You do not understand what an addict is. People with a problem can be helped simply by a family member stepping in and stopping the behaviour. An addict is a different story altogether. An addict will lie to his family. The addict will steal from his family. Read my story about the lady. Do you think there was any way for her family to "step in"? Once someone is addicted to gambling or alcohol or drugs the only person who can stop it is the person. There is no way for the family to "step in" and curb the behaviour. You are describing someone who has a problem that has gotten out of hand. I'm talking about people with full blown addictions. Those are the people who lose everything, those are the real addicts you see on HBO TV specials. Those aren't people with problems that you are describing. If you live in a city, go take a walk outside and check out the homeless people. Look hard into them, don't just walk by them. They will give you some bullshit story if you talk to one of them but most of them are their because they are addicts. They used to be regular people with jobs and apartments. That's where they end up. There is no "stepping in" sometimes.
And then there are people who aren't addicts, who are problem gamblers like you describe, who don't have anyone to step in. They aren't even addicts, they just have a problem, but they can't get help for the problem because they don't know to. They are like people who have a traumatic experience and get messed up by it and never go to therapy and live the rest of their life screwed up by it. There was nothing wrong with them before, they could get help and be better, they just never do. They maybe can keep their job but their life is miserable. They never go all the way but they are always broke and scrounging around for money.
I don't think it is fine to teach kids about poker at all. People in the poker world are selfish, egotistical, greedy, money-loving people. Do you think children should be learning values from those kinds of people? I don't think so. I don't think my children should be looking at Antonio Estvandarie or whatever his name or those dirtbags on TV and imitating them and thinking they are role models. Do you think your child is going to learn the value of money looking at all of that money flying around without a care? Do you think he is going to learn the value of hard work gambling like that? Do you think he is going to learn about honesty and trust? Is your kid going to learn how to be responsible and dependable playing poker? How to get a job done, how to plan, how to tell the truth, how to care about other people and be empathetic. How to be a good person, to be nice and selfless? Or is he going to learn other lessons about being greedy. About lying to get what you want. About decieving other people. About being selfish. Will he learn about hard work sitting around just playing cards for money? What exactly is my kid going to learn playing poker again? Because all of those very bad things are REWARDED with money in poker. You think teaching kids poker is good?? Are you out of your mind? You want your kids to be playing poker? What kind of parent or parent-to-be are you?
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Date: 2006-02-28 21:00 (UTC)And then there are people who aren't addicts, who are problem gamblers like you describe, who don't have anyone to step in. They aren't even addicts, they just have a problem, but they can't get help for the problem because they don't know to. They are like people who have a traumatic experience and get messed up by it and never go to therapy and live the rest of their life screwed up by it. There was nothing wrong with them before, they could get help and be better, they just never do. They maybe can keep their job but their life is miserable. They never go all the way but they are always broke and scrounging around for money.
I don't think it is fine to teach kids about poker at all. People in the poker world are selfish, egotistical, greedy, money-loving people. Do you think children should be learning values from those kinds of people? I don't think so. I don't think my children should be looking at Antonio Estvandarie or whatever his name or those dirtbags on TV and imitating them and thinking they are role models. Do you think your child is going to learn the value of money looking at all of that money flying around without a care? Do you think he is going to learn the value of hard work gambling like that? Do you think he is going to learn about honesty and trust? Is your kid going to learn how to be responsible and dependable playing poker? How to get a job done, how to plan, how to tell the truth, how to care about other people and be empathetic. How to be a good person, to be nice and selfless? Or is he going to learn other lessons about being greedy. About lying to get what you want. About decieving other people. About being selfish. Will he learn about hard work sitting around just playing cards for money? What exactly is my kid going to learn playing poker again? Because all of those very bad things are REWARDED with money in poker. You think teaching kids poker is good?? Are you out of your mind? You want your kids to be playing poker? What kind of parent or parent-to-be are you?