You know Mav, I never really took your gambling seriously until now. I thought your gambling is just a small part of a much bigger and broader problem, but it in itself is not deadly as is the case with most of us here.
You mentioned you started gambling 3 years ago and you lost 25K. Big deal. If I had only lost 25K in my life I’d be well off now. I spent more than 25K on hookers in my life time. I spent more than double dating and dining regular girls. I spent more than quadruple buying things I didn’t really need.
Sure you lost some money playing micro levels poker and you wasted time, lost some business because of it, but it could have been something else too. So, although I never underestimated your predicament and always took it very seriously, I never really thought your gambling is a serious problem. But now that you almost lost $4K playing black jack, betting up to $1K a hand, I think it’s serious. The fact that you now “know” that you can win serious money playing black jack is no good news.
You seriously need to stop and think. I know you didn’t lose any money, no harm no foul you may reason. But you seriously need to start thinking before it gets too late. I’m writing this not only for you, but to reinforce the idea into my head too. Dude, we’re a couple of bad breaks from being homeless. And the easiest path down that route is to gamble. As someone already said here: we’re all one bet away from being homeless.