Are most famous poker players compulsive gamblers?
 

I know that Phil Ivey plays alot of craps - as does TJ Cloutier. And Ted Forrest, Doyle Brunson, and Howard Lederer all make huge proposition bets. I wonder if their huge apetite for gambling is the whole reason they are successful in the first place or the Achilies heel that will keep from acumulating wealth.

Nope
 

I would say no. A compulsive gambler would be too agreesive and bust out early by betting on things like the inside straight draw.

The irony is that to them it's not gambling, its working...

yes, but on a different level
 

Doyle has said if he just stuck to poker he would be millions ahead. It just kills me that they can put most people on the correct hand all day long and gain for thereself's 80-90+ percent odds and then turn around and place there winnings on the bad end of a coin flip i just don't get.

I think the reason why so many top-end gamblers blow so much of their money on wagers outside their specialist field is that they are not driven by the accumulation of wealth but by the thrill of winning, the thrill of being right. Stu Ungar was the perfect example of this - unbeatable at gin and practically unbeatable at poker he would blow his millions betting on sports or golf which he couldn't play to save his life. Again it comes down to the thrill of winning and not the amassing of wealth.

Well, it depends how you define 'gambling'.

There is no question that the most successful winning poker players need to be able to gamble insane sums of money to win like they do.
The giants of poker don't get there by playing entirely tight games.

As far as the downward issue of gambling (Sports, Horses, Craps, etc...), that's an individual thing.
As best I can gather, Barry Greenstein is a 'gambler' but is very prudent with his money.
Conversely, TJ Cloutier isn't a very wealthy man at all even though he is one of the winningest players of all time due to his gambling habits with craps.

And then there's Stu Ungar...

Personally speaking, I realize i'll never be able to sit in a 4000/8000 game just because I have too much respect for what that money represents.
I guess in that sense, i'm not a 'gambler'.
But in a tournament, am I willing to push it all in if I think the other guy is on something soft and I have a bajillion draws that would eat him?
Yeah.

There are tons of poker players who make prop bets (proposition bets) with each other. Like Ted Forrest and Phil Ivey will play golf and bet more on 1 shot than the best professional golfers make in a year. I wonder if this is due to a need to gamble or because they have so much money that the bet doesn't mean much to them.

If anyone has seen Phil Ivey trying to play golf they'd be willing to stake their house on him not making the shot. He's appalling.

yeah but the people who he plays against are just as bad

Golf is a big part of the Vegas gamblers culture.
Lots and lots of poker pros play golf for high dollar wagers with all sorts of handicaps.
They are smart enough to stick to playing other shitty players, though.
It isn't like Ivey is going to play Tiger Woods in a scratch golf game for $1,000,000.

I'm aware how mcuh money the high rollers gamble on golf but Ivey is so unbelievably bad that I'd be amazed if he gambled any significant amounts on it. I know Ungar was similarly terrible at the game and yet bet thousands on it but he was a very different animal to Ivey and would have bet on practically anything.

The simple fact is they put no real value on the money.

To quote most of them "When you start looking at it like real Money, You lost your edge"

This does not include Barry Greenstein, Which has a noodle and knows time has value. He puts some back and give alot to charity. To me Barry is the real deal. Smart, Good, and has a good Heart.

Players
 

I played with TJ back in the 70's at Charlies Bissells in Dallas. There was a older man named Brooks that was a super player. Bill Smith, Ken Smith, and Bobby B. all started at the Dallas game. Even Woody Harrelson's dad Charles played there. The big winners would always take their wad to Vegas and drop it. People say TJ is broke, who knows?

I think they are not compulsive. They are just poker addicts.:D

I think I read an article about one of TJ's bracelets was for sale on EBay a few months ago.

Yes it was on Ebay for bidding now. I read that too. I think he's broke.

I don't think so, poker pros are just a great players. But i guess some poker players are having a symptoms like having a nonstop after poker sessions or a few losses. He will not stop playing even after he has won a large amount of money.

yeah i would also agree, it is not gambling, it is working

As rightly said when gamblers gamble they are not gambling but working and for them winning is not the issue at all it’s the thrill of risking everything you have and winning it all – like I said, taking chances!! We have seen many families go to the dogs because of this attitude of compulsive gamblers – but there is no stopping them!!

Well, it depends. We can’t really say that there hasn’t been an incident where a compulsive gambler won as he is aggressive and betting on inside straight draw. It all depends on other players as well. But still I would say most famous pokers players are actually not compulsive gamblers!