Poker Players who went insane and/or succumbed to serious drug issues

Poker Players who went insane and/or succumbed to serious drug issues

They all seem to share a high IQ, sometimes well-educated, sometimes not

Stu Unger: Drug addiction,
Vanessa Selbst: Curre

19 October 2025 at 12:32 AM
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94 Replies


Earlier posts are available on our legacy forum HERE

Probably one of most talented players to ever sit down at the virtual felt ChanY chani1995 on stars. Thread title suits him.


Sailor Roberts.
Joey Hawthorne.


thread reminded me of the story about david benyamine being down to his case money, prop betting it on a coackroach beating another coackroach in a race, and losing it


by Calichusetts

Who is this? Asking for a friend

EDIT- Rabbit holed...yikes

Her name is Brandi and she was abused on these forums. Shame on you losers who contributed to her suicide. Anyone who talked bad about Brandi burn in hell and shame on you, the mods did nothing to protect her and shame on them as well. The mods and posters have a part in her death shame on them all.


by kevmode

Her name is Brandi and she was abused on these forums. Shame on you losers who contributed to her suicide. Anyone who talked bad about Brandi burn in hell and shame on you, the mods did nothing to protect her and shame on them as well. The mods and posters have a part in her death shame on them all.

Nah.


Mike 'the mouth' Matusow, long history of addiction. He overcome it but he is not the same on the felt


by kevmode

Her name is Brandi and she was abused on these forums. Shame on you losers who contributed to her suicide. Anyone who talked bad about Brandi burn in hell and shame on you, the mods did nothing to protect her and shame on them as well. The mods and posters have a part in her death shame on them all.

It's been nearly 20 years since her passing, your moralizing is purely performative.


by 411Heelhook

It's been nearly 20 years since her passing, your moralizing is purely performative.

What does time have to do with it? Slavery was hundreds of years ago. The Holocaust was almost 100 years ago. I guess time passing makes events less meaningful?


Absolute insanity to compare Brandi's life and death to the holocaust or slavery, but if you're trying to moralize to modern Germans and modern Americans/Europeans the same way the other guy is then yes you're being every bit as meaninglessly performative as him.


Jason Funke who was naked and shot outside a church in Vegas back in 2017. Reports were he was on LSD. He seems to still be playing, but hopefully he is clean and living a good life.


by kevmode

Her name is Brandi and she was abused on these forums. Shame on you losers who contributed to her suicide. Anyone who talked bad about Brandi burn in hell and shame on you, the mods did nothing to protect her and shame on them as well. The mods and posters have a part in her death shame on them all.

yeah i remember that... :( :( its amazing how when in group how people will act.


by MiamiCaine

The WacoKidd, dude got a full running start before he jumped off the deep end

Stealthmunk, haven't heard much about him in the last few years

WacoKidd, really? I thought he won a WSOP tourney and then left poker. I was a fan because I lived in Waco at the time (I only lived there 3 years). Does anyone know what happened?


by MiamiCaine

The WacoKidd, dude got a full running start before he jumped off the deep end

Stealthmunk, haven't heard much about him in the last few years

what's Waco's real name?

edit: is it Jared?


This thread is a wild journey through a list of people I didn't know had left us.

I happen to be a poker player, and I happen to have succumbed to serious addictions a few times in my life, but the two are not necessarily related. Maybe they are. Is poker an addiction, if I go really long stretches of time doing other things without bothering to get involved? Is drinking an addiction if I go really long stretches without doing it? But there have also been really long stretches where no matter what, I could not stop doing either. Also had the "too much food" problem going for a while, a couple of times, but have managed to put that back into a relatively healthy place too. I keep going to very extreme excesses on all the vices for periods of times, and then pulling back before I am completely lost.

Not all of us manage to do that last part.

: pours one out for all the homies that didn't make it :


by Vvvvv

what's Waco's real name?

edit: is it Jared?

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player....

He was a big poster over at p5s when I was as well. I never heard he went off the deep end, I always just assumed it was the same as most from that era, the game got tougher and he couldn't win enough anymore so he either went broke or found a better income source.


How about Richard Nixon?

A strong poker player in his Navy days, he specialized in 5 card stud, using his winnings to finance his first congressional campaign.
Did he go nuts? Not in his early political career but later on, yes. He suffered from excessive paranoia, especially in his last years in office as President. As early as 1971 he compiled a list of enemies with more names being added as time went on. He talked to some of portraits in the White House. The heavy drinking contributed to other erratic behavior.


Thatmystery guy is so Cool


by 411Heelhook

It's been nearly 20 years since her passing, your moralizing is purely performative.

Excuse me coward, I am a grown man fight me. You guys on the forums were the cause of her death prove me wrong.


by kevmode

Excuse me coward, I am a grown man fight me. You guys on the forums were the cause of her death prove me wrong.

One guy on the forum in particular


by Slugant

One guy on the forum in particular

Who is now deceased anyways.

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