POker is Gambling, and it is skill. Gambling is any time you take a risk vs reward action. We 'gamble' every day. For many years, one of the largest GA group was in Chicago associated with the commodies exchange.

There is also a skill of limiting that risk, while maximizing that return. Wether it is poker, business, jury trials, or commodities.

A popint was made that one can be addicted to anything, I agree, I've had clients who were willing to let anything else suffer to feed their addictions. Two of note are Auctions and Beanie Babies. I had a client who would leave her children unsupervised at home (for days) to go to auctions and flea markets. I had a 'friend' who was hospitalized for malnutrition, because she spent her money on beanie babies rather than food.

I am not an expert, but I don't know what the line beteen addiction, and obsessive/compulsive is. They seem to run on the same, or at least parallell tracts. Certainly addiction is an illness.

The thing that concerns me, is there are those who will take such an event as this kid (as sad as his story may be), and lay the blame on the activity itself. Rather than attribute the actions to the illness, they'll portray the activity as evil.

Wayne, pleasure meeting you at the convention.