A former University of Connecticut student who's written a book about his addiction to poker is among those scheduled to speak Thursday at the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling's annual conference at Water's Edge Resort and Spa in Westbrook.

The event marks the Guilford-based council's 30th anniversary.

Joe Turbessi, whose "Into the Muck" is a first-person account of his descent into poker addiction during his college years, will speak at 1:45 p.m. His talk is titled, "Lucky in Life, Unlucky in Cards."

In his book, which is being released Thursday, Turbessi, of Newington, "calls out to poker operators, the media and successful poker players to paint a balanced picture of the emotional ups and downs of the poker world and the danger of addiction," Marvin Steinberg, the CCPG's executive director, writes in the forward.

Keith S. Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, is scheduled to deliver the conference's keynote address at 9:15 a.m. Whyte, whose prior experience includes work with the American Gaming Association, the American Bar Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will talk about the growth of gambling and the problems associated with it over the last three decades.

Following a break, Dr. Jon Grant, professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, will give a presentation on the neurobiology and cognitive functioning of problem gambling.

Grant supervises an outpatient clinic for impulse-control disorders in Minneapolis, directs a gambling-research center and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies.

In the afternoon, the agenda includes a performance by a theatrical group whose members depict the problem-gambling issues facing older adults and concludes with a panel discussion titled "Problem Gambling, Sex Addiction and Other Co-Occurring Disorders." Lori Rugle, director of the state's Problem Gambling Services, will moderate the discussion. Panelists will include Steinberg, Grant and Dr. Marc Potenza, director of the Problem Gambling Cinic at Yale University.

The CCPG, a private, nonprofit organization, is funded primarily by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, which own Connecticut casinos, and the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Check-in for the conference is from 8 to 9 a.m. Thursday. For more information, log on to www.ccpg.org.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com