Is anybody out there beat gambling problem and become a successful live poker player? if so can you share how you did it? Please, if u have no idea what I m talking about or gambling, keep your opinion yourself, do not post on this thread.

The best poker players in the world insist poker isn't a form of gambling. Advanced probability? Yes. Statistical analysis? Sure. Psychological evaluation? 100%. Lying exhibition? Definitely. Most of the time. Always. When the moment is right. It's hard to nail down. But – poker as a form of gambling? The great ones insist it's anything but. Erick Lindgren is a great one. Depending on what website you believe, during his career Lindgren has won more than $8 million in live poker tournaments and who knows how much more online or in cash games. He's also earned millions more from endorsements. Lindgren won his second World Series of Poker Championship in 2013. It was his first win since going through rehab… for being addicted to gambling. You see, Erick Lindgren is a recovering gambling addict. After going completely broke with millions of dollars worth of debt, not Erick is ironically trying to use poker to turn his life around and payback all of his creditors. Can a bankrupt gambling addict GAMBLE his way out of debt? This is the real life story of the rise, fall and ongoing recovery of professional poker star Erick Lindgren.

I doubt this is true since poker is most definitely gambling. Poker may not fit the legal definition in certain jurisdictions, but it absolutely fits the lay definition.

poker is gambling as a hobby, poker is not gambling as a career

OP its about why you are playing, you need to get to a stage with poker such that its not gambling for you, I.e your not playing for a gamblers rush of spinning money up, but playing with an amount of money relatively insignificant compared to your bankroll.

Its not easy especially if you have had gambling issues in the past because your brain will be wired in such a way that your natural tendency will be to 'gamble it up'. The biggest thing that helped me was learning how to lose, by that I mean developing the discipline, and state of mind so that when your bankroll declines you don't feel like your losing and try to get it back by playing outside of your winning strategy.

It goes without saying you need to be confident your a winning player at your stakes too of course, or you'll always be in a situation where your roll is diminishing which will not stimulate the required discipline and state of mind you need to break the gambling habits with your game.

Good luck, hope you realise your ambitions.

Again, absolutely not true. How are you defining gambling such that placing a monetary wager on the outcome of a random event is not gambling?

Most pros play poker because they like the gamble, totally agree gangsta its crazy to say poker isn't gambling. They just have decent bankroll mngmt and a skill edge which means long term they profit.

Similar to pro sports gamblers, who bet set percentages of a well padded bankroll.

Well, the argument can be made that when you put thousands of monetary wagers per day on outcomes of events for which the odds exceed the money wagered, you're now a casino. It's a sound business model dating back centuries.

Are you suggesting that casinos are not gambling, and also that gambling can't be a sound business model?

Im suggesting if your playing hundreds of thousands of hands a year and you have an edge you will profit, therefore its not gambling, gambling to me is like betting on whether a coin will flip heads or tails, or betting on sports, something u have no control over

I am suggesting that the gaming aspect of the casino isn't the gamble. The risk is that they can fail like bars and clubs fail, not because someone wins all the bets and leaves them busto.

I'm going to have to ask again what definition of gambling you're using. I don't recall ever seeing a definition that stated that if you have an edge it's no longer gambling.

If you're gambling against the casino, then on each and every bet the casino is also gambling against you. I'm really not seeing how this can be debated unless you're using a funny definition of gambling.

go on downswings that last hundreds of thousands of hands and then tell me you're not gambling.

[QUOTE=ganstaman;44281111] you make me realize poker is definitely a gambling game, u betting and don't know the outcome just guessing game, you can be good at playing but it does not change the fact that poker is gambling, eventually you will go broke if you keep playing. ESPN and all the publicity the poker gets makes wrong impression on young people, even the most famous players are going broke loosing millions and they are in dept, even in this forum one of the pro players who won 6 millions in a few years looking for a backer for tournaments for a few $ which is very sad, I believe gambling should be illegal all together. 1 in 5 gambling addicts commits suicide, destroys families all for what? there is no such a thing recreational gambler they are all gamblers?

I started losing you around here. Just because it's gambling doesn't mean you can't over your lifetime.

I doubt that was a downswing