Alessandro Bastianoni, 48, a relatively well known poker player in Italy, was found dead inside a luxury apartment in Miraflores, Peru on July 17th. According to local newspapers, authorities found a glass container with waste water mixed with poison gas next to his body and a briefcase containing $140,000 and a letter requesting that the money would be used to cremate his remains. His girlfriend,[...] Read more » Italian Poker Pro Committed Suicide After Losing $600,000
That's very sad, I hope that no one else will get as desperate as he did... Proper bankroll management and self-control is vital when it comes to poker and that's a tragic example of that.
Joined: Jul '13
Location: Israel
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 558
Sad for the guy and the poker community. These cases are relatively rear, but they damage the way people think about poker. In Israel, a "normative" guy murdered both his parents, to get money for gambling at illegal poker tables. To try to convince people here today that poker is a mind sport, like chess or bridge is harder than ever.
Joined: Feb '12
Location: Canada
Age: 64 (M)
Posts: 6036
Too bad about buddy.... Hey,...if he's paying $140,000 to be creamated,....I'll be NONE too happy to do the job...
...on a more serious note... Folks committing suicide from playing and losing at poker or other forms of gambling is a serious problem here in North America, whether it be from playing live in casinos, but in particular,...online gambling. People just sit at their computers blowing and wasting cash chasing losses. In many cases they're selling off personal items, their cars, maxing out their credit, and even re-mortgage their homes under false pretenses......and lose it all,....destroying their families,...and then committing suicide because they've ruined themselves...
This is one of the factors,....among others, including all kinds of fraud and cheating, that shut down online gambling in the US...
Joined: Feb '13
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 508
Pretty sick stuff. He was verry good prepared, as he used poison gas. Still I dont get it, as he had a suitcase with 140K in it.Thats a lot of money and more then enough to get away , I would think. Usually there is a lot more going on ( like depression) then we can see. Big step to step out of life like that.
sounds really strange that he comitted suicide with 140k next to him surely he could slap him self round the face for being a donk and use the money to start again, i would lol but sad that he decided to kill himself especially with that much of a bankroll left
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Romania
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 478
sad,sad.....sad .Maybe he couldn t see over .Money just drive u crazy to suicide sometimes ,poker was just the murder weapon this time ,could be gabling or sport bets or something else ......... crazy dude
Joined: Nov '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 67 (M)
Posts: 3361
it's sad that some people want to end their life because of gambling but the thing i don't get is, he had $140,000 in a suitcase so why end it all ? surely he had enough to start again !!!
Joined: May '13
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 2219
It says he had $600,000 gambling debts so he probably thought he could not pay it off and thus killed himself. That said, he was good enough to win it back using that money he left.
Joined: Feb '10
Location: Portugal
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 998
In other way its just weird when somebody have a girlfriend that stays lots of days without talking with you! If iam 3 days without talking with my girl there is something worng with the relation!
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
That's just sad! I would never allow myself to go so far in debt that I would want to die, but there's choices to make besides death. I mean this guy apparently had his reputation, ability to play again and there's always bankruptcy. Just a sad thing to do!
Joined: Dec '12
Location: New Zealand
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 504
im sure there are more details, especially with the mentioning of him being in 600k debt. sometimes when you get into that dark state of mind its hard to see any other alternative to dieing
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 7371
This is a very tragic story and my condolences go out to his family. We will never know for certain what led him to this but it is still very sad. May he rest in peace and his family will somehow come to terms with it
Joined: Mar '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 1277
Wow missied this one.
Messed up...but take away the poker aspect and this is just a tragic case, anyone who gets to that stage where they want to kill themselves is in a real bad shape.
Was poker the thing that pushed him? Perhaps, I think he was susceptible to this without even the poker.
