I'm an Aston Villa hero – I'd lose thousands at online poker and then rip open my laptop

Aston Villa legend Gabriel Agbonlahor has opened up on his fits of rage in the thick of his gambling addiction.

Breaking through to make his Premier League debut for the club aged just 19 was a fantastic achievement for Agbonlahor, but his early career success on the pitch also came with adverse impacts off of it.

Having an influx of money at such a young age, he soon became hooked on poker. "I really enjoyed bluffing and showing my cards at the table for banter," he said on the Ben Heath Podcast.

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"Then someone said to me ‘you know you can play online?’ I was like ‘what?’ Because we only trained until one o’clock back then under Martin O’Neill sometimes, I’m sitting there like ‘I’m not gonna watch Last of the Summer Wine like my dad used to or boring TV. You like poker so let’s have a go on the computer’."

It wasn't for financial gain that Agbonlahor was betting his wages, but rather the rush of adrenaline it brought when successful. He explained: "I wasn’t doing it for money, that’s the silly thing. I was doing it for that buzz when you win a hand and just beat someone."

However, to achieve that the stakes had to be continually raised - leading to a dangerous level. "The problem was the buzz wasn’t enough at that time for playing a game of like £100," Agbonlahor continued. "It was the big boy tables where you had to have £5,000 or £10k behind you. It was so easy to go ‘another £10k’."

And in turn, that led to heightened emotions – especially after losing funds. "Because I’d be so angry I’d lost a hand, laptop thrown down the stairs off the bannister. Apple Mac into pieces," the three-time England international, now 37, recalled.

"I’d rip it open, then I’d message a friend, 'got a spare laptop?’ Got my friend’s big old laptop come round, ‘how does this work?’ Buy a new Apple Mac and then I was like ‘this isn’t good’. And some of the younger players at the club had problems as well because it’s online, so easy."

While the addiction can be a hard habit to shake for many, the issue was resolved for Agbonlahor when he first became a father – something he's grateful for now looking back.

"I had my son at 21 and stopped easy," he added. "Not played online since. I do in casinos but normal amounts. Because when you’ve got money in your hand you can see it, so you don’t want to blow it as much.

"Having my son it was like ‘this is their money you’re blowing, if you carry on like this you’re gonna lose everything you’ve earned for the last three years’. I was quite lucky that I got over that habit, that addiction young, so I still had an earning capacity for 10 years."

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