Former pro-poker player turns the tables on gambling Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Save Normal text size Advertisement Before he was 25, former professional poker player Philip Newall wrote two books on Limit Hold âEm poker and bought two houses with cash. His future wasnât in the cards, though. Now 33 and a behavioural economist, Dr Newall has published new research which shows gambling can make you unhappy, sleepless and lose your house. Philip Newall used to play poker professionally â now he is an academic studying gambling. Credit:James Brickwood A 10 per cent increase in spending on gambling doubles a personâs chance of missing a mortgage payment, found a study published this month in the journal