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One analogy I particularly liked in the book is where the author compares gambling to visual illusions pictures. Once you see what’s really in the picture you can never unseen it.
Once you manage to see gambling from a different perspective, for what it really is, you can’t go back thinking “it gives me pleasure, it’s a great escape place etc.”You know, on my last gambling day I played black jack too, for the same reason. Poker was too much of a grind, and playing black jack at 1% disadvantage seemed far more prudent then making bad calls at poker with 20-30% negative EV.
Fools seldom differ.Hey Canuck. And welcome here.
I must say I love this sentence “I’m finally admitting 100% defeat to this disease. I think previously I had always clung on to the belief that someday I would be able to gamble like a normal person.”I have (had?) been kidding myself for decades that only if I played my A game at poker, only if I didn’t steam, only if I didn’t play when tired, only if I played lower limits – I could definitely beat the game. After all i know people who beat the game constantly and their “A game” is no better than mine.
Now I know that the few successful gamblers I know maintain their A game most of the time, whereas I start playing terribly after a couple of bad beats. And I know I’m not able to change that. I know I am too much of a compulsive gambler and these few “lucky ones” are not as compulsive. I also know that even if I managed to play my A game all the time (which is pretty much impossible) it would still not be worth my while. I’d be making a few dollars per hour, best case scenario. Worst case scenario (and far more likely than best case scenario) I would end up homeless.I now also know that I cannot be a recreational gambler after gambling non stop for 3 decades. It ain’t gonna happen. I cannot have “only one bet”. It is an impossibility.
And yes, like you I used to envy people who could gamble “like a normal person.”
But then I read this in a book “you envy them all the time they spend NOT gambling, you don’t envy them the time they spend gambling…” Simple to understand when you put it that way. I recommend you read the Easy Way to Stop Gambling by Allen Carr.Come here often, read the stories. I come here daily now and it helps me.
Hey yogambler. I started gambling actively when I was about your age. Video poker terminals. No one bothered to check ID’s back then.
I have a lot of respect for you because you already know you need help. Me it took a lot longer.
Gambling might seem like an ideal escape place, especially if you don’t get along with your schoolmates and your situation at home is not perfect. But it IS NOT. Gambling will offer you no shelter, no comfort, it will fill no void, neither will it solve any other problems you need to address.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from it. You’re too young to be seriously hooked. But if you’re not careful you will get hooked and you might waste your life a way in slavery, addiction and self loathing.
What video games you playing? When I was trying to quit gambling a couple of years ago I started playing StarCraft 2. Must have played 5 thousand games. Tremendous waste of time, but at least I didn’t lose any money during playing. Made it to the platinum league, which is by no means spectacular, but it’s decent given my age 🙂
Kudos on coming here, read a few horror stories, then run away from this place and gambling in general and everything that has to do with it, and never look back kid.
Hey wizefox and welcome to the forum. Come here often and read through the stories. You’ll see that you’re not alone in this.
How true. Remembering the pain is hard if not impossible. And it amazes me how something that brings so much pain, suffering and self loathing doesn’t stick in our mind at least a little bit longer.