an additional $50,000 from the remaining prize pool to play for.

Geci was able to regain the advantage not long after the deal was struck. By the time the final hand was dealt, Correia was down to around just 12 big blinds. Geci limped in from the button with AK and Correia checked the 102. The flop came down A63 and both players checked. The 10 on the turn saw Correia check again and Geci bet 10,000,000. Correia called and the K completed the board. Correia checked a third time and Geci moved all-in. Correia made the call with his pair of tens, only to find that he was up against top two pair. Correia earned the $731,960 he negotiated in the deal, while Geci took home $774,838 as the champion.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

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Geci photo credit: René Velli / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.

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