through gambling? Would your net worth be higher if you hadn't gambled?
Would you do it all over again?
How many players have increased their net worth through gambling?
Here's one.
Would your net worth be higher if you hadn't gambled?
No, it would be lower.
Would you do it all over again?
Yes.
You sound like a skeptic. You should understand that card counting affords the skilled player an advantage over the house. No joke. The word you use -- "gamble" -- normally connotes loss, negative expectations, having the worst of it. Skilled counters gamble with the best of it, just as casinos do. In the long run, we win. Our net worths ought to be higher. Mine is, though I do love to spend.
Apart from us there exists a huge population of would-be counters who play wrongly and lose over time, but a census is no easy matter. And then there are the ordinary gamblers. You can figure the net result of all blackjack players by checking industry financials. Taken as a whole, which is not a good method, our level of success is pretty obvious.
Why do you ask?
casino gambling and not kept money in certain tech stocks when the NASDAQ bubble made it's final POP in spring/summer of 2001.
I might be just as rich if I had kept my day job but that's not the point.Now, I'm a free man!I can go hiking in the Swiss mountains whenever the wheather calls for. It's great!
Francis Salmon
Not only is my net worth higher, I get free vacations. What a country!
What was your experience with the boom? I'm surprised two shrewd, rather conservative, advantage players got burned. Were you aware of all the financial and mainstream comment pointing to the discrepancies between traditional valuation and the inflated value of tech stocks?
I'm not trying to be wise after the event here, I'm just curious. I probably would have got burned myself if I hadn't been too lazy to get involved in the first place, or knew anything about the markets.
how many players take a reality check once in a while.
While it is certainly possible to make money as a card counter, it is also possible to do everything right and still lose. In "essence", we are playing in a situation where we win 101 wagers and lose 99 which gives us a 1% advantage. As an example, after 10,000 wagers, it is quite easy to have won 4800 wagers and lost 5200 and be down a considerable amount of money even though you played perfectly. The large array of Casino defences against counters also makes it almost impossible to win. The CSM's in fact eliminate the value of counting altogether. I congratulate any of you who in spite of these negatives, have been able to win on a consistent basis.
.. for the momentary flashes of honesty and insite into your personal lives. Thank you again.
To "BT3100", if you are still listening .. good for you man and God speed. All of us have to realize our own limitations. The fortunate ones among us are those that do and then take whatever action is neccessary, extreme as it may appear.
internet stocks, but burned just the same.
And people question if advantage play is risky. Sheesh.
is that I bought World Com, Compaq, QQQ (heavily high tech), etc. I was up over 60% on my original money invested over a period of just a few months before things turned the other way big time. Then, thinking that prices were now low and set to rebound I invested more, and they sank more. I ended up losing about 90% of all money that I invested. I've since put my excess money into real estate.
I gamble very rarely. I define gambling as placing a wager where I have a negative expected value and am hoping for positive variance to overcome this disadvantage. I have been known to wager money at games where I was at a disadvantage such as the big 6 wheel, craps, Let it ride, Spanish 21, Carribean stud poker, Texas shootout, Lottery tickets, Cock fights, shooting baskets, golf, a weight-loss challenge with my wife (that was a non-monetary gamble for EXTREMELY high stakes), Video Poker, sports betting, bingo, Pull tabs, Roulette, various drinking games (quarters, caps, etc.), Keno, slot machines, and a few other things. I will typically only place a gambling wager once in a great while. I average a $5 wager per 20 hours in casino's, and for non-casino wagers, I have bet approximately $100 total on the above activities (mostly $5-$10, the next round of drinks, or clothing, etc.). Overall, I would estimate that I am down $500-$1,000 (+ a few embarrassing moments) life to date on gambling wagers over 25 years or so.
Now, if you are talking about advantage play, then I am up about $12K in the past 12 months and approximately $35K in the last 3 years playing mostly Blackjack and Poker, with a myriad of other games thrown in. I'm assuming that you are not asking about this aspect since you specified "gambling".
