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All-in and Bad Beat: Professional Poker Players and Pathological Gambling

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Abstract

Previous research has shown that online poker players may be at a high risk of developing gambling problems and that there are various personality traits that may be associated with such risk. An online survey comprising 256 poker players (50.8 % professional players and 49.2 % recreational players) examined various aspects of their poker playing behavior. The goals of the study were to investigate: (i) the playing motivations of recreational and professional Texas Hold’em poker players, (ii) the psychological characteristics of online poker players in relation to narcissism, impulsivity, self-esteem, and problem gambling, and (iii) the differences between professional and recreational poker player on these psychological variables. Results showed that only 1.6 % poker players met the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling (n = 4). Generally, poker players had low scores on narcissism and impulsivity, and high scores on self-esteem. Implications for the study of online poker gambling are also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Filippo Re 6, Bologna, 40126, Italy

    Roberta Biolcati & Stefano Passini

  2. International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK

    Mark D. Griffiths

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  1. Roberta Biolcati
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  2. Stefano Passini
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  3. Mark D. Griffiths
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Correspondence to Roberta Biolcati.

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Biolcati, R., Passini, S. & Griffiths, M.D. All-in and Bad Beat: Professional Poker Players and Pathological Gambling. Int J Ment Health Addiction 13, 19–32 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-014-9506-1

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