I wonder the same thing all the time...I guess only time will tell.

It would be easier to quit if I kept losing. Winning these small amounts keeps the flicker of hope alive that someday those amounts will be significant enough to make a difference.

What is it about poker that makes time fly? I sat through 2 fucking hours of American Idol with Mrs. Blood last night and it seemed like a damn eternity.

Since when did family time include Ryan Seacrest????

I had a special glow in the dark driver for night games...

Yes, I do know what you mean and have been considering this topic for a future post. I will be giving this some thought and will post in the next few days. I believe this is a common phenomenon and I have some ideas as to what's happening.....

Man, I'm going through the same thing.

"Poker isn't going to change your life." - Mrs. Big

Probably right (Damn, I hate to admit THAT!), but neither is the boob tube. She's right about spending time with the kids, though. I've been pretty good about not playing when they're home, lately.

BSN

BSN

I hate that hobbies inevitably get labeled an addiction. My dad spent hours drawing and oil-painting when he got home from the grocery store if he wasn't too tired. My mom would, and does, spend hours working on/at the church. I spend hours and days working on my wife's hobby internet radio station, and it's not even MY hobby.

Poker is a solitary hobby, but then so is painting. In each of them, you have to decide if it's worth doing well and whether the time spent doing it well is worth spending. But it doesn't make it an addiction, just because you enjoy it.

Ooo, listen to me - Oprah, Jr.

It's easier to have an addicition when you are a college kid without a lot of responsibilities, maybe I'll get it out of my system before I get weighed down, maybe not. . .it definitely is an addiction though.

excellent post. i've battled this over the years...quite frankly it (poker) seemed much more bizarre of a hobby/pursuit when it was just me toiling along, pre moneymaker/wpt. hell, it was kinda lonely back then, come to think of it.

but now everyone and their brother is into poker. it's insane. i literally have to pinch myself to make sure i'm not dreaming. not to mention this big ol blogger community we have going. never in a million years did i expect this....

so i'm just along for the ride, addiction or no. i'd consider my poker habit to be more of a journey than anything else.

end. rambling.

It's not an addiction, it's called living. Of course, most of us wish we could make a living doing it, but then it would be a job. Would it still be fun?

So, it's a "hobby" we all enjoy. That's it.

The great part about poker is that it can take a lifetime to get tired of it.

From the Oxford American:

Addicted: 2. devoted to something as a hobby or interest.

Hobby: An occupation that a person does for pleasure, not as his main business.

Compulsive: 2. An irresistible urge.

Maybe we should blame Edison, or the guy that invented the On/Off switch.

So now I'm addicted to a hobby, with a compulsive urge to out fox the other guy.

Isssh.

I think we all have things in our lives we want to escape. Either work stresses, or marriage issues, or being second best to Otis, or whatever. Sitting down at a Poker table (at least for me) is the ultimate in total concentration. I focus on what cards do I have, what did that guy do last time, what are my odds to make that, how can I get my odds right for the next street. The cards are easy. They can be cruel and stressful sometimes but there is always an answer to them. Life is not always that simple.

Well, at least G-Rob isn't addicted to crack anymore.

Eh, I've got the same sort of personality -- for some reason, I prefer to think of it as "obsessive", rather than "addictive". Shades of grey, I suppose.

I've got bags of juggling equipment, racks of recording equipment, two entire storage bins full of rock climbing gear. Enough instruments to form a small band -- or perhaps a chamber orchestra -- sit quietly in my coat closet. I've got four or five PCs worth of spare parts in the garage. The nice road bike I bought to do a bunch of triathlons now occupies the back wall of the garage; my expensive speed-wetsuit is still hanging in the guest bedroom shower, where I hung it after my last race two years ago. I could go on, but you get the idea.

I've been playing poker for five years or so, off and on, but only "regularly" (online -- haven't been in a casino in months, maybe a year) since August or so. Since I've been playing "for real" (whatever that means, given that I graduated from "microlimit" to "small stakes" in November-ish), I've turned my initial $20 buyin into enough to pay for a couple of the toys sitting in the garage. This is the one activity that I've tunnel-vision honed in on that hasn't regularly cost me money; which is especially well-timed since my daughter was born a little over a year ago and the discretionary budget is quite a bit smaller, to say the least.

Whatever it's labelled, it's still definitely a hobby for me. None of these activities -- poker included -- could earn me a livable salary, and that's what I use to differentiate "hobby" from anything else.

Addiction? Eh, probably not. Obsession? Sure. Hobby? Most definitely. Lifelong passion...?

Well, I'll know in about twenty years.

In the meantime, there's hope: I started using my recording equipment pretty seriously about fifteen years ago, and the last event I taped was this past autumn. It's not *all* just sitting around gathering dust.

Nerve=hit.

I think "hobby" crosses over to an actual serious pursuit the minute poker turns from a fun night out or some gambling thrill seeking, to a game where you see "ah-HA! there's skill to this and I want to learn to play better!" But - people can be addicted to both hobbies AND serious pursuits (the workaholics of the world - quite addicted to the serious pursuit of a career). I wouldn't say I'm addicted to poker... infatuated, maybe. :)

I wouldn't say addicted is the right word either. Some nights I get home from work and "have" to play right away. Other nights I just don't feel like playing. A few days ago I realized I've been playing horribly, so I've taken some time off to study a few books.

My Mom is a smoker. She's addicted so cigarettes. She can't go several days without one. That's the difference I think. I can go several days without poker. I've done it many times since I started playing over a year ago and I know I can step away at any time.

I don't always want to step away, but I can. If I was addicted, I'd "need" to play. I've never felt like I needed to play poker...I've just wanted to really bad!

IMHO:

I think it's a fun hobby until you are playing poker instead of spending time you normally would with your wife/kids. Then it's an addiction. Fine line. If your family life suffers = addiction. In my humble opinion this will vary by family. Some require more attention than others. Long and short of it is that if poker is now using some of the time you used to spend with family, then I would say WHOOT WHOOT addiction. Take a step back and examine if it's worth it.

I guess it all comes down to what is poker replacing. Is poker time replacing the time you used to play frolf and go for drinks with the boys? fine. Are you playing poker instead of going to watch your kid play their sport(s) of choice? Hmmm, might be time to re-examine your priorities.

:me gets down from soapbox.

Back in '86 I was yanking off eleven times a day, so this poker thingy doesn't really seem so bad.

Addiction is a strong word that we overuse as a culture; we're too convinced by talking heads on television that everything is pathological. Myself, I consider poker a marginally profitable hobby that, if I continue to apply myself to it, could become more rewarding over time. The game itself is incredibly rewarding, of course, but I've found in myself a willingness to put in the work to improve my skills and that's something I haven't come across in many other parts of my life. So many other things I ought to enjoy leave me feeling empty - poker doesn't. I'm not going to argue with that.

Maybe we can be treated for this, because addiction is a disease. Do you think I can go on medical disability to deal with my disease of poker addiction?

On a serious note, lets go play some disc golf!!! I swear to god, poker is too sedentary to do as much of it as we all do. I've gained 20 pounds since we stopped going disc golfing, and started sitting in front of a computer constantly. NOT JOKING, lets go this weekend.

BTW, speaking of addictions . . . well, I just might have become addicted to reading all these damned blogs constantly. I blame you guys.

I know exactly where you're coming from G-Rob. My comments were way too long for here, so they're in my latest post on my site. It's a delicate balance, but one that needs to be found.

I would like to take some time to comment on this addicted to poker thing, but it took me all day to hustle up a buy in and I am a little busy with 6 games on the screen.

Next time youre in town CJ, Lets schedule a Frolf Tourney the day after our Poker tourney, and we'll see who kicks whos ass.

Yes, I was the king of the WYFF league, but I did forget about TeamScottSmith's remarkable abilities as well. My record on the 18 hole course was a 49. I also had 5 aces. My average score was right around a 55. I kicked G-Rob's a$$ on a regular basis!

But I'm more addicted to poker... perhaps because its easier? I still have the dozens of discs in my home, but haven't pulled them out in awhile.

Can G-Rob beat anyone in anything CJ? heh.

Funny Daddy

Yes, G-Rob kicked my a$$ on the basketball court. Of course, that was pre-knee issues. I think I could take him now!

My record was also a 49 our favorite course, I still play on occasion (Like once every 4 months or so). I'm surprised to say, I'm still playing around a 52 average.

That said, 5 aces ??? . . . this is a poker site.

"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness" - Dave Barry

Call it what you will, but to me, "addiction" (and its negative connotation) is a state where your hobby or interests cross over into interfering with your responsibilities, with your ability to make correct decisions regarding family, work, or other.

God knows I've been there.

This poker jones has certainly been a catalyst to some frank discussions between my wife and I. I think we've come to an understanding where she understands the benefits of this pursuit. Likewise, I've made inroads toward not letting my quest overwhelm me.

It's a daily battle.

Before playing poker I played a lot of Civ3 and other computer games. Now I don't. At all.

At $40-70 a pop, games aren't cheap. A lot of people who play games buy several of these in a year, and I'm still playing poker with other people's money.

I also don't watch any TV, and haven't in years, really.

So if the average American watches 3 hours of TV and I'm spending those same hours making very small gains in my bankroll, I can't see why my way of passing the time is any worse than others.

Then again, I should probably get up off my butt and spend more time outside in the sun.

Get Beth to play. And isn't Mormung about the age when she could learn?

I used to play a MMORPG called Dark Age of Camelot and 4-5 hours a day right when I got home, I started to play. I would play all weekend neglected my friends and family. I still don't know if my poker addiction is a step up or a step back but... it is more controlable after seeing the crumbling effect that gaming had on my most precious relationships (wife, son, family, and friends).

Once you sit back and look at your "addiction" and see that you CAN have fun while maintaining a healthy relationship with those around you. At that point you won't have to worry about the poker chips gathering dust beneath the nail and continue to enjoy this "sport" we play.

Good luck to you G-Rob, hope you find that happy medium as I did.

Funny. People still watch T.V. for hours upon hours and tell me that poker is a bad investment to make. I'm like, who the hell are you? Talk about bad investments. As for the family thing...you should build a bankroll in one account and take the family on a nice trip with it and show them what poker as afforded them.

Sounds like my addiction to online poker...

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