Overcoming gambling addiction

[gutuami]

it was very hard to listen him to the end as is talking nonsense. Absolute rubbish. As he said it is something that "occurred" to him.

Other people's opinions, motivations and life experiences are entirely their own. It's not laid out as a 'fact' that can be discounted as 'absolute rubbish' or otherwise.

If it doesn't tally with your own mindset then that's not at all suprising because everyone is different to some extent or another. It doesn't especially chime with me either, but I can see how it might to some.

as I understand mistakes can not be made intentionally. That is something that you realize after a finished action. If doing stupid things can be called making mistakes intentionally then so be it.

[ShaunWhite]

as I understand mistakes can not be made intentionally. That is something that you realize after a finished action. If doing stupid things can be called making mistakes intentionally then so be it.

I'm not a cheerleader for that guy at all, but I thought the basic gist of it was that some people do daft things because they need a buzz when they're bored. You're right about the way he's re-phrased it to give it a bit more click-bait appeal on youtube....but that's youtube eh.

I just thought the OPs postings seems like a guy who was really disciplined (the charts the self awareness etc) and was just having moments where he needed a bit of 'fun' and used his spare cash to do it. Maybe he should get a motorbike or have an affair to pep life up rather than having little bets. If he or anyone else thought it was all absolute b*llocks then fair enough.

[Trader Pat]

I'm not a cheerleader for that guy at all, but I thought the basic gist of it was that some people do daft things because they need a buzz when they're bored.

I'd definitely agree with that, this is a very real problem for a lot of people when they trade especially if they come from a gambling background. That word discipline again

[mobius]

Gambling operators getting a kicking on BBCRadio4 (You and Yours 12.15 podcast available after broadcast)

[vankancisco]

I'd say most professional gamblers and sports traders fit somewhere on the addiction spectrum. Just because it becomes a profitable enterprise it doesn't mean addiction is absent. I think psychoanalysis would certainly prove this. I suppose the trick is to park the major negative aspects of addiction away somewhere and make sure they don't resurface. It's a lot easier to do that if you have an edge and are profitable.

[marketraisen]

The real value in not spewing stupid bets has been realised this week and right now, as on Thursday and then Friday I made 2 £150+ loses, with today breaking even.

Had I not been letting my profits pile up ahead of those, I'd have been furious with myself, as it happens its just put me back to where I was on Tuesday. If I was spending them as they came in I'd likely be down about £400 on the week, instead I'm actually up £128, which although lower than normal is still brilliant.

Perhaps a bounce back is coming tomorrow, Sundays have always been good.

[Derek27]

Spending money won is not the same as losing it - you don't include it in your profit/loss account!

[marketraisen]

Spending money won is not the same as losing it - you don't include it in your profit/loss account!

Sounds a dangerous game to me..!

[Derek27]

Spending money won is not the same as losing it - you don't include it in your profit/loss account!

Sounds a dangerous game to me..!

What's dangerous, spending the money you've won?

[marketraisen]

Yes, when its on gambling, whats the point of working hard to find an edge and win on the only platform that hasnt banned me, just to waste the profits on bets I've no +ve expectation of winning from. Theres other fun things to do with spare money.

It would be like getting to leave work early for the day, then staying and working for free for a few more hours, got other things to do with our time and its no different with money.

[Derek27]

Yes, when its on gambling, whats the point of working hard to find an edge and win on the only platform that hasnt banned me, just to waste the profits on bets I've no +ve expectation of winning from. Theres other fun things to do with spare money.

It would be like getting to leave work early for the day, then staying and working for free for a few more hours, got other things to do with our time and its no different with money.

You need to understand the difference between spending money and losing money by placing bets!

winning £100 and spending it on a night out doesn't affect your P/L, whereas winning £100 and losing it on a £100 bet does, and brings your P/L back to zero.

I realise now when you used the word 'spending' you meant 'losing', but you need to be clear about it.

[Derek27]

You can win money and then lose it, but at the end of the day it would be more accurate to simply say you haven't won anything!

Or perhaps take the view that you could have done better by avoiding the mistakes that resulted in you throwing away money.

It's not as if you're making money and spending it on a drug addiction or other things unrelated to betting - you're winning money through betting, and then losing it through betting. In my opinion, you need to take the view that your gambling is unsuccessful as a whole, rather than kid yourself that you're successful but losing the money elsewhere.

[marketraisen]

You havent read through this thread but I don't blame you, theres 7 pages of rambling posts but youre right to say this..

You can win money and then lose it, but at the end of the day it would be more accurate to simply say you haven't won anything!

Which is why gambling away profits from one branch that has a positive expectation of a return into another with a negative expectation is silly, knowing there will be down days to come for the automation I've had some success with.

In my opinion, you need to take the view that your gambling is unsuccessful as a whole

Youre generalising too much with the term 'gambling', obviously every time you open a trade/place a bet youre gambling but systematically placing bets with set outs that has been tested to be profitable over thousands of bets isnt the same as playing roulette that is known to be negative over thousands of bets.

I like my analogy's, I seem to have posted loads in this thread so here we go again, would you tell a professional poker player who has made £100,000 in 2018 so far that they should give up gambling because they lose £20 on the football every weekend he wins a tournament? The answer would be no but both are gambling, like the poker player I was only placing loose stupid bets when I had small wins or loses, if I had a day with big wins I wasnt punting it away.
Another one was looking at a football player. Ronaldo might be the best striker in the world and score hundreds of goals but when he plays with his kids in the garden and is rubbish as the goalkeeper, you wouldnt tell him to give up being a professional footballer, despite both being 'football'.

Also the sums of money I am talking about here arent much, not just for my income but anyones income, the whole point of me moving into automation was because I spent years losing loads of money like most gamblers start out doing, turned myself profitable for a spell, got banned from betting everywhere on and offline, until I was left with only an exchange with no edge.. so looking for trading (later automation) is just part of my journey to get something out of it.

[marketraisen]

You need to understand the difference between spending money and losing money by placing bets!

This bit was covered a few pages back, my habits are more in line with a recreational gamblers than a wild fobt monkey.

I guess if I was buying football stickers or big macs with small daily profits or right after big wins this thread wouldve been the same, as you say its not so much about losing money but spending it on stupid things.

Its been a couple of weeks since I started this topic and the spreadsheet sitting at the back of the kitchen turning over has made £700ish in that time and I've gambled £20 on a stupid cricket bet, in the 2 months leading up to that point I had done hundreds, eating everything that was being made, so just thinking about the problem has helped so far.

[Derek27]

You're absolutely right, I haven't been following this thread, and it's quite difficult to follow, but do you not see an exaggeration in your analogy?

Had I not been letting my profits pile up ahead of those, I'd have been furious with myself, as it happens its just put me back to where I was on Tuesday. If I was spending them as they came in I'd likely be down about £400 on the week, instead I'm actually up £128, which although lower than normal is still brilliant.

.....

would you tell a professional poker player who has made £100,000 in 2018 so far that they should give up gambling because they lose £20 on the football every weekend he wins a tournament?

It's not a case of winning £10K and losing £20 - we're talking about being up £128 when if you were "spending???" you could have been down £400.

The very fact that you use the word spending, when you mean losing, is something I would be concerned about.