You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Poker ≈ tonic
It’s been 6 years, since the credit crunch in early 2007, which left me, basically, up a creek, with nary a paddle.
Background: Had been to Leeds Uni in 1997. Got into a shed load of debt during that, but did pretty well and came out with a 1st Class Hons, and then got a job, almost immediately with a company called TEAMtalk, Sports website, dot com affair, where I built various bits of software, designed some databases, techy stuff, you get the picture. After 7 years of work (and ultimately, our company being bought and rebought and rebought, I was now a part of UKBetting/Totalbet, soon to become Skybet), I had accrued nothing but a bad gambling habit. Something, which, was probably always on the cards given my genealogy (more on that another time). I was regularly, and to high stakes, betting on horses and football on betfair and in betting shops and roulette in the casino. Debt was adding up, but hey, I was bringing in a decent wage and had a couple of credit cards with 20k available on them, and whenever I fancied I wouldn’t think twice about getting £250 from the cashpoint on my credit card (interest on makes my eyes water still) and then joining in on whatever night out was going on. So, in short, gambling, drinking, holidays, life of Riley equalled 60-70k in debt and no sign of me slowing down. I think I was (still think I am), one of the good guys, binge and purge personality, but nice with it – or so I’m told, but was hardly in control.
So, anyway, a fateful day in my life was when, I received an email, saying my limits on my cards were being reduced by 34k, 20k and 14k reduction on each. I was using these for living/groceries/rent, where the salary was paying off consolidation loans, from where I was trying to get on top of things. That was it for me. I had no avenues to go, and within that morning, I was looking at being without food or a roof within a few weeks. All the financial institutions were following suit, so borrowing more wasn’t an option. After many tears, and conversations and research, I came across the CCCS (the consumer credit counselling service), based in Leeds, which were a government based debt restructuring charity. In short, I managed, with lots of phonecalls and letters, to agree to a Debt Management Plan (DMP), where they calculated what I could theoretically live off each month, and then took the rest to satisfy my creditors. So, for the last 5 years, I’ve been living off not much more than £20 a month in my allotted “recreation” budget. The gambling came to a halt (with the odd relapse), but I’ve been pretty good to my word and announced, that it was my excess and spending, and my debt and I wanted to pay it off, in full, rather than bankruptcy or other ways out. Anyway, that day is nearly there. After living on a pittance (they’re really strict with the budget), for as long as I can now recall, I’m nearly debt free.
Early this year I was diagnosed with severe depression (combination of factors, but having been on a financial diet for 5 years, losing a parent and the break-up of various relationships were major factors), for which I was prescribed antidepressants and a not-significant time off work. Didn’t want to do anything other than stay in bed, drink and eat. I abstained from the drugs and took the other route open to me, which was daily exercise and improved diet and the final piece of the puzzle, was by chance: poker, which actually managed to get me most on the road to recovery…
Poker: I was invited to Grosvenor in Leeds for their £2 (reg) freeroll (2 x £10 optional rebuys), with some mates, when I say invited, I was forced! It was actually the second time I had been to this venue, after SPT Leeds a few years back, where Thewy bust me (a recurring outcome, again, another story) with 40 left with, QQ vs his AQ on a 5 high board. Señor Thew binks on the river – mbn. Anyway, I digress. I went along, as down in the mouth as I had been the previous 4-6 months really. But something great happened; I finished a moderate 6th, but the banter, the sheer lunacy of some of the play/stories and behaviour (there are some eccentric badgers out there), and the fact that no one knew or cared about my state of mind. As the hours went by, I realised I was having fun and I had actually laughed, out loud, a few times. Something I’d not done in what seemed like years.
Since then, I’ve been applying bank roll management, have small “roll” for playing live at Gala in Leeds (a well-run card room by Mel, Bob, Mou(n)sey, Chris – I recommend you to get down there if you can) as much for sanity purposes as profit, and am playing live once or twice a week. Some characters there for sure, Tariq, Cyril (who looks as though he’s permanently as death’s door), Jim ‘The Rock/Captain Birdseye’, Milan (guarantee you’ll hear about 20 of his out hands a night), Jeff, Lawrence, Marcin, Bowser (pokerrat), Jarrod etc.
Poker was never one of my vices really, had been playing MTTs on Sky and other sites on and off, and have a pretty good ROI (40%) and sharkscope score (does this actually have any credence); always seem to be able to maintain control. I would often (still do) do well, then self-exclude for a month or so, just to ensure I don’t get carried away, and then use(d) those winnings to bring down the debt. Whether it was playing a freeroll, to then try and sat into a main and then doing well from that. Or spinning £5 to £200 via DYMs. Poker always was and still is something I am passionate about and something which I can and do use to lift my spirits.
I try and contribute to the forum where I can (I recommend you do the same, overall, it's a great bunch of guys and gals), get involved with the shows and make friends on the table and Sky Poker, in my humble opinion, stands out as the best place to do that. Quick howdy to ‘AlfPacino’ (great alias) after last night’s deep run in the BH, another good guy it would seem.
Am not saying that poker has saved me, but I’m on the road to recovery, for sure.
Just got inspired by Jac35’s excellent thread and thought I’d share. Sorry for the ramble/life story.
Dan
Comments
Good luck on the tables
Matt
Jacqui
Big well done on getting a grip on yourself and your finances and getting your life back on an even keel.
Continued good luck in life and at the tables.
I may write more (with a lot more poker bias) soon. To quote Rocky "there's still stuff in the basement".
Thanks again
ps an wp to yoyo,in the dtd win ...pps mr Jt who dreeses you lym,s lol....
What a fantastic post!
Really admire that you didn't take the easy way out and took responsiblity.
Glad that you're back on track now.
If in some way i did inspire you to write that then i feel humbled.