Losing $ has greater impact than winning $?

[TripleH68]

A hollywood star once said something like "I don't gamble because winning $100 doesn't mean anything to me, but losing $100 really pisses me off." Funny.

I am currently reading a serious book about the social, personal and economic consequences of gambling and came across this: "Economists point out that the addition of one thousand dollars in winnings to a person's income may give less benefit than the harm casued by the subtraction of one thousand dollars in losses." Interesting thought.

I am on a cold turkey break from gambling right now after an indulgent trip to Las Vegas. It was great fun, but spending several consecutive days in the casinos always manages to wear on my soul. The thing is the thrill of risking/winning money has worn off for me. The challenge of moving up in stakes does not seem like it has an end? The time and energy I have used up gambling and working at getting better at the games I play, well...frankly I feel could be better spent.

I am a winning low stakes poker player. It is fun and challenging. I also have played the horses. Both these endeavors have left me with a lot of memories and funny stories to tell. And I only play with the 'extra money' in my budget. On the other end I get to feeling mastered by these games, compelled to play more and more. Setting goals becomes difficult. Setting limits to the amount of time I play also becomes difficult. I get urges to play larger and have at times lost amounts of money that are significant. A terrible feeling when you start thinking about something 'good' or charitable that could have been done with that money.

Lately my mind has wandered back to the people really hurt by gambling. Those you see spending looong stretches at the casino and frankly like to see there. Every time you win money it has to come from someone else. Let's face it, quite often it comes from people who may be getting hurt. I know the losers are there by their own free will, but having fun at the expense of others goes against the way I was raised. This troubles me sometimes and is why I am currently reading up on the subject.

Now I suddenly look at the countless hours I have spent studying and playing these games as time squandered - more than time invested. I feel my talent and time could be better spent giving something positive to my community. (btw I am not off the deep end. I still look forward to playing in friendly home games. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img])

Thanks for the read. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing similar thoughts/feelings?

Yours, HHH.

[Godson]

Nice post, it is tough to think about what you could have done with money lost, esp. if it is a large amount and it went by fast, best thing is to put it behind you imo. you should forget the losses right after they happen, delete them from you're mind like they don't exist.. if you don't, well .. it can devastate you, srsly. we are in the business of not only winning, but losing, if you can't cope with big losses, you should't be playing poker.

but back to what you are saying about taking peoples money and feeling bad .. it's their fault they think it is a game of chance/luck instead of a game of skill. Do you think they are hurt when they river a 2 outer in a huge pot they are clearly not supposed to be in? Nope, they scream and yell and hit the table,etc.. they are thier for the thrill of gambling, so therefore I don't see how it can be bad because they are getting what they want, wether they win or lose or whoever takes the money from them.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

I would say, don't play. Because if that's the way you feel, you can't win. You win, and feel bad. You lose, and feel worse. This doesn't seem like the endeavor for you. But I would just say that not every dollar comes from an addict who now can't feed his family. In fact, my impression is that almost every dollar wagered is put on the table by recreational, entertainment seeking gamblers. I don't know of any evidence to suport that other than my own personal observations, however, and if I felt otherwise I might feel like you do about playing.......

[PM001]

Post deleted by chesspain

[rocksolid104]

I'd bust my Grandmother out of the game!!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Acein8ter]

I kinda know how you feel as I spent a bit of time reading 2+2 books and playing low limits online. Although I'm up quite a bit from where I started from, I have mixed feelings regarding the amount of time that I spend on this 'hobbie'.

I think the best thing to do is just to diversify your time into other hobbies / interests as there is a lot more to life than playing hold'em.

I have quite a few other interests so I don't have a problem getting away. The problem that I find is that I'm not playing my 'A' game when I fire up the computer to play again since I'm not playing every day.

[omaha]

Actually, there is VERY good biological basis for the 'hate to lose 100" being much bigger than the 'like to win 100' scenario

I remember reading some time ago, where share traders were hooked up to some sort of eeg machine, measuring brain waves. Apparently the pain of losing was much bigger than the euphoria of winning.

Apparentlly, the human brain is much more easily trained to avoid fear, and pain, than to seek out pleasure.

In case you think this is a crock of shiiit, just think about ALL election campaigns. They are very rarely, 'vote 4 me, im a nice guy', they are all 'dont vote for the other dickkkhead', and this is why smear campaigs WORK, and WORK WELL, because we, as humans, are much more likely to change our habit (ie voting intention) because we are afraid of candidate A, as opposed to liking candidate B more

It seems as if the OP is having some guilty feelings because of the immense time, effort, money, self examination, and fixing his leaks.

Compared to the donks i will play against tonight, I have read another 30 books more than they have, and prolly played 30000 hands more than they have. I have diseccted every aspect of my play and psychology that i can think of, know my strenghts (which i maximise at every opportunity), and my weaknesses (which i always try to minimise).

So, seriously, over the long haul, who deserves to win?

And, why should i feel guilty about it?

[solucky]

Guess it is what you expect.

At sample sometimes i join a Casino for fun not poker, play slots , Roulette and all the -EV stuff. I expect to loose all my money and i am not dissapointed if i lose, but feel cool with a slight profit.

In poker i expect to win, and if i loose a bit i feel horrible.

[HappyOD]

[ QUOTE ]
Lately my mind has wandered back to the people really hurt by gambling. Those you see spending looong stretches at the casino and frankly like to see there. Every time you win money it has to come from someone else. Let's face it, quite often it comes from people who may be getting hurt. I know the losers are there by their own free will, but having fun at the expense of others goes against the way I was raised. This troubles me sometimes and is why I am currently reading up on the subject.


[/ QUOTE ]

For every successful restaurant there are many that fail. In most cases, a failed restaurant will represent a five to six figure loss for the investor. These losses are often devastating to the investor and his family. The successful restaurants take market share from the failed restaurants, and cause or contribute to their demise. But the winning restaurant owners don't sit across the table from the losing owners while it's happening. So it's pretty easy for most successful businessmen to ignore the consequences to the competition, and concentrate on doing what it takes to be successful. If all successful businessmen adopted the belief that it was wrong to beat the competition because it hurt the competitor and his family, pretty soon there wouldn't be any successful businessmen. The reality is that you have to be responsible for your decisions, and accept that others have to be responsible for theirs. We are responsible for ourselves and our families, and anything that distracts from that reduces the likelihood of meeting our responsibilities.

IMHO