Eastern CT State University Speech
I spoke at Eastern CT State University last night and everything seemed to go awesome. It was a great turnout, we packed about 50 students and grads into one of the meeting rooms in the Student Center and I was able to unveil a new addition to my speech, one which went very successfully.
If you’ve read the book, you already know that I had a real issue with ESPN and their E:60 broadcast of four days in the life of Phil Ivey. In the last chapter of the book, “I’m Calling Everyone out in the Poker World,” I talk about how distasteful and disastrous this piece was. But last night I showed it as part of my speech. The 11 minute video can be seen online at espn.com (or click the link — http://search.espn.go.com/phil-ivey-e60/videos/6). The video was so well received, not in the way that ESPN wanted it to be, but in the sense that pieces like this should not exist, ESPECIALLY on ESPN.
As one of the students in the room noted, like myself, she has been watching ESPN for years, ever since she was a kid and acknowledged how damaging this piece could have been for any young kid watching. The piece reiterates over and over how easy it was for Phil Ivey to make millions of dollars in such little time. That poker is NOT gambling and, Ivey’s not worried of this all going away because poker isn’t gambling. Yet, ironically enough, the whole four days are spent playing craps (is that not gambling too, Ivey?). Or how about the fact that he specifically states, “everyday I’m gambling on something,” then refers to how he doesn’t spend a day without playing craps, blackjack, poker, or betting on sports. Yet these must not be gambling either. (I hope you all sense my sarcasm).
Also, his childhood friend talks about Ivey winning a couple million dollars in a poker cash game when he first started out being, “the best thing that ever happened to him.” But I can’t help but question that statement.
The other striking resemblance that I brought up for the students was the amazing similarities that Ivey and I shared. His grandfather, like mine, taught him how to play poker. When he was 16 years old, he worked at McDonalds, I worked at Burger King. He wanted a life that didn’t include struggling, wanted to be rich, and wanted it now, that ideal drove me to the casino because I also wanted the easy way out. Then he took a job as a telemarketer and spent his paychecks at the casino playing 16-18 hours each day. I worked in insurance (basically as a telemarketer myself) and found myself spending my paychecks at the casino as well. The biggest difference, Ivey lives a fantasy life that very very few will ever be able to be a part of, while I lived reality.
Ivey acknowledge with a smile on his face that he slept under the boardwalk a couple times, but “what can you do.” Students also caught this and even joked “if you’re sleeping under the boardwalk, you’re well on your way to being a poker celebrity.” Clearly Ivey and ESPN aren’t taking that seriously AT ALL.
The whole point of all this was to show how unbalanced poker is portrayed in the media. What most don’t understand is that as poker becomes more and more popular, the majority of these players (the human billboards as I like to say, because of the online sponsorships that cover their clothing as if they were Nascar drivers) make money each time a new player joins their respective online sites. Ivey owns a piece of FullTilt poker and managed to get a plug in for that before the piece was over.
I’ll say it like I say it in the book, shame on you ESPN for airing this train wreck, which undoubtedly forced some young kids to cross firefighter or teacher off their career list, and found themselves replacing it with “PHIL IVEY.”
Perhaps Ivey could have at least saved a little face and said something like, I’m thankful for being where I’m at and I’m lucky to have gotten here, that this isn’t the norm. Instead he focused on his “intimidating stare,” which generated quite a few laughs at Eastern.
The students at Eastern impressed me very much. There are a group of students there who are putting together this gambling awareness campaign and if I remember correctly, it’s their third year doing so. Good for them, I’m glad to hear that there are people out there trying to do their part, whether or not they’ve found themselves in the midst of their own gambling addiction. That’s not important, it’s acknowledging that our society lacks an awareness with this issue.
The last point I’d like to make that I brought up last night was how qualitative an addiction is. I’ve run into this numerous times with the book, “oh you only lost $40,000.” A gambling addiction is not quantitative. It doesn’t matter how much you lost or how long you’ve been gambling for. It’s about what it does to a person once someone crosses the threshold from being a social activity to one that’s harmful to oneself. My story might be sexier or more eye catching or garner more national attention if I lost millions of dollars then found a way to turn my life back around, but why does it take millions? One of the best compliments I’ve gotten from someone reading the book (who was a former gambling addict that lost millions and at first seemed skeptical of my addiction, given that I only lost $40K) was “it brought me back to what I experienced during my own addiction, you were able to capture everything.”
I can only hope there are more places like Eastern where people are trying to do their part. But I can’t say enough how impressed and encouraged I am that the four young students at Eastern CT State University along with Professor Thomas Broffman are organizing their own campaign on campus. Good for you Eastern, keep up the good work!!
And thank you very much for having me there to kick it off for you!! I hope everyone enjoyed having me there as much as I enjoyed being there. All the best with all of your endeavors.
