Hi,
Have any of you college students experienced or saw someone sitting on their stiff chair while playing poker online?
Well, I think those people should seriously reconsider what they're doing and find another hobby. I'll give you an example of a friend that I personally helped to break out of his poker addiction.
My friend X almost destroyed his life playing online poker. X started his freshmen year at * University on 2005. He applied that that University knowing nobody and was pretty psyched about making new friends. His parents gave him his first credit and debit card to buy books and have fun during the weekends. X never planned on playing poker... Few days have passed and he purchased all his books. He had few hundred dollars left on both his credit and debit cards. As you all know, first few days of college, people mingle in different rooms. Unfortunately, X entered the wrong room... he entered the gambler's room. He met his first friend and watched him play online poker for a good hour. He knew about poker way before he started college and he thought the whole idea of gambling online was neat. X's friend was actually making some profit at the time he was watching him play, thus it forced X to sign up on his first poker account and begin his journey to making thousands of dollars. His dream of making money online was beyond belief... he told me, "dude, im going to make few hundred dollars a day and cashout, and i'll do this everyday... can you imagine the money i'll make?" I first thought it was sweet that he can generate thousands of dollars every week, but I immediately knew that in the long-run he will lose more than what he makes. I ignored him thinking it's his life and went on with mine. X would call me everyday saying how much he made and boast about his bright future with poker. First few days he would make $20 to $25 dollars, and slowly he climbed up into the $50's and $60's. He actually deposited $50 dollars and made it up to $250 dollars within a week. I was proud and jealous but I never had the chance to start my own poker account. He actually cashed out $100 dollars and continued to play online poker. I lost contact with X for about two months and I wanted to suprise him so I went over to his university to hang out for a night. I already knew his dorm hall and the room number so I walked in on him. The room was dark and I saw a monster... that monster was X. He was on his briefs, had a messy hair, and I actually saw his red eyes glowing as he literally put his face on the computer screen. He didn't even bother to look at me and continued on playing poker. He finally responded once he lost all his money. I decided to talk with him for few minutes which ended up being a good hour. He started to blame poker for his low grades in college, MAXed out credit card(he maxed out his card twice within two month period), and debit card which had huge debt on it.
In the end, X had a totalled debt of $6000+ dollars, 1.65GPA, no social life, messy appearance, and finally lost his respect from me. We were good friends and I've always looked up on him for his great appearance, organization, and intelligence. X lost it all... he lost his grants and scholarships. His parents were dissapointed and he ended up transffering to his local community college.
I don't know what other college students would say about X's life, but I recommend to those online poker players... watch out...
-JWY420
