Gambling

[Kodos]

Do you enjoy it? We went to Mohegan Sun last night and played the poker machines. My wife won, but I offset her winnings with losses, so we came out slightly ahead. Behind if you count travel costs and incidental expenses. I violated my rules (walk away if you are ahead) and went over my usual dollar limit trying to recoup losses. The thing I noticed was that I never really enjoyed it. Even when I was up, it was nice, but nothing fantastic. And when I was losing, it just sucked. I kept thinking it'd be more fun to be home with my PS2 or 360. I guess at the end of the day, I don't enjoy the feeling that I am pissing our money away. I'm sure the fact that I'm not up on the correct strategies also hurts the enjoyment, as it increases our odds of losing.

Obligatory poll to come.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I only play poker (twice a month). Love the fact that you aren't playing against the house and that you're able to socialize with others. It's the only game my wife likes at a casino because of the social aspect as well.

[MJ4H]

I do not enjoy gambling at all. I got into poker because the game itself was interesting to me. Now, I'm burned out on poker and I don't have any other gambling I like to do, so I answered accordingly. I seriously doubt I'll ever play poker, thus gamble, again.

[bryce]

I love gambling. I bet regularly on sports, and I try to get to a casino once or twice a year to get my fix.

I'm a big dork when it comes to gambling, though. I view sports betting as 'investing' and strive mainly to take advantage of the books' bonuses, cashing out as soon as I reach the rollovers, hoping to break even on the betting and collect the bonuses. But even just doing that usually results in a 10-20% return (whatever the deposit bonus was) over a few months, which when annualized, is better than any investment...

And I'm an even bigger dork when it comes to casinos. I know all the odds on each game I play and bet only according to the 'right' play, what the odds dictate is optimum strategy. None of this going by 'feel' or 'riding the hot hand' jazz. That's all crap. Gambling is math, pure and simple, and the best you can hope for in the longrun is to lose about 2-3% and chalk it up as entertainment value and money spent on cocktails. In the short run, though, things can be great or terrrible - I've lost hundreds in one sitting, and won hundreds in one sitting - but overall, I'm probably about break-even, as one would expect given my strategy of playing the odds.

[CleBrownsfan]

I don't call it gambling - I call it an investment

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by bryce

[...] I'm an even bigger dork when it comes to casinos. I know all the odds on each game I play and bet only according to the 'right' play, what the odds dictate is optimum strategy. None of this going by 'feel' or 'riding the hot hand' jazz. That's all crap. Gambling is math, pure and simple, and the best you can hope for in the longrun is to lose about 2-3% and chalk it up as entertainment value and money spent on cocktails.

I wouldn't consider you a dork for this. If you're going to play, this is exactly what you should do. If you know optimal strategy, why in the world would you deviate from it? Most people don't know the correct strategies or don't even realize that there are correct strategies, but I can't imagine that someone would know the right way to play and then do something different.

[Schmidty]

Where is the "I have never gambled" option??

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Where is the "I have never gambled" option??

Bet you twenty dollars I can get you to gamble by the end of the day...