| Another good question for the X-file (experience file) is "did I have a good time tonight?" If the answer is "yeah, except for when..." then you have a chance to avoid that "when" on your next trip. If the answer is "no, I had a lousy time, because..." then you need to ask yourself how likely the "because" is to happen the next time out. What circumstances led to the "because?" How much control are you likely to have over those circumstances? What the X-file really boils down to is this: very few people would debate the value of experience, be it in gambling or non-gambling situations. Merely having experience, though, isn't the same thing as accumulating experience, and accumulating it isn't the same thing as learning from it. If you remain aware of the value of experience, actively seek it out, actively try to learn from it, and can let go of your ego enough to believe that there's always more to learn, your gambling X-file should continue to add weapons to your gambling arsenal. Sometimes these weapons will be defensive, keeping you away from potential meltdown situations, and sometimes they will be offensive, teaching you how to best take advantage of opportunities. Maybe paying lots of attention to what you're doing when you're gambling doesn't fit into your notion of a fun gambling experience. OK, recognizing that is important for your X-file too. You've recognized that you're not likely to be a very successful gambler, financially. If you're aware that you're having enough fun to justify your loses, you're behaving sensibly. I don't judge your choices. I just hope you make them consciously. Those of you who've read Casino Gambling the Smart Way already know my strong beliefs about how risking big money just to earn comps is penny-wise and pound foolish; I won't repeat them here. As to the next "theory," why would 15-minute sessions mean anything about your results? You play for 15 minutes, walk around, and then play for another 15 minutes? How do the cards or dice know you took a break? Life is one long session. There ARE good reasons to take occasional breaks: enjoying your win, avoiding "going on tilt" during a losing streak, gambling less. But there's no arbitrary number like 15 minutes or an hour and forty-three minutes which yields magical results. I started wondering what would have happened if my back-seat friend had been confidently sharing his theories with a relative novice. Confidence is convincing; confidence sells. If I hadn't had 30 years of gambling experience telling me otherwise, I could easily have been led to believe I had stumbled into a gold mine of gambling secrets rather than a gold mine of comedic relief. If you like gambling and talk about it with enough people, you will hear many such self-confident statements made by people who no doubt believe they know what's going on, and who are probably very sincere in their efforts to "help" you. Do yourself a favor. The next time you start hearing something from someone who hasn't written well-received books or hasn't won lots of money gambling, take the advice just as seriously as you would take brain surgery advice from Jethro Bodine, the idiot nephew on The Beverly Hillbillies. Smile and thank them politely, and remember that free advice is usually worth a lot less than you pay for it. Scenario C - Risking your balance. Charlie likes to take big risks for big rewards. He posts up $110 and risks it all on a single game Saturday night, which he wins. His balance is now $210 and he risks it all on a Sunday 1pm game, which he also wins to bring his balance to just over $400. Feeling lucky, he puts the whole amount on a 4pm game and wins again to get his balance to an incredible $765 (and change) in less than a day. Then, he decides to go for the big win and risks the whole amount again on the Sunday night game, which he loses. Charlie has now lost $110 despite going 3-1. Wagering $110 for each of the four games would have yielded a profit of $190. Remember books have a 50/50 chance of wiping you out when you put all your action on any one game and those odds will catch up with you eventually. Scenario D - Chasing your losses. David has a bankroll of $1000. He wagers $110 on a game and loses. He is frustrated at losing the money and wants to win it so he wagers $121 (to win $110) on a second game and loses as well. He is now down $231 and is really frustrated. Thinking he can't lose 3 in a row, he wagers $254.10 (to win $231) and loses yet again. He has now lost $485.10 and even a win with his remaining balance of $514.90 won't get him back to even but he puts it all in play on another game hoping to get it close (it would be a win of $468.09). He loses the fourth game and has busted out. Losing streaks will happen to every player every year no matter how good they are and players that chase losses will not last for long. |
Tiger 1 home gamb1 gamb2 gamb3 gamb4 gamb5 gamb6 gamb7 Tiger 2 Casino and other Advertisers |
||