Not to derail the thread or anything, but Total Recall.

Larry King was on The Daily Show recently, and when Jon pointed out he was a degen, he denied it repeatedly. There's more stories in the book how he used money that wasn't his to pay off huge gambling debts. He's pretty obviously a degen.

Larry's argument was something like "I bet horses, i don't play craps or blackjack, so I'm not a degen." Jon called him out on it.

every now and then party poker give me a deposit bonus on their casino for anything between 20-100% so ill deposit the max and try and run it up on blackjack or video poker untill ive done enough to clear it and withdraw the lot. One nite i get in pissed out of my head and think ill have a look if theres any bonuses waiting. i look and theres a 100% up to $100 so deposit and start playing roullette, started of at $9 a spin but was adding $1 to whatever number came in and if it had been hit previously was adding 2$ straight up and $1 on every split, long story short i end up spinning for $500 a spin with a $14k roll before a friend im talking to on msn talks me into cashing it out.
now every time i get a bonus i try and spin it up again and have only got close once where i was up to $7k and walked away with $3K without feeling any regret as i only started with $100 so won $2.9k rather than lost $4k

OMG YOU WIN SIR!!!!!!!!

lold

FWIW...Larry King is an official degen...busted for floating checks & blatantly ripping people off... in Miami in the 70's..

from Wiki---
Legal and financial troubles
In the early 1970s, King was entangled in legal and financial troubles. He was arrested on December 20, 1971 and charged with grand larceny. The charges stemmed from a deal he had made with Louis Wolfson, who had been convicted of selling unregistered stock in 1968.

The circumstances of what occurred between the two are unclear. According to King, he told Wolfson that he could arrange a special investigation by John Mitchell, the incoming US Attorney General, to overturn the conviction. Wolfson agreed, and paid King $48,000. King never delivered, and could not pay back the money. When Wolfson was released from prison, he went after King. According to Wolfson, King served as an intermediary between Wolfson and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. Garrison was investigating the assassination of President Kennedy, but needed to raise funds for the investigation. Wolfson offered to pay $25,000 to help fund the investigation. The arrangement was that Wolfson gave Larry King cash (about $5,000 per visit). King was supposed to give this to Richard Gerstein, the State Attorney for Dade County, Florida. Gerstein was to transfer the money to Garrison. This took place over a year or two. Wolfson eventually found that not all the money he gave to King made it to Garrison. The larceny charge was dropped because the statute of limitations had run out. But King pled no contest to one of 14 charges of passing bad checks. As a result of these troubles, he was off the air for three years. During those three years he worked several jobs. He was the PR director at Louisiana Downs, a race track in Louisiana, and he wrote some articles for Esquire magazine, including a major piece on New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath.

I recently final tabled the Sunday Quarter Million (~30000 player field). Was chip leader going in. Proceeded to pass out and finish 6th.

You can't be serious......

this happened once at a small cardroom I used to go to. The guy left his baby in the car so he could play a MTT. He gt arrested.

I started playing poker on Party back in 2006. This was before they banned Americans. I was teaching English in S. Korea at the time. Anyway, my game back then was limit omaha h/l. I deposited $500 and immediately began playing 5/10 omaha 8. I didn't have any clue about bankroll management.

I lost that $500.

Deposited another $500. Lost that by playing omaha 8 and blackjack.

Deposited another $500. Lost that in one hand of blackjack.

Deposited another $500. I got done teaching at 10:00 PM everyday. So I got home and 1 tabled 5/10 omaha h/l. Amazingly, I ran that up to $1500 by 5:00 AM. I was dead tired but kept playing. I took a few horrible beats and tilted it all off by 6:00 AM.

After that, I didn't play poker for the rest of my year in Korea.

---------------------------------

About a year later, I heard Bodog was soft so I deposited $500 there. I don't know why but I played omaha hi on there. I ran that up to close to $1000 but not quite. Every time I would get close to 1K, I would get coolered or lose a flip. This happened like 5 or 6 times and it tilted the hell outta me.

So I took my $900 to a 5/10 PLO table on Bodog. This was, of course, in the middle of the night. There was a maniac on there raising and reraising preflop every pot. I got it heads up with him in a raised pot. On the flop, I had a diamond draw and checked it to him and he potted it. I c/r all in. He snaps, shows top pair. I hit the flush on the turn and drag a $1500 pot.

You think I stopped there?

Hell no. I take the $1500 to a 10/20 PLO table. I fold pretty much for an hour. Then I pick up A678. There is a raise and I call. Someone behind me reraises. Gets back around to me and I tank and reluctantly fold.

Flop comes 666 I ****** kid you not.

Both of players get it in on the flop with AAxx hands. You can't imagine how tilted I was after seeing that.

I fold a few more hands; probably a half hour passes. Then I pick up KKxx. I don't remember the flop, but I got it in with just a pair of kings. The villain showed top two pair. Turn comes...K. River pairs the board.

My roll is now $3000.

So I tried playing NL100 for about a month. I broke even and that just frustrated the hell out of me. I wasn't mentally ready for the grind.

So in the middle of the day I take my roll to the highest NL table on Bodog. The button raises, I reraise from the BB with KQ. Button 4 bets. I call.

Flop J T x (rainbow)

I shove the flop, can't remember if it was an overbet. Villain tanks for a long time and calls with AK. Turn and river brick and he busts me with A high.

****** unbelievable.

These days I'm still a bit of a degen, but now I play on Full Tilt.

5 aces in that game huh?

Should be 6789.

luckboxxx wins. he goes from having an 9 hotstripper closed door orgy to a bj from a crackwhore in a portajohn

and you folded pf!??!?

rigged, obv

Taj Poker Room. Perpetual Degen Heaven, like 95% of the players there. I think I saw that guy with the beer gut, except he had greasy curly half-mullet, super gut was hanging out of a pale pink paper-thin shirt with a pig cartoon face on it. When I went to the bathroom (if you've ever been there, you know, the sketchy one in the back near the Xanadu(??!) ballroom near valet... oh wait wasn't someone stabbed there... lolz.) He screamed from across the room, "OH **** YEA. OHHHH YEAHHHH." Passed behind my seat at the 2/5 table I was at a few times. He smelled of urine and cheese steak. Never saw him play but I did see him get thrown out of the Borgata once. gg.

second vote for luckboxxx. a degen's degen!

these stories are unbelievable

In the early 90's there was a legendary degen named Larry.
He inheritred 2 pool halls from his dad & this was possibly the worst thing that could happen to a guy like Larry.
He would call his bookie every sat. and sun. to blindly bet 50$ on every single game basically but he'd ask tons of ?s about each team etc. Blocking up the phone lines for a hr sometimes.
After awhile the bookie tells him larry I love ya but u r costing me money.
He tells Larry you can only bet 10 play parlays from now on and you gotta gimme picks by thurs for ncaa & fri for nfl. Any one who's ever bet sports know how crazy it is to bet over-unders 3 days prior to a game but Larry didn't care. He bet dogs too
Larrys elated because now he can only lose 110 a week plus he stays in action lol. Like 6 weeks in Larry calls on Thurs to tell the bookie his picks & this dumbass doesnt even realize he won last week. The bookie was slighly ducking him because he couldn't believe this idiot hit 10-10.
Larry tells the bookie just keep the 50$ on my tab.
The bookie explains to Larry he won 5500 freaking dollars, Larry doesn't believe him so the guy drives down w his picks & 55 100's. The bookmaker eats lunch at the pool hall.
While he's leaving Larry all giddy says don't you want my picks? The bookie says fine takes the pick sheet & asks 50$ or 100$. Larry says 5500$!!! of course.
The only time I've heard of a bookie try to tell someone they're being ridiculous.
Btw Larry went 1-9 that saturday lol and was mostly upset he forgot to bet sundays games on fri.
He's still at that pool hall. He's a barback & kitchen manager... still plays the dogs and bingo every night

I was first in big doubt of writing my story down. I decided to write this down and put it here online so maybe others can ‘learn’ something of it. This is a 100% true story and I’m not trying to be pathetic. All of the following story I caused myself and I don’t blame anyone or anything besides myself. Sorry for not being good English, I’m not English raised.

I started playing poker about 7 years ago. At first it started very innocent at the playmoneytables with some friends fooling around and just having fun. At the time I never had the urge to play for realmoney because I knew i’m someone who’s a bit sensitive for addictions.
After about a year ‘practise’ at the playmoneytables a friend decided to deposit some money and go play the 2nl-10nl range and I saw him winning money. Seeing him winning money and seeing others winning big bucks at the higher stakes I decide I’ll give it a try aswell, because ‘hey, I play now for one year poker and I now the game very good!’.
I deposit 250$ and started playing 10nl but at my first day of realmoney, and losing a few buyins 10nl I moved straight to 50nl. Within 2 hours I lost the 250$. No big deal at that time, I had some savings and I thought .. ok this was ‘learning money’ and I know I can win. The next day I deposit 500$ and I shortstack the 50nl (50bb buyin). With this I manage to survive for 2 weeks after losing it all on a 1000nl ‘double or nothing’ attempt. After this I said to myself I take a break and at this time I discovered online forums and I decided to buy a book aswell.

Due to some time shortage I don’’t play for two months and meanwhile I read a book and read some things on forums and I thought I’d be ready for it. Also at this point I moved to an other city to go to university to start medicineschool. I deposit another 500$ and started the 25nl again but didn’t play much because I was very motivated to studying. My first 1.5 year of medicineschool went superb, I managed to get great scores, meet a ton of nice people, enjoyed life to the max and I thought I would have a great future.

After this ~1.5 year something changed in my life. I got a bit depressed, broke up my relationship and I got into heavily drinking and playing poker. Also my financial situation got worse, instead of paying the bills ‘together’ with my partner I was now alone and was way too deep in bills. Instead of trying to get a partime job I thought I could make money of playing poker, like other people do (right?). Well, at this point I made the biggest mistake of my life.

Fast forward:

I’m now 28 years old and everything what I could mess up in my life I did. I gambled all my ‘schoolfunds’ money (read: dept of 50k$), have no more friends (not even one good friend who I can call to releave my heart), I life back at my parentshouse (wich is a disaster) and I disappointed not only the people who believed in me but also myself.

I’ll give you two examples of what a degen bastard I was:
1) I had a friend who changed from job. This resulted that he had one month of no payment. He needed to pay his rent and he asked me if I could borrow him for two weeks 500$. Allthough I had the money, I said no I can’t give it to you. But the same evening I could go to the local bar where they where having a private pokergame and loose it all. What a good friend I was, right?

2) About two years ago, I had a girlfriend whom car had broken down. Repaircosts were around 200$. She needed the car because she had to go to work with it and it’s almost an hour drive. She must have known I had to money because I few days earlier I was bragging about I’ve had a winning session at the casino. When she asked me, again I said no I need the money myself. And again eventually this money got lost in the casino.

These are just two examples of what a bastard degen I was. I lied a lot to all my beloved ones and people who cared about me. I have had a ton of 36-48 hour sessions online and I totally destroyed my health, mentally and physically. I’m in great debts, thrown away a medicaldegree and I feel totally hopeless at this moment.
And at the moment for me it’s not even the financialdebts wich give me a feeling of being totally lost in life, no, it’s the fact I ruined a great future. I wanted to be a doctor, that’s what a knew since my childhood. And look at me now, I’m close to living under a bridge!
I don’t blame poker I blame myself, the lack of total selfcontrol and the fact that at some point i went totally selfdestructive (gambling with money I don’t have, getting loans from people and banks wich I can’t/couldn’t pay back, drinking heavily, loosing myself in a totally illusional world etc.)

I want to get my life back on track, but I just don’t know where to start. Even getting a job in a factory looks like impossible at the moment. I can write a ton of more stories about my stupidity but I won’t, after writing this all down I feel like crying (again).

start from scratch and be a good guy now..


oh and there is something Herman Hesse once written down in "Demian".. it's not the original but something like this "humans create gods to fight with 'em and finally find themself".. so what he meant i guess is find something that u dedicade your efforts to and treat it with deep respect (this way you learn to show respect to all the things around)

ah i cant explain it really well. .. just read it yourself and read it with respect

it's difficult for me to believe many of the stories in this thread, especially the one above. nevertheless, this thread is unbelievably disconcerting.

wow i laughed at the misfortune of almost everyone (some just weren't funny) except Hatsjoeh1337. schadenfreude can only go so far , hope things get better for you man.

This is one of the reasons why i was in big doubt of putting my story online. I'm aware of the fact that it sounds unbelievable, and to be honest i can't believe it myself i messed up like this.
Further, as said before, it isnt meant to be pathetic. With this i mean like 'look at me how pathetic i am' nor did i put it online as a level or 'brag', because it's far from that. The main reason i put this online is i hope someone else who's heading the same way as i was gets a 'reality check'.

I deposited ~$900 in July '08 to bet on baseball. What followed ladies and gentlemen can only be described as a roller coaster ride with my emotions and wallet hanging on for dear life (I included the risk/to win amounts for 5Dimes to help generate a picture of the increasing degeneracy of my betting until I start to run bad and lose funds at the site).

May '08
Matchbook: +$0
5Dimes: -$70 [$607.31/$579.51]

June '08
MB: +$82
5D: +$305 [$16,158.31/$20,985.51]

July '08
MB: -$824
5D: +$985 [$16,411.19/$70,051.49] round robins are fun

August '08
MB: +$0
5D: +$5,312 [$44,858.41/$58,883.21]

September '08
MB: +$1,852
5D: +$570 [$26,776.40/$22,071.77]

October '08
MB: +$6,060
5D: -$2,794 [$13,553.91/$17,285.12]

November '08
MB: +$7,645
5D: -$304 [$20,835.86/$20,192.93]

At this my point I had built everything up to ~$18,000. I should have cashed out at least $10,000 but then I would not qualify to post in this thread and my life would be REALLY ruined then.

December '08
MB: -$632
5D: -$5,984 [$13,466.40/$12,914.93]

January '09
MB: -$3,812
5D: +$1,293 [$10,660.50/$9,961.20]

February '09
MB: -$364
5D: -$512 [$2,540.12/$2,349.70]

After cashing out $3k from MB that was my last $364 on there. From March until now I lost the last ~$2,200 on 5D. I also lost about $1,000 on Bookmaker and TheGreek after transferring money to them over the same time period.

To put this all in perspective, before all of this started $1,000 was a considerable sum to me; heck, my car is probably barely worth that. But there I was putting my $4,000 roll on the line backing Harden and the Cubs at -400 versus Washington some time back in August. During the NFL season I was betting $1,000 on more than one game in any given week, sometimes $2,000, and I would sweat the games at my minimum wage job. Just a couple months before that my wager sizes were $25-$100.

Anyway, after the past few months have been a ridiculous grind trying to rebuild my bankroll to its former glory, I was down to my last $461 this morning split between two sites. I say was because:





[x] degen in progress