When did y'all draw the line in gambling

[Pablo]

I understand that the typical person with a gambling problem often "had good luck" at the start. Winning came easy - at first. But later on, as the losses pile up, they try to "win it all back".

A long term marriage in our family almost broke up over gambling. My relative lost all of his accessible money and was finally caught out when he tried to borrow money from my elderly mother.

In my opinion gambling can lead to a major addiction, right up there with doing hard drugs. It can and does destroy lives.

Indeed.

Like most all addictions, some people are "better" at it than others. Better at hiding even. We are all different about addictions.

Like all things some people are attracted hard, others not so much.

Example: I could never be an alcoholic. Yes I have a beer or two per week. But then I go a month no beer, no particular reason. No attraction. For any reason. Same hard liquor. I'll have a sip, but hate being drunk. Hate it. BUT for some severe pain way way in the past I had been given strong opiates - I mean three days in I needed that feeling, more and more. It was scary, but I didn't care. NOW I know, but if there were a pill bottle sitting on my desk right now.....the pull would be STRONG. No one else even knew this, told my wife and she was surprised this happened when we married. That kind of addiction never goes away 100%.

So gambling, not that much different

First times I gambled in Vegas, bookies, etc I was LUCKY. I won a LOT of money (craps and sports books). It went on for awhile amazingly. At the craps tables I would give $100 chips to my wife to walk with, cash and leave together later. The pull was REAL.

Then we had kids, etc. I lost $100's real fast at the craps table. We had kids. THAT was stupid with a capital F minus. So I just stopped. Easier in some ways than opiates - TO ME. But again we are all different! Now retired, not too worried about money. Gambling may have some pull on me, but wisdom says a solid NO.

 

[Dave Hess]

Long time ago my brother was a security guard at an Indian casino and seems like there is a suicide in the parking lot every year.

Once a person loses all their money gambling it away some consider suicide as a way out.

 

[ecotourist]

A little update

So I guess I didn't learn my lesson but that was a good thing today because man I just couldn't leave it there.

I went to the shell and got three tickets each one being $100. First won nothing, immediately felt terrible, second won $500, on the third I won $200. So now I'm at -539 which is less painful than -939.

But man o man I've got the reinvest the $700 winnings for 7 more tickets feeling and it's a feeling I'm trying to shake since I know I should. But what if the 20m winner is just a few tickets away.

Sounds like you're chasing your losses. That's a sign it's time to quit.

A point of clarification - if you bought three $100 tickets and won $700, how are you ahead $700? Sounds to me like you are $400 ahead. Either your description of what happened or your math is faulty.

 

[RDY4WAR]

I have a $100 limit to any gambling adventure. My thing is poker. I'll buy into a table with $100. If I lose it, I'm done. It wasn't my night.

I haven't calculated my total, but I would say I'm probably ahead. I've won 2 tournaments, each worth >$5,000. I've had several nights that I've doubled up, some I've left 500-800% ahead. I've also had a lot of nights that I lost my $100 and went home. I've had several tournaments I've been knocked out of early and went home.

If I buy into a table with $100 and manage to double that to $200, I will leave that table and buy into another one with $100. If I lose that $100 there, I'm done, and leave $100 ahead. If I manage to double up again, I repeat the process.

One night, I was up >$500 at a table and on a roll, just letting it ride. This was back before my PTSD, when I could focus sharply for hours. Watch those who keep getting drinks delivered, and steal them blind the drunker they get and looser they get. I had a pair of jacks in my hand. The gods blessed me that night as the flop came out jack-six-jack. I had 4 of a kind on the flop. I checked. Some other guy bet $40, I called. The turn card was something irrelevant, I think a 4 of spades. Again, I checked. He bet $40 again, I raised him to $100, and he then said he was all-in. I had him covered just barely so I called. We flipped the cards over and he had a pair of sixes giving him a full house, sixes over jacks. A good hand but not better than my 4 jacks. I bought in that table with $100 and left it 5 hours later with ~$980.

I don't do scratch-offs nor I do play the lottery. The odds are not in your favor and you have no control over the winning chance. It's purely a matter of luck, and I don't like to bet on luck. Rarely I'll play a nickel slot machine or something if I'm waiting for a poker table to open, just to pass time.

 

[JavierH19]

Sounds like you're chasing your losses. That's a sign it's time to quit.

A point of clarification - if you bought three $100 tickets and won $700, how are you ahead $700? Sounds to me like you are $400 ahead. Either your description of what happened or your math is faulty.

Yeah 700-300=400 so I'm now at -539 instead of -939. So 400 less in the hole but I think I'll leave it there. I cashed it in at the station but didn't buy again. I'd usually revolve the cash into more tickets instead.

 

[anderson]

spend 20 bucks once , lost 20 bucks. thats the total amount of gambling for me. how people spend thousands is beyond me.

 

[RDY4WAR]

spend 20 bucks once , lost 20 bucks. thats the total amount of gambling for me. how people spend thousands is beyond me.

I don't understand it either. There's some older people who will pour their entire SS check into a slot machine the moment they get it.

 

[TiGeo]

Never really gotten gambling, the math always shows you will lose but folks spend money on all sorts of stupid stuff so whatever makes you happy.

 

[PandaBear]

I'll assume you wrote too quickly there and it came out wrong because of course there have been blackjack pros. I can teach an 8-year-old how to count cards. The hard part is getting away with it in a casino.

Even when they brought in big multi-deck shoes and shuffled early, you could often still track the cards in the shuffle. But then the auto-shuffler machines arrived.

A funny thing about blackjack is the worst blackjack player in the world is still better than the best slot machine player. (Yes, I know there is no skill involved with slot machines.) If we assume a good slot machine still only pays out less than 90% of what you put in, a blackjack player doing everything wrong such as not splitting aces, splitting tens, etc, will still lose less money than the slot player. And less than a scratch-off and similar player.

You can count cards, but remember there's the odd of "one mistake can lose them all".

The goal of winning money is to win, not lose less than another losing game like slot machine. Why would you want to play something that lose less if you are still losing? I don't get it.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

More likely they are money laundering as they are just there to lose money and launder.

The Blackbook contains customers who have been banned for a variety of reason but it got started in order to catch cheaters and card counters.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

This is what I tell people. The lottery isn't my retirement plan. But that handful of times I play when the jackpot is greater than the odds against, it is my EARLY retirement plan.

I have no illusions I'm going to win a big prize.

I know it's irrational.

Yet I'm rational enough to only play when the prize is large.

It's not irrational. In fact it's irrational to not play when the grand prize exceeds the odds of winning.

 

[DejaVue]

The goal of winning money is to win, not lose less than another losing game like slot machine. Why would you want to play something that lose less if you are still losing? I don't get it.

The point is, if someone gambles as a form of entertainment, try to at least pick a game where they lose less money. They can make all sorts of dumb plays at blackjack, having extra fun by splitting 10s etc and making the other players at the table lose their minds at such dumb plays, and they'd still lose less money than if playing slot machines or scratch-offs.

 

[anderson]

I don't understand it either. There's some older people who will pour their entire SS check into a slot machine the moment they get it.

its a addiction for sure. like i said i tried it once , that was enough for me. sometimes common sense isnt so common

 

[RDY4WAR]

The point is, if someone gambles as a form of entertainment, try to at least pick a game where they lose less money. They can make all sorts of dumb plays at blackjack, having extra fun by splitting 10s etc and making the other players at the table lose their minds at such dumb plays, and they'd still lose less money than if playing slot machines or scratch-offs.

The entertainment value makes it fun.

One time playing poker, I only had like $30 left in front of me and was ready to leave. So without looking at my cards, I went all in. I got some funny looks from around the table. I flipped my cards over at the end and had 3 of a kind, winning a split pot. Several of us had a laugh about that. I cashed out and went home.

 

[DejaVue]

The slot machines... they mock you.

Though, don't need The Twilight Zone to know that.