Luck, players, plays, beats, medicine, rulings, people, questions, tells, puzzles, and even “bad wins” are all a part of poker. The next few weeks we will look at “The Bad.”
Bad Medicine
Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. From 1998 until 2005, my primary prescription drug was Mirapex. This drug, used by thousands of patients, can create an obsessive, compulsive need to recklessly gamble (often on the Internet) as a side effect. The day before going into the hospital for a life changing operation, I remember playing well into the night and losing several hundred dollars on my last hand. After the operation, I no longer felt a compulsion to play. In fact, I did not play another hand for six months. A number of lawsuits have been filed by Mirapex users who lost everything. (For more information, see “Sudden Impulse” in the Sept. 6, 2006, People Magazine.) Prescription drugs’ side effects can be disastrous to your poker play.
