Degen Stories....
12-30-2013
, 11:39 PM
12-31-2013
, 10:12 AM
Yeah I agree. It's completely true what some of those casino sites try to do. They try to get you to keep playing and not let you withdraw. Offering bonuses and all that crap so they don't have to pay you.
I give him props for not playing again after that big win. If his girlfriend had broken up with him instead of giving him another chance. I think this may have played out differently. Though with only 1 post it's hard to find you completely credible. Some proofs would be nice
. Good story bro.
I give him props for not playing again after that big win. If his girlfriend had broken up with him instead of giving him another chance. I think this may have played out differently. Though with only 1 post it's hard to find you completely credible. Some proofs would be nice
. Good story bro.
12-31-2013
, 12:18 PM
12-31-2013
, 01:47 PM
12-31-2013
, 02:23 PM
I'm 44 and realized in 2011 there was a whole regular working week between Xmas and newyear. 
Back in my degen days it was always one long party rush, from Xmas till the 3rd of januari.
Back in my degen days it was always one long party rush, from Xmas till the 3rd of januari.
12-31-2013
, 03:01 PM
Thanks everyone for the nice comments.
First, I want to state that the $80,000 was a conservative estimate. I would literally cover up the account balance with one hand while playing with the other. I would then promise myself over and over that I would stop as soon as I lost 3 consecutive hands. When I was playing 5 hands at once, I told myself I would stop when I lost 3 consecutive net losers or 2 total losses. I broke these promises repeatedly. At one point, after I had lost 3 in a row or whatever, I had something close to $80,000, so my high point was even higher.
Second, my wife is super cool and not a wet blanket. She was crying that day not only because of the gambling, but also because the gambling had directly caused us to miss an important life event. She was completely okay with me playing live poker, and I would play now if I had any time. I'm pretty sure I quite literally owe my life to her. I had trouble getting licensed by my state bar as it was due to that downward spiral, but since that (missed) wedding, my life has been phenomenal.
Lastly, I found some old emails. It looks like there was a problem with my last payouts and they were a couple thousand short. I had to send multiple emails back and forth, and they provided a list of all the payouts. They claimed that a few of the checks must have gotten lost in the mail. To their credit, they did eventually pay me in full. I guess there were only 15 checks instead of 19 (it's been a few years).
DATE NAME AMOUNT
14-Sep-07 $ 2,515.23
28-Sep-07 $ 3,015.17
05-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
08-Oct-07 $ 2,000.19
15-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
19-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
22-Oct-07 $ 2,000.25
26-Oct-07 $ 3,015.28
02-Nov-07 $ 3,000.00
05-Nov-07 $ 1,985.00
13-Nov-07 $ 3,000.00
19-Nov-07 $ 1,965.00
23-Nov-07 $ 2,515.26
27-Nov-07 $ 520.00
03-Dec-07 $ 2,538.72
Here is an example of the emails I received when awaiting the payout. In addition to the dozens of typical bonus emails, I received around 10 of these personalized emails.
Hello ********,
Seize the opportunity to win even more money!
You are eligible to receive an exclusive 15% Insurance Bonus.
Here’s how it works:
Reverse a minimum of $1,000 of your pending withdrawal of $34,557.72, and you will receive a 15% bonus on the amount should you lose it.
If you see the pending withdrawal on your screen, you can reverse any amount of it you wish. If you are unable to access your withdrawals, please contact me at 1-866-***-**** and I will be more than happy to assist you.
Your Insurance Bonus of 15%, if applicable, will be applied to your account within 24 hours after the promotion has ended.
Note that this exclusive Insurance Bonus offer is not automatically credited. You must contact us in order to have your account credited accordingly.
I am here to serve you anytime. Feel free to contact me if you require any assistance at all.
Good Luck,
******
Account Manager
Quote:
Yeah I agree. It's completely true what some of those casino sites try to do. They try to get you to keep playing and not let you withdraw. Offering bonuses and all that crap so they don't have to pay you.
I give him props for not playing again after that big win. If his girlfriend had broken up with him instead of giving him another chance. I think this may have played out differently. Though with only 1 post it's hard to find you completely credible. Some proofs would be nice. Good story bro.
I give him props for not playing again after that big win. If his girlfriend had broken up with him instead of giving him another chance. I think this may have played out differently. Though with only 1 post it's hard to find you completely credible. Some proofs would be nice
. Good story bro.
Second, my wife is super cool and not a wet blanket. She was crying that day not only because of the gambling, but also because the gambling had directly caused us to miss an important life event. She was completely okay with me playing live poker, and I would play now if I had any time. I'm pretty sure I quite literally owe my life to her. I had trouble getting licensed by my state bar as it was due to that downward spiral, but since that (missed) wedding, my life has been phenomenal.
Lastly, I found some old emails. It looks like there was a problem with my last payouts and they were a couple thousand short. I had to send multiple emails back and forth, and they provided a list of all the payouts. They claimed that a few of the checks must have gotten lost in the mail. To their credit, they did eventually pay me in full. I guess there were only 15 checks instead of 19 (it's been a few years).
DATE NAME AMOUNT
14-Sep-07 $ 2,515.23
28-Sep-07 $ 3,015.17
05-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
08-Oct-07 $ 2,000.19
15-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
19-Oct-07 $ 3,000.00
22-Oct-07 $ 2,000.25
26-Oct-07 $ 3,015.28
02-Nov-07 $ 3,000.00
05-Nov-07 $ 1,985.00
13-Nov-07 $ 3,000.00
19-Nov-07 $ 1,965.00
23-Nov-07 $ 2,515.26
27-Nov-07 $ 520.00
03-Dec-07 $ 2,538.72
Here is an example of the emails I received when awaiting the payout. In addition to the dozens of typical bonus emails, I received around 10 of these personalized emails.
Hello ********,
Seize the opportunity to win even more money!
You are eligible to receive an exclusive 15% Insurance Bonus.
Here’s how it works:
Reverse a minimum of $1,000 of your pending withdrawal of $34,557.72, and you will receive a 15% bonus on the amount should you lose it.
If you see the pending withdrawal on your screen, you can reverse any amount of it you wish. If you are unable to access your withdrawals, please contact me at 1-866-***-**** and I will be more than happy to assist you.
Your Insurance Bonus of 15%, if applicable, will be applied to your account within 24 hours after the promotion has ended.
Note that this exclusive Insurance Bonus offer is not automatically credited. You must contact us in order to have your account credited accordingly.
I am here to serve you anytime. Feel free to contact me if you require any assistance at all.
Good Luck,
******
Account Manager
Last edited by degenlaw; 12-31-2013 at 03:30 PM.
12-31-2013
, 03:09 PM
12-31-2013
, 06:27 PM
01-01-2014
, 09:28 AM
Needless to say, I gave back a biiiig chunk of that. I think I went from 10,000 to 3,000 in a matter of minutes. I then decided that enough was enough and made a withdrawal for the full balance. Needless to say (with this being BWIN), I cancelled said withdrawal several times, losing a lot of it and finally cashing out maybe 200 Euros or so. I did give back that by busting several 25 Euros deposits within days.
So yeah, everything´s possible.
The one thing I don´t find credible is that hero would wait the full 20 weeks without even touching any of the remaining balance. I know I´m a sick degenerate and so is hero given how he blew through massive amounts several times, so there´s no way he wouldn´t find some rationalisation to play anyway (early on: "those douchebags won´t pay me anyway, it´s just play money - gambool"; once he had received $20,000 ++: "who cares, I´m up sooo much - gambool"
). Assuming what hero said is in fact true, I´d rate that among the toughest $37,000 he´s ever earned lol.
01-01-2014
, 11:27 PM
01-02-2014
, 01:35 AM
Quote:
My degen story. It's not nearly as good as most in here, but I wanted to get it off my chest because I have never told anyone the full story besides my wife. Sorry for length.
It is late 2006ish and I'm in my 2nd year of law school. I'm a very small winner multi-tabling party and its skins at .25/.50 NL. I made more profit off bonus whoring and rakeback than actual play. It’s near finals time so I do not have time to play poker. However, Party just started including its easy access blackjack. To take a break from studying, I play a few hands of blackjack with my tiny poker roll. I run $1k up to $8k. I go to sleep very happy. The next morning, I run the $8k to $22k in a few hours and am feeling on top of the world.
Well, you know how this goes. The next day, while studying, I decide to take a quick break and play with the roll. I start losing. Every time I put a stop loss point, I would get a split/double down hand at that exact point and lose. After that, it was just a downward spiral. I lost it all and then, through a series of $500 deposits, lost an additional $20,000 of living expenses meant for the entire school year that was through loans. It was just a total shock, seeing $0 in my bank account, knowing I had no money for rent/food/expenses in a very expensive city and I had to study for finals. I became severely depressed and my grades reflected this.
For the next two months, I would attend law school club meetings just so I could get their free food/snacks b/c I could not afford food. When there was no free food, I ate at a crappy subsidized food shelter meant for homeless people for like $.50 a burger. Thankfully, my parents bought me class books as a x-mas gift.
A few months later, I somehow deposit $200ish through credit on full tilt. I play absolutely atrocious heads-up limit poker but somehow run better than god. Go from 1/2 to 2/4 to 5/10 to 20/40 to 50/100. Make $20,000 off that $200. Smartly, I transferred my roommate $7kish of it to pay for the remainder of the rent for the year. Stupidly, I transferred $500 into some crappy gambling site like golden vegas or whatever after receiving a bonus offer (at that point, party had withdrawn from the US). Again, through a series of $500 deposits, I lose the entire $13k. I become severely depressed, grades dropped even more, could only afford homeless food, etc. I go to an extremely bad place in my life. Too long of a tangent, but it involves a restraining order against me filed by another law student I was dating, an arrest, me becoming a raging alcoholic, etc. The impact of stupid online gambling was ruining my life.
Somehow, I get a girlfriend in the summer of 2007. A few months in our relationship, we have a wedding to attend on a Saturday night at 5 pm for one of her close friends. On that Saturday afternoon, I deposit $600 on the same crappy site after receiving another bonus offer. I’m playing on one of the law library’s computers. In blackjack, ran the first deposit up to $5,000, then lost it all. Deposited another $600. Lost it. Rinse repeat X5. Had to go through 5 different credit cards trying to get approved. I really hit rock bottom. Finally, on the sixth deposit, I run it up to a couple thousand. I then start betting multi-hands. First $25 a hand, then $50, then $100.
At this point, it's already 4:30 p.m. and I have ignored multiple calls from my girlfriend. I start betting 5 hands at $500 a hand (so $2,500 a deal), and then 5 hands at $1000 a hand. I run like absolute god and run it up to $80,000. Then, doom switch. I start losing. I’m losing thousands and deep down, I know I’m going to lose it all. I continue to lose.
At around 6:00 p.m., my girlfriend (who is not a student at the school), finds some way to let the security guard to get her access to the law library. To this day, I do not even know how she knew I was there. She is in tears and (correctly) accuses me of lying when I said I was working for my crappy part-time summer job. I come clean and proudly state that I was up around $35,000 gambling online for that day. She then (correctly again) calls me an idiot, saying that I just got lucky at a game I was supposed to lose. She was not yelling, screaming, or even sobbing. Just quiet and subtle tears and telling me matter-of-factly that if she saw me gambling again, she would break up with me. I come clean regarding my gambling history over the last year.
We miss the wedding but make the reception. After the wedding, I cash out. Crappy golden vegas or whatever sends 8 emails saying that they cannot process my cashout b/c I did not provide them with adequate proof. I end up having to send copies of my license, all 5 credit cards I used, a utility bill, a cable bill, and my car registration. Three weeks later, they finally clear me but state that it would not be finalized for 72 hours and that I could reverse the cash out at any time. 2 weeks later, the cash out still was not finalized. After emailing back and forth, they give me some crap about how they can only send a $1985 check once a week, but that I could reverse the withdrawal of the remainder at any time.
It ends up taking 6 months to finally get my money. During that entire 6 months, despite multiple urges to gamble, I don’t. This is despite them sending over 100 personalized emails with special VIP bonus offers if I reverse my cashouts.
19 checks later, I end up with $37,000. I use $10k of it to buy an engagement ring for the girlfriend and I put the remainder straight to my student loans. Besides with friends in Vegas playing table minimums for $10 or $15, I have not played a pit game since. I am now happily married to that girl.
It is late 2006ish and I'm in my 2nd year of law school. I'm a very small winner multi-tabling party and its skins at .25/.50 NL. I made more profit off bonus whoring and rakeback than actual play. It’s near finals time so I do not have time to play poker. However, Party just started including its easy access blackjack. To take a break from studying, I play a few hands of blackjack with my tiny poker roll. I run $1k up to $8k. I go to sleep very happy. The next morning, I run the $8k to $22k in a few hours and am feeling on top of the world.
Well, you know how this goes. The next day, while studying, I decide to take a quick break and play with the roll. I start losing. Every time I put a stop loss point, I would get a split/double down hand at that exact point and lose. After that, it was just a downward spiral. I lost it all and then, through a series of $500 deposits, lost an additional $20,000 of living expenses meant for the entire school year that was through loans. It was just a total shock, seeing $0 in my bank account, knowing I had no money for rent/food/expenses in a very expensive city and I had to study for finals. I became severely depressed and my grades reflected this.
For the next two months, I would attend law school club meetings just so I could get their free food/snacks b/c I could not afford food. When there was no free food, I ate at a crappy subsidized food shelter meant for homeless people for like $.50 a burger. Thankfully, my parents bought me class books as a x-mas gift.
A few months later, I somehow deposit $200ish through credit on full tilt. I play absolutely atrocious heads-up limit poker but somehow run better than god. Go from 1/2 to 2/4 to 5/10 to 20/40 to 50/100. Make $20,000 off that $200. Smartly, I transferred my roommate $7kish of it to pay for the remainder of the rent for the year. Stupidly, I transferred $500 into some crappy gambling site like golden vegas or whatever after receiving a bonus offer (at that point, party had withdrawn from the US). Again, through a series of $500 deposits, I lose the entire $13k. I become severely depressed, grades dropped even more, could only afford homeless food, etc. I go to an extremely bad place in my life. Too long of a tangent, but it involves a restraining order against me filed by another law student I was dating, an arrest, me becoming a raging alcoholic, etc. The impact of stupid online gambling was ruining my life.
Somehow, I get a girlfriend in the summer of 2007. A few months in our relationship, we have a wedding to attend on a Saturday night at 5 pm for one of her close friends. On that Saturday afternoon, I deposit $600 on the same crappy site after receiving another bonus offer. I’m playing on one of the law library’s computers. In blackjack, ran the first deposit up to $5,000, then lost it all. Deposited another $600. Lost it. Rinse repeat X5. Had to go through 5 different credit cards trying to get approved. I really hit rock bottom. Finally, on the sixth deposit, I run it up to a couple thousand. I then start betting multi-hands. First $25 a hand, then $50, then $100.
At this point, it's already 4:30 p.m. and I have ignored multiple calls from my girlfriend. I start betting 5 hands at $500 a hand (so $2,500 a deal), and then 5 hands at $1000 a hand. I run like absolute god and run it up to $80,000. Then, doom switch. I start losing. I’m losing thousands and deep down, I know I’m going to lose it all. I continue to lose.
At around 6:00 p.m., my girlfriend (who is not a student at the school), finds some way to let the security guard to get her access to the law library. To this day, I do not even know how she knew I was there. She is in tears and (correctly) accuses me of lying when I said I was working for my crappy part-time summer job. I come clean and proudly state that I was up around $35,000 gambling online for that day. She then (correctly again) calls me an idiot, saying that I just got lucky at a game I was supposed to lose. She was not yelling, screaming, or even sobbing. Just quiet and subtle tears and telling me matter-of-factly that if she saw me gambling again, she would break up with me. I come clean regarding my gambling history over the last year.
We miss the wedding but make the reception. After the wedding, I cash out. Crappy golden vegas or whatever sends 8 emails saying that they cannot process my cashout b/c I did not provide them with adequate proof. I end up having to send copies of my license, all 5 credit cards I used, a utility bill, a cable bill, and my car registration. Three weeks later, they finally clear me but state that it would not be finalized for 72 hours and that I could reverse the cash out at any time. 2 weeks later, the cash out still was not finalized. After emailing back and forth, they give me some crap about how they can only send a $1985 check once a week, but that I could reverse the withdrawal of the remainder at any time.
It ends up taking 6 months to finally get my money. During that entire 6 months, despite multiple urges to gamble, I don’t. This is despite them sending over 100 personalized emails with special VIP bonus offers if I reverse my cashouts.
19 checks later, I end up with $37,000. I use $10k of it to buy an engagement ring for the girlfriend and I put the remainder straight to my student loans. Besides with friends in Vegas playing table minimums for $10 or $15, I have not played a pit game since. I am now happily married to that girl.
nice read
01-02-2014
, 04:17 PM
