hey guys i normally have not posted to much on 2p2 over the years but i know most of you through the games online over the years. I am gregy20723 on stars and was 43forty on ftp and currently have played on euro sites post black friday from canada. I currently just came off the sickest wsop i could ever imagine and not to drop a brag or anything, i just want to use this time as a platform to discuss my drug addiction during my poker career and offer any advice or answer any questions some of you may have who may be dealing with similar issues in your life. I've been wanting to start this thread for a while now but wanted to gather more clean time before offering advice to people.

A short recap of my drug abuse during my poker career...

I checked myself into rehab august 8th 2007 with my drug of choice being cocaine as well as being a huge pot head. I lost nearly 30 pds in 5 months using blow my freshman year of college. I then stayed clean for 3.5 years which i got SNE on stars each year and considered myself one of the hardest working grinders on the internet. Poker gave me a chance to get away from the stress of being an addict and kept my mind busy. Gambling is a stimulant and it was an amazing replacement for using cocaine. After my first year clean i started drinking socially, at most twice a month which then over the next 2.5 years progressed into about once a week. Alcohol may be the only drug in the world i don't love and i was able to control my use of it. However, one night in feb last year i relapsed under the influence of alcohol with cocaine. I then started smoking weed again which led to me taking 20mg or more of adderoll every single day of the WSOP in 2011. After last summer i moved to canada and tried to stop everything on my own only to fail miserably and eventually progress my addiction even further into roxy's. If you are unfamiliar with roxy's they are a sibling of oxy's and are basically synthetic heroine. My usage quickly went from 15mg a day to 150mg within a couple weeks. I eventually got clean again on dec 10th 2011 thanks to two of my best friends anthony gregg and christian harder and i have 7.5 months clean to date. I don't drink and understand that i can't ever trust myself with any drug ever. Im even scared to take nyquil when I'm sick.

Enough about my story, if there are any questions regarding my past I'm open to answer them. I really want this thread to be a eye opener for anyone who thinks they may have a drug problem or thinks they could be developing one. This is open to anyone who wants to discuss any issues regarding drug use even if its a family member or close friend. Its very easy in our scene to get caught up in drugs when you work your own hours, have extra income, and live a projected "baller" lifestyle.

Although I'm not very religious Im gonna end this post with the serenity prayer which is said at the end of every narcotics anonymous meeting.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

what process did you undergo the final time to get clean?

Wow, thanks for posting. Congrats on your WSOP success. Definitely seems like you've earned some run good after how much hard work you've put in.

I don't know if you have any specific experience with this, but how would you deal with someone who has a serious drinking problem that you want to help? Would be nice to hear that from someone who has experience with drug addition rather than people who have been sober there entire life and can't really put themselves in others shoes. Thanks.

This is awesome greg, I think this could definitely help a lot of people overcome some of these addictions that have held them back. It was inspiring (and humbling) to witness how hard greg worked this year to dig himself out and get back to the top

you're a boss dude!

Adderall and cocaine are highly utilitarian drugs and I don't fault myself for taking them. They do have some significant downsides, but I think overall they are +EV, especially if you can get them cheaply (prescription).

All those other drugs are pretty much self-destructive garbage, imo. I guess booze can help you get laid in many contexts, but I doubt it's worth it, especially not with a history of abuse.

Nice work man.

Stay clean.

really happy for you/jealous of you (not mutually exclusive). i hope your success in the WSOP this summer facilitate your sobriety rather than the opposite.

afaik, you're the first SNE-type new-school grinder that's made a big name for himself, so i'm really curious how people react to the fact that you've played 2/3m hands of online poker in a year. i've already seen a bunch of posts where guys have said "well i hear greg merson does..." or "greg merson says..."

about the OP: i think that as poker players mature, a lot of them try to optimize quality of life (think: maximizing EV) in terms of health and happiness. i think we're about the same age, and i've heard of a lot of 25/26/27 year olds getting into vegan, juicing vegetables, maximizing gym gains, partaking in philanthropy and/or entrepreneurship, etc. many of them seem to have either abused or heavily used alcohol/drugs in their past before changing their lives. then when they became sober, they realized that it's not just binary (sober vs. not sober), but your options are infinite (phil galfond well shout-out).

do you have any plans to quit cigs? do you ever think you'll be able to drink socially?

i'm also curious about drug/rehab stories, but not sure how to phrase things, so will just wait to see what people come up with/what 2p2 allows.

I had no idea, you always just seemed like a pot head.

Good luck in October.

Have known greg for quite a while and didn't know any of this. Really cool post, and something I'm sure others can relate to. Inspiring to see someone overcome all this and grind it out to a huge success.

thanks for sharing and gl

Thanks for the post, I can't relate but I'm curious as to whether or not you feel a correlation between poker addiction and drug addiction. How so? Given your history of addiction, do you feel addicted to poker or is it something you can be away from for a long time without issue. Thanks.

Forgive my ignorance since I'm not a user of any drugs except caffeine o_0

Is there any particular reason you can't just stick to marijuana? Because from my vantagepoint, that's in a far different category from oxy/coke & even alcohol to an extent.

I had always thought the argument that weed is a gateway drug is a crock of ****, would you disagree?

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And congrats on your success and getting clean. GL in october!

Thanks for posting this. I have some questions if you don't mind answering them.

How much money do you think you've spent on drugs?

What are the main differences in your lifestyle and poker game when you're sober vs. using?

What exactly were your results from this past wsop?

With your addictive personality, how have you been able to stay on the "bright side" of gambling/poker?

fwiw, marijuana is a gateway drug because it's on the black market. When I'm in a liquor store, I never get offered other drugs there. But when I meet up with a dealer, they have other drugs to offer other than the one/s I'm interested in.

I had tons of treatment when i was younger, so using that knowledge along with having more life experience and finding a few really good meetings in toronto i started to gain control of my life again. I also started doing yoga this year and that really helped me in so many different areas of life, mainly sobriety and poker.

I think in these cases, which are fairly common since alcoholism is the slowest forming addiction of any drug due to how socially acceptable it is, an intervention can always give a good wake up call, but sadly with all addictions, the person who is using is the one who has to make the decision to get clean for themselves. The only way he/she is going to straighten there life out for good is if they truly want to make a change for the better and not to please anyone else.

When I was young , All the adults would say that and I would say no its not. But after seeing drugs destroy a couple of friends who started out with marijuana I finally realized that YES it is a ***** gate way drug.


OP, really congrats on sobering up man. It takes alot of courage to admit your history in a public forum. I hope this thread will serve as a motivator to keep you off the drugs and you can continue living a sober life and not fall off the wagon.
Good luck

Do you listen to Loveline?

yah the two go hand in hand for sure. However poker has been my "job" for 5 years now and i don't really consider myself a gambler. I don't bet sports or play in the pit i just play poker. People have always asked me how i can play so many hands a year and never get burnt out, and the answer lies in this question. When you have an addictive personality you have an all or nothing attitude to basically everything in life. Im either eating super healthy or super bad, or working out 3 times a week or not working out for months at a time. I've accepted that certain things in my life are just always going to be like that and i just have to deal with them the best i can and no one is perfect.

Poker has truly saved my life. It sounds pretty corny to say that but i actually
don't know if i would be alive right now if i hadn't developed a passion for it during the worst depression of my life.

As far as withdrawal from playing, i normally can't go a week without putting in at least one session but I've gotten much better about that this year. I took an entire week off before the WSOP and have basically taken everyday off since returning home and feel great about taking a small break. I just stopped caring about how much money i can make or have this year before all this crazy WSOP run good. Funny how life works like that, as soon as you stop caring so much about something you want so bad its just given to you.

We are all blessed to do this for a living(those who are full time) and you can't really complain to much even when things aren't working out at the tables. It could definitely be much worse for all of us.

afaik weed was determined physically addictive in 2007/2008ish. I dont want to stir up an argument on that but at least for me i always thought it was. Weed is a gateway because the more you use something so simple like weed, the more likely you are to hang out with people who also do other drugs and will be offering them to you. You also build up a tolerance to weed like any other drug, and people that get tired of just smoking to feel normal and want to actually feel a high will progress into harder substances.

Money I've spent on drugs lifetime is a tough estimate, i guess ill say something like 100k? that may be a little high but i think its def over 75k not including going to clubs and what not, just on drugs alone.

When I'm sober my lifetime graph is nanonoko and when I'm using i have a scout graph

i didn't actually know how open you were about this, but im pretty glad you decided to post it. it's ****ing cool when good things happen to people who have worked hard in their field, especially on the heels of such a huge change in your life.

i'm also glad to hear you mention that about weed-- i know im not supposed to have an opinion since i don't smoke, and i know different people have different experiences, but i have another friend who basically thinks weed made him go crazy and temporarily ruined his life. it's sad that everyone has it in their head that it isn't addictive (certainly not arguing that it is chemically addictive), especially when so many ppl who say that use daily (ironic, maybe). [i am not trying to come off preachy and i am fine with weed, it's just refreshing to hear someone say that it can have negative effects on people as a gateway drug]

do work in october.

Congratulations.


GL moving forward.

I don't agree that cocaine has any upside, but that is just my opinion. I think amphetamines are extremely popular among poker players, but most don't realize how much damage is being done. It is a very slow march downhill, and it can be one of the hardest things to quit.