Poker is a very nice and exciting game if you play it responsible and control your bankroll. Playing in an irresponsible way can cause problems. Players with a feeling for addiction can experience big problems if they are not alert at the signals of a gambling addiction. This doesn't only mean for players who have a history with gambling addiction, but also for new players who never played before.

Responsible poker means to play in a responsible and healthy way. We have a few tips which we advice you to follow if you want to play responsible poker. Sticking to these points doesn't mean that you don't have a chance to become gambling addicted, but it can help you a lot to recognise the signals of gambling addiction and make action before it's too late.

The Poker game is a very popular and exciting game. It's full of different strategies and you become a better player with a lot of practice and training. But poker also has a gambling aspect and it's not only skills. There is a big discussion if poker is a skill game or gambling. Whatever the answer is, history showed that people can get in problems if they don't play in a responsible way. That's why we advice you to follow the points below to avoid problems.

1) Play for fun. Don't think that you can make a living out of playing poker the whole day. Off-course there are poker players who became very rich and don't work anymore, but this doesn't mean that it was easy for them to get so far and that you have to do the same. Don't forget that maybe 5% of all the poker players earn good money with the game, but 95% loose or don't earn enough to be able to stop working. Play for fun and excitement and if you start winning or feel you are getting better who knows where you end up.

2) Play only with money that you can miss. Poker needs a lot of skills and if you have these skills it doesn't mean that you win for sure. Always keep in mind that you can loose money with playing poker, so never use money which you need for your rent, shopping, school, mortgage, your children, etc. Never and never borrow money to play poker. If you start with this than it's better not to play poker at all.

3) Set a limit when you play online poker. The poker rooms on our site all offer players to set a deposit limit per month. If you see that you increase this limit too many times, we advice you to stop for a while.

4) If you loose money don't try to win it back. The more you try to win money back the worse it can get. If you lost money with poker, it's a shame and accept the lost. If you play again you basically start with a new session and don't think back what you have lost before.

5) Don't play when you are emotional, angry, upset or drunk. You can't concentrate 100% and you will take the wrong decisions. Once you are totally back to normal you will regret these wrong decisions and then you get upset again and start playing again. Play only when you are relaxed, concentrated and not drunk.

6) There are more things in live than poker. Don't get obsessed with the game but set limits for playing. It's one of the most difficult things if you love the game, but it's very important that poker doesn't control your live.

7) There are many poker rooms who also offer casino games. Don't play these casino games with money you won from poker. It can take a long time to build up a good bankroll with the poker game, but you can loose this in minutes when you play roulette or slots.

8) Make an excell sheet (or whatever is good for you) and keep a history of your deposits and winnings. It's good to look at this sheet every time when you want to play or make a new deposit to control your spendings.

Responsibility of the Poker Rooms

Next to your own responsibility to control yourself with poker we think that the Poker Rooms also have a big responsibility with offering their poker games. Every Poker Room has to follow rules to protect players against themselves. Unfortunately not every Poker Room follows these rules which is off-course a very bad action for the business. The Poker Rooms you find on our site have a good reputation with offering responsible poker and they follow the rules otherwise they will loose their licence. But if you experience problems we would like to get informed about this so we might be able to help you or to report it to the Poker Room.

A bad Poker Room doesn't offer the options to set limits or to ask for self-exclusion for a certain period. They open your account if you request this, while your self-exclusion period has not finished yet or they send emails while you requested not to receive them. Avoid these poker rooms to prevent problems.

A good and responsible poker room offers the following options for responsible gaming:

1) Set deposit limits. A good poker room has this option available in the software to set limits. Once you have to send email for requesting deposit limits than it's better not to play there. As a player you need to be able to set limits and start at the same time.

2) Self-exclusion. A good poker room has this option available in the software to take a break for a while and to apply for self-exclusion. This can be 1 day, week, month or 6 months. You must be able to do this in the software at the moment you want to apply for this. If you have to send emails and wait for an answer it's better not to have this option as a poker room.

Third Party Organisations

If things got out of hand and you feel you are getting addicted or you got in problems, it's never too late to contact different organisations who can help you with your problems. Below we have a list of websites / organisations specialised in gambling addiction. At the moment there is not an organisation in Cyprus specialised in gambling addiction.

1) GamCare

GamCare provides support, information and advice to anyone suffering through a gambling problem. Based in London but you can phone from anywhere in the world or talk on the live chat.

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2) Cyprus Hypnotherapy Clinic

Hypnotherapy is ideal for mental health, anxiety related disorders or emotional problems including stress, anxiety and depression. It can be used to people with gambling problems.

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3) Gamblers Anonymous US

GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem

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