I think I'm addicted to Gambling
- Thread starter Dyepaintball12
- Start date
Ouch, you guys don't pull any punches. Yes, I was going once a week for a while. But I am currently going to school for five hours a day, with all pay and benefits from the military. Yes, five. I can get up at 6am, play a couple hours, eat breakfast and get to school by 9am. I get home at 2:30pm with PLENTY of time to spend with my family. My wife is ok with this.
I was thinking more in the lines of the "unreasonable optimism" (but then again I've always been an optimist) and "bragging about wins" (to sate the worried parents who think you are losing your life savings)
I was thinking more in the lines of the "unreasonable optimism" (but then again I've always been an optimist) and "bragging about wins" (to sate the worried parents who think you are losing your life savings)
Dye, what is the drinking age where you are?
Boozing has been a favorite pastime of many men for ages.
What about the ladies?
why, when I was your age... There were young women aplenty interested in...
engaging in the same activities I was!
one not enough to keep you interested? insist on 2 at a time!
Think I'm joking?
all in all, I recommend not making any bets where you dont have an advantage, hit the books all the harder at school, brush and floss between meals, avoid between meal snacks, and observe your local laws.
Boozing has been a favorite pastime of many men for ages.
What about the ladies?
why, when I was your age... There were young women aplenty interested in...
engaging in the same activities I was!
one not enough to keep you interested? insist on 2 at a time!
Think I'm joking?
all in all, I recommend not making any bets where you dont have an advantage, hit the books all the harder at school, brush and floss between meals, avoid between meal snacks, and observe your local laws.
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This is a good point. The allure is there when you don't know AP techniques because you think you can get rich through luck. But now that I have "awoken" there would be zero allure for me to to play a game with no edge, similiar to why I have never placed a bet on a CSM (with one exception) or on roulette. There is NO draw whatsoever. I can think of a hundred activities that I would rather do, like play video games where I could maybe win if I practice. That I think is truly when you are addicted, KNOWING YOU HAVE A DISADVANTAGE and still put money down. So you could say anyone who plays the lotto is an idiot to which I'll say: yes! Not bad people, just stupid. But hey, its not my money so I could care less. Some of the best people I know are not terribly smart, and some of the biggest a-holes I know are incredibly smart. Not the best way to judge character. I mean, I'm sure Bush MEANS well right?
Keep away all gambling from now on.
The gambling will destroy you sooner if you keep on playing casino.
You are a loser when you are addicted to gambling.
You are a loser when you can't control yourself.
This is not your world and you are still young.
You will be win if you leave the gambling --not the money, but the time.
My experience
I can totally relate to the original poster. I've seen that some of you suggested to just quit cold turkey, never to enter a casino ever again. However, this is harder said than done when you have an addiction. Being from Ontario, I was able to enter the casinos when I was 19. I'm now 23 and I regret ever stepping foot in there in the first place. My problem is that I don't know when to stop. There are times when I'm up a couple grand only to watch it dwindle as the hours past by because in my mind I'm thinking that I can win more and that I'll always have money. I was lucky enough to have my parents come to the rescue when I didn't even have money to pay for tuition. DON'T LET YOURSELF GET TO THIS POINT. I know what you're thinking, "I'm not that stupid. It will never happen to me." I will bet that there will be a point in your life when you are going to lay in bed and can't sleep because you're thinking about gambling or you're thinking about how much money you've lost and how you're going to get it back. This is a lot of stress on your body.
I think another problem is that after awhile I saw that card counting was like a regular job. Like any job, it can get really monotonous. The excitement wasn't there anymore, yet I kept going to the casino because it was something to do.
Now I just try to go maybe once a month with a couple hundred dollars and just try to have fun. If I win - great. If I lose - it's ok too because I know that I can afford to lose a couple hundred a month. My advice to you is that you should get through school, get your degree, go once in awhile if you really have to and enjoy being in your late teens and early 20s! The casino is always going to be there; your youth will not. What scared me the most was watching the same older folks bouncing from table to table losing everything in their wallets. It's really sad to see. I hope I don't get to the point where people are feeling sorry for me.
I recently got into med school so for the next 8 years of my life (4 med + 4 residency) gambling is going to have to be put on the back burner. I'm always going to think about gambling, but at least this way I'll be too busy to do anything about it. My significant other always asks me how can somebody be so smart yet be so stupid. For the sake of arguing I just reply with, "I don't know."
I can totally relate to the original poster. I've seen that some of you suggested to just quit cold turkey, never to enter a casino ever again. However, this is harder said than done when you have an addiction. Being from Ontario, I was able to enter the casinos when I was 19. I'm now 23 and I regret ever stepping foot in there in the first place. My problem is that I don't know when to stop. There are times when I'm up a couple grand only to watch it dwindle as the hours past by because in my mind I'm thinking that I can win more and that I'll always have money. I was lucky enough to have my parents come to the rescue when I didn't even have money to pay for tuition. DON'T LET YOURSELF GET TO THIS POINT. I know what you're thinking, "I'm not that stupid. It will never happen to me." I will bet that there will be a point in your life when you are going to lay in bed and can't sleep because you're thinking about gambling or you're thinking about how much money you've lost and how you're going to get it back. This is a lot of stress on your body.
I think another problem is that after awhile I saw that card counting was like a regular job. Like any job, it can get really monotonous. The excitement wasn't there anymore, yet I kept going to the casino because it was something to do.
Now I just try to go maybe once a month with a couple hundred dollars and just try to have fun. If I win - great. If I lose - it's ok too because I know that I can afford to lose a couple hundred a month. My advice to you is that you should get through school, get your degree, go once in awhile if you really have to and enjoy being in your late teens and early 20s! The casino is always going to be there; your youth will not. What scared me the most was watching the same older folks bouncing from table to table losing everything in their wallets. It's really sad to see. I hope I don't get to the point where people are feeling sorry for me.
I recently got into med school so for the next 8 years of my life (4 med + 4 residency) gambling is going to have to be put on the back burner. I'm always going to think about gambling, but at least this way I'll be too busy to do anything about it. My significant other always asks me how can somebody be so smart yet be so stupid. For the sake of arguing I just reply with, "I don't know."
dunno but i've been told
Why don't you take up bridge for now or backgammon. I'm a recoverying alcoholic with over sixteen years of sobreity so, I know a lot about that and some about addiction. Applying the book Alcoholics Anonymous to this situtation, where you're not sure if you're an Alcoholic it says try to quit for a year on your own. And that's good money managament anyway. Personally I usually think about how much I could risk for a year if the swings grab my bankroll. Let's say at least you lost your safe maximum for this year and the next, so don't gamble until 2008!
If you think you still have control and some disposible income, then gamble with only that money you can afford to lose when and if you go back. That is one of the key issues as to whether you are a gambling addict or not, do you have control? Are you powerless and has your life become unmanagable? And more subltley, can you admit it to your inner self? When you go back, if you go back, in 2008 let's say, then try some controlled gambling before you plow in. Better yet, wait until you graduate to really play and you have some real money available. You read a lot of books, well, my favorite craps book was Sam Grafsteins, who starts out by warning his readers away from gambling.
Why don't you take up bridge for now or backgammon. I'm a recoverying alcoholic with over sixteen years of sobreity so, I know a lot about that and some about addiction. Applying the book Alcoholics Anonymous to this situtation, where you're not sure if you're an Alcoholic it says try to quit for a year on your own. And that's good money managament anyway. Personally I usually think about how much I could risk for a year if the swings grab my bankroll. Let's say at least you lost your safe maximum for this year and the next, so don't gamble until 2008!
If you think you still have control and some disposible income, then gamble with only that money you can afford to lose when and if you go back. That is one of the key issues as to whether you are a gambling addict or not, do you have control? Are you powerless and has your life become unmanagable? And more subltley, can you admit it to your inner self? When you go back, if you go back, in 2008 let's say, then try some controlled gambling before you plow in. Better yet, wait until you graduate to really play and you have some real money available. You read a lot of books, well, my favorite craps book was Sam Grafsteins, who starts out by warning his readers away from gambling.
Gambling vs. advantage play
After I first learned to be an AP, out of curiosity I went to a Gamblers Anonymous-type forum and asked them if they had any experience with card counting and advantage play in general. My theory was that learning AP could cure their sickness and their gambling wouldn't be destructive because they wouldn't be losing for very long.
The consensus was that they can't do it. They also added that even when they win the gambling is destructive to them. Perhaps that's just 12-Step absolutism talking, because I've never heard about a compulsive gambler crashing because his finances were in great shape. But they say that gambling takes them over to the point where they cannot exercise the discipline you need for AP.
So I propose that as a test for compulsive gambling. When you go to play, are you getting your spread down properly? Are you walking away from bad counts? Using the index plays you know? Keeping your bets in accordance with your pre-planned schedule? If so I don't believe that person is a compulsive gambler.
Here are a couple of sample trip reports:
"Last night I went to the casino and played some six deck shoe. I was counting High-Low and putting out 1 chip at +1, 2 chips at +2 and 3 chips at +3. Did OK until about halfway through the shoe when I had down 3 chips and I got 16 and the dealer had 7. I stood because I really did not want to bust, and of course the dealer had 17. I was so mad, even though the count went negative I kept my 3 chips out there hoping my luck would turn around but it didn't. So I went and played craps for a while, and fortunately got on a really good run and went home up 10 units."
"Last night I went to the casino and played some six deck shoe. I was laying a 1-20 spread, Wonging out at TC=-1 (High-Low). Took me all night to get a max bet out and I was seeing a lot of bad variance at the low counts. Finally the count skyrockets, got a max bet out, caught two 10's vs. dealer 6 and split. Got stiffs, and of course the dealer had the ace in the hole. Went home down about 60 units."
Even though he lost, the second report is what I like to hear. The first one scares me a bit.
Not to say that an inexperienced counter who has yet to learn what he has to do to win in necessarily a CG, but when a player reads the books, reads the wealth of information available on this and other fora and disregards it and relies instead on wishing and hoping to win, that is the mark of a person who may have a problem.
After I first learned to be an AP, out of curiosity I went to a Gamblers Anonymous-type forum and asked them if they had any experience with card counting and advantage play in general. My theory was that learning AP could cure their sickness and their gambling wouldn't be destructive because they wouldn't be losing for very long.
The consensus was that they can't do it. They also added that even when they win the gambling is destructive to them. Perhaps that's just 12-Step absolutism talking, because I've never heard about a compulsive gambler crashing because his finances were in great shape. But they say that gambling takes them over to the point where they cannot exercise the discipline you need for AP.
So I propose that as a test for compulsive gambling. When you go to play, are you getting your spread down properly? Are you walking away from bad counts? Using the index plays you know? Keeping your bets in accordance with your pre-planned schedule? If so I don't believe that person is a compulsive gambler.
Here are a couple of sample trip reports:
"Last night I went to the casino and played some six deck shoe. I was counting High-Low and putting out 1 chip at +1, 2 chips at +2 and 3 chips at +3. Did OK until about halfway through the shoe when I had down 3 chips and I got 16 and the dealer had 7. I stood because I really did not want to bust, and of course the dealer had 17. I was so mad, even though the count went negative I kept my 3 chips out there hoping my luck would turn around but it didn't. So I went and played craps for a while, and fortunately got on a really good run and went home up 10 units."
"Last night I went to the casino and played some six deck shoe. I was laying a 1-20 spread, Wonging out at TC=-1 (High-Low). Took me all night to get a max bet out and I was seeing a lot of bad variance at the low counts. Finally the count skyrockets, got a max bet out, caught two 10's vs. dealer 6 and split. Got stiffs, and of course the dealer had the ace in the hole. Went home down about 60 units."
Even though he lost, the second report is what I like to hear. The first one scares me a bit.
Not to say that an inexperienced counter who has yet to learn what he has to do to win in necessarily a CG, but when a player reads the books, reads the wealth of information available on this and other fora and disregards it and relies instead on wishing and hoping to win, that is the mark of a person who may have a problem.