if 2 +2 doesn't want it call HIGHLIGHTs for children....

Goofus and Gallant go to vegas.....

GO....

What about the karma of trying to scam people? Addiction is an explanation, not an excuse.

I can appreciate that a lot of people would like to see OP get better, but I would save your words of encouragement for a time when he's actually done something himself other than telling a sad story while playing in poker tournaments after being outed publicly for scamming.

Having been to 64 countries so far only USA, Australia and NZ have asked in the form whether you've been convicted of a felony in the past or not (might be like 1-2 other countries I've forgotten about), and in all of those you can just tick no and they won't find out anyway unless you're on some major watch list because governments don't actually share that info.

Neither of you are pathetic. You both made bad mistakes. And don't worry about making people proud of you...... focus on loving yourself.

I scammed people when I was drinking and did my best to make amends with each and every person I hurt once I got sober. Some of those people I hurt wanted nothing to do with me and that's OK. All I can do is make an effort to fix the issues. To say addiction is an explanation is off base.

lets fix him ourselves.....START A STAKING THREAD
he could be you someday...
never say never...

if 1000 people gave 10 bucks we buy him into the main event with the stipulation that he checks into GA rehab MAX SECURITY for one year after this..... to get better

start a PR campaign, "poker heals" talk some rehab into healing him for 10 % of his future earnings forever, starting with the WSOp....
the kind of place that FIXES hard cases.....

Set up a "vctims fund" for people he owes who come forward...

split the 90% of any funds he ships in the main event
30% for GA treatment for the "next" psu mike
30% for the ten dollar heros of poker who put him into action
30% for mike to be paid out allowance style by an escrow dude on here

he becomes the next mike matasow.... beloved for all his faults and warm charm...

he goes on a speaking tour...
he has two body guards... POKER CARES(heals) remember
these two are hardluck stories from the inner city... like the large men in the cell he shared.... either Parolees trying to get their life back on track... or kids from single parent homes who are getting out of jail with no real future

PUT THEM ALL IN A MOBILE HOME....
the Poker cares express....

mike can tutor his body guards....

get lotgrinder to get them a good deal on an rv

have a "i want to be psumikes driver contest".....for some other broak deck...
penn state gives money to help

win win win
poker cares
poker heals

the best part is that it almost self funding if he binks the main event

he probably dreams of winning a bracelet

its the obvious end to the story

Please can everyone stop mocking this scammer. He has a disease and is in no way responsible for his actions or the choices he makes. This disease also affects his manners at the poker table, so please don't mock his rude behaviour either.

i played with pso mike at poker school online which was a really cool place to put some volume in cheaply for their monthly prizes

i dont remember him much, but, we are old schoolmates....so he can have my great idea of the day

get better bud!

Time for 2+2 to start an Addiction Topic under General Poker along with a Get Help Sticky. Been way too many Mike's as most popular discussion Time for 2+2 to give back

Well it's good to see 2p2's own special version of Godwin's law holding true:

"As a 2p2 scam thread grows longer, the probability of someone labelling the perpetrator a sociopath approaches 1"

Obv not this guy bro

I have played poker with him in Chicago (he cashed in that event as well). He definitely struck me as an odd individual!

Is anybody a bad person? Is anyone responsible for anything or is it all just the addiction or the disease and we can all just wash our hands of any form of personal responsibility? What if I rape someone because im a sex addict? Not my fault its a disease! Murder someone? Sorry, I'm addicted to killing people I cant help it!

Some people are awful human beings. This guy is one of them. He is truly a bad person. He can turn himself around and become a good person, but he's not takin any steps to redeem himself whatsoever, and until he starts to do that he will be a POS.

Catching up on this thread now, compiling loose, unorganized thoughts as I go. Apologies for what I'm sure will be a long post.

Anything addressing Mike directly is printed in boldface.

1. I doubt anyone is seriously praising Mike for his actions, nor is anyone implying that his confession absolves him of anything. I DO have a level of respect for him admitting what he has done, since that's more than I could do. It roughly ends there, though. I'd like to see a bit more remorse and contrition, but that's probably not what he's trying to accomplish. We all had a thousand questions prior to Mike's "arrival," so for now, his wall-of-text information seems to be answering those.

2. Mike, stop trying to defend yourself from those calling you a scumbag or a POS. You may not think you're one, and I for the most part do not, but even you can admit that much of what you've done in the wake of your addiction is scummy and ****ty.

3. Enough with the "did you really go to Penn State" and "if you're really a chemical engineer, you'd be smart enough not to think you can win at pai gow" rhetoric. There are great thinkers who never got out of high school. One of the dimmest bulbs I've ever worked with had a master's degree. The notion of the absent-minded professor didn't come out of thin air, after all. The fancy certificate on the wall and its owner's level of personal judgment need not go hand-in-hand. It clearly didn't here. Plus, none of it matters once the addiction takes the steering wheel.

[Note: I'll let someone else post the West Wing clip about the number of alcoholics in MENSA.]

4. Agree that Pot Odds RAC has the best post of the last two pages in this thread.

5. A self-ban from casinos won't solve Mike's problems. Going back to GA won't solve his problems. But they can't hurt, and are at the very least baby steps in the right direction. Telling him not to do these because they alone will not right his ship is counterproductive.

6. A few people have said some version of "Mike doesn't want to want to quit gambling." I'll admit my eyes glazed over while reading a few of his posts (agree on the paragraph breaks), so I would like to hear what serious steps, if any, he has taken to service his addiction in the last 10 years?

7. Anyone offering him money better be trolling or leveling.

8. Mike, you (and others) have said that your criminal record will prevent you from getting a "legitimate job." Care to define "legitimate?" As Chippa58 mentioned, there are plenty of odd jobs you can do, even with your background.

9. Agree to hold off on the book. Get yourself back on track first. Although there is a non-zero possibility that your biography becomes a source of income, it seems like there is a greater chance it would be another copout. As far as I'm concerned, you don't need another low-percentage-shot-with-a-slight-chance-of-a-huge-score event in your life. Besides, as Chippa58 said, your book would be a better read if it turns out to be a redemption story.

10. So I guess Chippa58's post is very good, too.

11. To those who think he can continue playing poker but avoid the pit games, any concrete examples of this working out? (I'm actually asking.) I feel like I only know of the "degens gonna degen" stories like Erick Lindgren or Archie Karas.

When I visit a casino, I only play poker and never put one dime into table games, sports books, etc. But I'm also not a compulsive gambler. So I'm legitimately curious to know if a compulsive gambler can stick to just poker (assuming he/she is a winning player) and avoid losing it all back. And if so, what it actually entails.

12. This thread keeps growing as I type the only post more long-winded than PSUMike's. So I'll stop here by saying THIS is now my new favorite post:
Not a bad idea at all. Mason, if you see this thread, any thoughts about this?

It's sad to see all the sympathists in the thread that are somehow too blind to see that he has no interest in changing, that he is almost proud of his life path, and that him "coming clean" is really the only step he could take to help perpetuate his scamming.

Judging by the reaction of NVG, there will be plenty of people to line up to "help" him. What they don't realize is they are just feeding their own egos by trying to "help a guy out", when in reality they are very much hurting him by continuing to enable this behavior.

I'm convinced that gambling is the worst of all addictions in terms of both the financial toll and the rate of relapses.

What is exactly qualifies as "plenty" bro?

PLease name names.

There's a reason alcoholics don't go hang out at bars even if they are dry.

WHY PAI-GOW? serious question

Also, as others have said, even the majority of winners or grinders in poker are troubled souls that are masking deeper problems. Unless you have some sort of felony, the vast majority of people who are intelligent enough to make a six figure income via poker would make substantially more in the outside world (and this doesn't even factor in health insurance, retirement, contributing more to society, etc).

Poker is a great game, but with it comes a lot of very shady people. The fact that so many people have such little empathy for a man so blatantly pissing his life away and hurting others is a little disconcerting.

What good is $300 going to do him? If you're gonna scam, you should set your sights a little higher than $300.

Not entirely true...you just have to change your standards on what you are willing to do in order to get a legitimate paycheck. I have clients that had to start out at age 45-50 coming out of prison with absolutely no real hope of either using their degree or going back to their former professions due to the offense(s) of record but who got a couple of crap jobs that least allowed them to make a few thousand a month after taxes (combined between the jobs). Only after spending time in those did they get to scratch and claw their way back up the career ladder...

Is it fun? Hell no. But they did what they had to in order to avoid going back to prison. Obviously they had incentive since we believe in long sentences in this State, but still...it CAN be done if the person is motivated enough.

Shouldn't someone have to make an effort to change them self before getting sympathy? When do you hold someone accountable? And if someone else says it's a disease and he can't control it I'll pull my hair out. An alcoholic kills a family of 4 while driving drunk. Any sympathy for him....he can't help it.

This is a load of bull**** though. If I was determined to turn my life around, the last thing to worry about would be getting a job IMO. If I managed to actually get over an addiction of your magnitude, I'd walk into job interviews with the attitude that this is the easiest part of the equation. Just go there, give a speech like in all those from a loser to a winner type movies you americans love to the bossman where you tell him your entire story, tell him how you overcame this much trouble and how you know that any chance you get is going to be your last, which is why you're going to be 300 times more motivated than anyone he could ever find. Tell them that you used to live in the streets and airports begging, and you've already come this far and you're not going to let some minor criminal record stop you. Plus nothing you did is even remotely connected to most jobs you'd applying for with your education, so the only risk for them would be you disappearing pretty much. Then offer to work for free for a couple of weeks as a try-out or something and surely you're gonna score something. It's 2014, clever bosses value motivation, creativity and those kinds of things a lot more than 50 years ago when what you said was probably true.

It doesn't sound like you have any kind of motivation to actually turn your life around though, so that's the major issue here, not getting a job.

Addiction is a disease and it damn near killed me to stop drinking. With that said you are 100% correct. Unless he is willing to change, admit he can't fix this on his own and get help from others I will have very little sympathy for him. As I was told many years ago: "take the cotton balls out of your ears and stick them in your mouth".