fwiw I dont think you're dumb because of what you do.

In any case it's a logical mistake to think addiction or 'who you are' is about logic. I was lucky to not get addicted to drinking/smoking/etc, some friends were less lucky. I do like curry though. It's who we are. Life is for living, not for surviving.

even less fwiw my non expert advice is to try to have breaks from drinking. Body can repair a lot in those breaks which means more drinking later on in life.

I had much the same evolution with respect to live poker, especially live poker in casinos. When I was younger, live poker enthusiasts seemed amusingly eccentric or degenerate. But over time, I really grew to dislike a lot of that crowd.

I agree re pool, which I used to play quite a bit. A few drinks actually seemed helpful, but a lot of drinks definitely hurts.

I can't say that drinking has ever helped me play better poker.

How long do you think your current lifestyle is sustainable?

I ask because, in my experience, a person's ability to function as an alcoholic, especially a severe alcoholic, often deteriorates over time, even with no escalation in alcohol consumption.

Put another way, I've known many people who managed to function at a relatively high level in their 30s and 40s despite severe alcohol problems. But as some of those people got older and their physical strength diminished, the long term effects of alcohol abuse bubbled to the surface and their decision-making went off a cliff.

I'm actually decent at pool. I can break & run at 9-ball with a decent split. Took me 20 years and ****-knows-how-much-money to get that good. And I play with people who can easily give me the 7-ball and still smash me.

I'm buddies with Imran, we practice together sometimes. He can give me a 3 start to to 5 and it's a fair game. He is/was #1 in the UK though. Usually when we play, we play banks though, and I'm not a massive dog in that at all.

I've witnessed the exact thing you are describing. When I was in my twenties I worked for a company that was run by "wide boys" and had been funded by this Alan Sugar-type entrepreneur. The guy never put in an appearance and ultimately nobody heard anything more about him. I eventually "got in" with management and the CEO told me that the CFO of the parent company had been running it for years, and John, the owner/VC, was a raging alchie who couldn't even pick up a Christmas card from his kid because his hands shook so much. Also heard a story about how he would just take trips down to London and try and pull chicks at hotels by pulling up in a chaffeur-driven Aston and telling randoms that he was a secret agent or a spy or something. He died not long after, in his mid-60s I think.

There is no satisfactory answer to your question. I'm just winging it.

At my peak, I might have been in shouting distance of being as good as you. Maybe I would run a nine-ball rack one out of ten times with a good break and good equipment? But I don't play much anymore. And after my eyesight got bad enough that I needed to wear glasses, my play went downhill a bit.

Oh, I take breaks. I know it's probably hard to tell, but during some of our discussions, I've even been sober.

I can break & run maybe 1 in 4 or 5. Decent for an amateur. My banks are pretty good too, I prefer banks and one pocket tbh.

That was not my intent (though future threads like these should probably give the mods a head's up first), and it's not my forum.

But yes, I do swear a lot. It's a cultural thing which does not come across in my writing or translate well to English. The equivalent of my dialect in US terms (the cultural standard the rest of us can relate examples to) would be quite redneck-ish.

Well, if you have done it from a young age then it is what you know. Anything else would seem uncomfortable and hard to control. That's just the human condition.

Lifestyle changes are very, very tough, even without addictions. That's why it is hard to get someone to stop stealing cars is if what he did since 14. It's what he knows. For him to stop stealing cars and do something else is not unlike asking a 40-year old engineer to become a dentist.

Truth. I had all sorts of cellmates, including career criminals. I still remember one, who looked exactly like you think, about 40, who told me he is so proud of his son, coz he "is boosting cars, like me".

At the time, I was the same age as his son.

I think this has been sort of answered? Rococo is a bit good on direct. If not, I will endeavour to answer it to the best of my ability.

I honestly wasn't trying to wheedle information out of you that you didn't want to share. And I certainly wasn't trying to teach you any sort of lesson via the Socratic method.

I was honestly curious about how you viewed your own life.

I didn't mean it that way at all.

You are very good at formulating questions which are just open-ended enough. Other people might not notice that, but I do. I meant it as a compliment.

So, the calling people shitty thing aside. Where are you on politics now?

(UK bias appreciated)

Haven't really thought about it. You seem like a fairly shitty person, could you direct me to the right location?

so you didn't get very interested in politics then?

Once the Orange is gone, we can start working down your list. All with the full knowledge that you were a Trump enabler.

Not as much as the kiddie divisive crowd but ok if you wish to abuse 'enabler' that way. I do support democray I suppose which make me an enabler of all those trump voters so I can accept that.

But maybe we can avoid the usual silly stuff and you can tell us something about your political beliefs now that you've got interested.

I know you're against one person one vote. So that's one thing. Not very sure where you stand on much else

In order for gambling to be fun, do you need to have the chance of winning (or losing) whatever is a meaningful amount of money for you?

If all B&M casinos/card rooms and online gambling venues went out of business tomorrow, would it be psychologically difficult for you to transition to other activities besides gambling?

I'm pretty for one person one vote, as long as that person is me.

Winner. Yes, absolutely. It has to matter if you win, and as a corollary, it has to hurt when you lose, to get the "hit".

Yeah man, I'd be lost. Seriously, that's all I've done for about 7 or so years straight. I'd be proper ****ed.

I empathize, but I think that it is virtually impossible to have good bankroll management with this mindset. And it is virtually impossible to be a winning gambler with poor bankroll management.

But you knew that already.

d2, rocco is right

yeah I didnt get it, but I actually knew aa is alcoholics anomynous and tripple a is Auto.
I mixed it up, sorry