pretty much the most boring thing i've ever seen.

I disagree, I think they found the perfect contrast. On the one side a winning player who (in his first book) preaches a business-like approach and self-awareness to doing anything in order to do it the right way.

On the other side a guy who is delusional, turns to self-pity and evasion instead of selfimprovement when faced with a problem (losing at poker). It's a good example of busywork, doing something that takes a lot of effort but accomplishes nothing useful. From what he says all his walking doesn't seem to have any effect on him regarding meditation, realising what his problem is or what to do with his life. He still says he wants to be a professional poker player but he has no views at all on how to reach his goal except stalling because postponing is better than failing because you feel you haven't failed at it yet.

Looks good, I'm looking forward to watching the full length documentary when it comes out.

I liked it...in typical nvgtardism, if online poker is shed in a dim light screams, crying and hollers can be heard for miles. grow up.

lol, the bum is an idiot

Players defraud they're work payroll and lose families over gambling problems, this dude deposits in $20 n $50's and pulls a forest gump with a trolley? Def nowhere near the bottom end of the poker spectrum. Dude just needs to get a job.

I'm Michael, the donkey pulling the cart. Good news -- you can now slander me to my face! @MichaelWalksUSA on Twitter, and Michael Walks America on Facebook.

get a job

in before michael has $13 on FT, loses it and walks across Egypt

What's your end-game here? I think a reasonable approach might be to just cut your losses, go back to school, and put this behind you. Instead you're sort of permanently branding yourself with a bad experience you had over the course of a few years. I'd reconsider your path here. Maybe you can spin some sort of book deal out of this or the like which might not be bad. But if you have any other skills or interests, I'd exploit those and not this bad experience. FWIW, IMHO...

Done. I quit in April 2010. I went back to school, and finished my degree. Next walk is in the works. Then I'll write the book Thanks for your input.

And here is my other skill/interest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP08ZT-a8Z4

If you don't mind answering, Didn't being a thief ruin your life, not poker?

It seems very similar to Christians who attack gay rights by blaming the fall of Sodom on homosexual activity, when I believe most would say that the gang rape aspect is really the problem there.

EDIT: IE, lets say you had your roommate's CC#, and had a different goal that your mind was set on: new car stereo, textbooks for your classes, hell, even ordering all the pizza you wanted online. Do you really think that you would've had the self control necessary at that time not to steal from him?

Two things about that quote:

1. It was canned; scripted by the director. The final cut omits it.
2. The point is that poker (gambling) and life are two mutually exclusive for me. This is true for millions of other people who struggle with gambling addicitons.

You're right, though. Poker didn't almost ruin my life. My actions almost ruined my life. However, it is worth noting that without the gambling I wouldn't have run into the problems I had. Of course, I take responsibility for my actions, but gambling addiction is real. Most people can gamble without any problems, but I am not one of them. That is the point I wanted to make

The only goal I ever had with gambling was to feed the urge for the rush of putting everything on the line. That's what it came down to. There were no financial goals. It was a drug. So yes, I would have had the self control. And I have evidence of that, too. Since I quit gambling 2.5 years ago, the urges (and even thoughts altogether) to steal things went away.

Didn't watch the documentary but
what made you stop?
When was rock bottom?
Do you still get the urge to gamble?
Did you EVER try to control your demons?
like I personally had a gambling problem playing Poker aka major tilt issues when i first started , i lost alot. So I spent one month just focusing on my mental game reading books and watching Jared Tendler vids and I eventually overcame those demons and became a winning player.

Right, I kind of get that, And I get that the effects of a gambling (or any other) addiction are tremendous, and will often lead to stealing, lying, and cheating. I hope that awareness is raised and that people can get themselves treated before it gets to a point of losses of years' worth of salaries, stealing, etc. and I like the concept of analyzing both sides of this. Hope both sides are treated fairly, hope I'm active enough on the forums to see the announcement when it comes out.

You're right about me being delusional -- I thought I could be a winning poker player. However, I'm not sure where you get the self-pity and evasion. This short is a little misleading, because some of it was scripted by the director. All the canned stuff is omitted from the final cut. The truth is, I quit gambling in April 2010, following my second college suspension. I went on a long walk to clear my head (you can read all about it at www.MichaelWalksAmerica.com), and then I went back and finished school.

So, I didn't evade anything, or induce self-pity. I figured out that I had a problem, committed to resolving the problem, and did so.

I never said I want to be a professional poker player. I said that I wanted (past-tense) to be one, when I was delusional. As you'll see in the final cut, this walk was one of the products of the decision I made to quit gambling, which I made before this was filmed. This footage was of me reflecting on the history of my gambling problem, not my self-pity about how poker "almost ruined my life" (that was the canned line I was fed).

Gambling isn't for me. Most people can gamble just fine, but I can't, because I'm an addict.

BTW, thanks for engaging in this discussion. I am entertained by people saying stuff like "lol he's pulling a cart just like a donkey!!!" but this conversation is much better for all of us.

Rock bottom was after my second college suspension.

No, I don't still get urges to gamble. Something clicked for me when I got kicked out the second time. Trust me, if I were still gambling, best case scenario for me is winding up in jail. Likely worse.

I tried to control my gambling for 6 years. I had short periods where I could stop, but I always went back, and dug myself further in.

I didn't play for the money. I played for the rush. Gambling was a drug for me, and the high was from putting everything on the line. My experience is certainly not unique.

I quit 2.5 years ago, and my "demons" seem to have disappeared. Look, I take full responsibility for my actions, but there is no doubt that I wouldn't have done any of those things if gambling/addiction weren't part of my life.

Yeah, I def understand where your coming from, some people really can't control it. hope you can get your life jump started again.
Also on a sidenote in case you get more media coverage I think you should disclaim that poker is actually a profitable game and can be beaten as the documentary paints it as if it ruined your life.
Im not gonna beat a dead horse by criticizing you like others have. But just try to minimize the "poker ruined me etc.." because it was really you that did it. Poker was just a catalyst to your problems in a bad way .
Hope you turn it around
Good luck

Agreed. The film is already done, and it has none of that stuff in the final cut. I never said poker is a profitable game, though. I said I wanted to make money playing poker, but who doesn't? And, like I said many times before, the "poker ALMOST ruined my life" quote was canned (scripted) by the director. It was not genuine. It is not in the final cut.

I have definitely turned it around. Thanks for the support.

Here to drum up charity so you can go walk for 2 years?

No. I'm not walking for charity. I'm here to talk about poker, gambling, and the side of the game that nobody hears about.

Haha, are you kidding me? Walking 20 miles a day is a dog's dream. They had the times of their lives. Every morning they would be up before me, eager to get moving.

I turned 5 dollars into tens of thousands in couple of days.. yeah right..

E: on a serious note. Hope the full documentary is better than the short. Michael's story is interesting but the short just made him (you) look a bit whiny.

Anybody who overcomes addiction before it's completely too late is a champ in my book. It is hard for most here to understand where you're coming from since for most it's all about the money (at least it is for me) and not about the thrill. It could have been anything. Slots, BJ, roulette. It just happened to be poker.

It doesn't mean anything to me today, because poker isn't a part of my life any more, but this is a true story. I can't remember exactly the sequence of events, but it was something like 2nd in a $5 for $700, 5th in a $50r+a for $2500, another 5th in a $24 for another $2500, and some luckshots on a NL table. That was all in a 36 hr period. Within the following 24 hours I was back to zero. Typical degenerate/addict pattern.

EDIT: And I'm glad you understand. Most people don't. Exactly -- it could have been any addictive behavior, but poker was what hooked me. While most people have no problem, those who are gambling addicts can suffer just as much or more than people with other forms of addiction. I'm not trying to scare anybody out of poker, let me be clear. But the problem I had is not unique, and the final cut of this film does a much better job of explaining it, and cuts the whiny bs

Not watched the doc but this is really good.