For researchers studying issues related to behavioral psychology and addiction, the data that comes from online gambling is a veritable gold mine of actionable intelligence. In the days before the modernization of the gaming industry, any analysis of behavior patterns relied on things like manually tracking data from operators in person or potentially unreliable surveys of customers themselves. The lack of reliable granular data made it difficult to draw a detailed picture of the connections between a player's behavior and their overall risk exposure.

It's all too easy for poker to cross the line from a hobby (or job) into a dangerous concern. And it's certainly not unique as a threat in this regard. Video games, social media, TV drama, secular jobs—all of these things have the potential to take up too much of our brain during periods when we should be taking care of other responsibilities. Behavioral researchers already have a term for this kind of unconscious worry: the Tetris effect.

As early video games such as Tetris became a part of pop culture in the late 20th century, some gamers began to experience the sounds and images of the game in their subconscious thoughts and dreams. For a cohort of Tetris players, the game became a concern. Even when they weren't playing it with their hands, they were playing it in their heads.

The point at which this concern becomes dangerous in a game like Tetris or poker is hard to define and is indeterminable using the time-based damage markers set in the game.

It's also hard to spot in poker in particular, because the element of skill and the other fundamental qualities of the game tend to excuse some of the time commitment as the mere pursuit of perfection.