I just wish all these people with more money than they know how to spend would chip in a little and pay off my mortgage.
This prompted me to look something up. The blackjack dealer's shoe holds 2, 4, 6, even 8 decks, and they split it with a shoe card for complete reshuffles. Not quite slot machines but pretty close. I'd just go play at the poker tables. But that's if I were good at cards, which I'm not, so I don't.
Eisenhower was a good poker player who had the odds memorized and good recall. In his autobiography, he told the story about one of the officers who was a terrible poker player, literally losing grocery money, and finally his colleagues decided to have a night where they let him win. As I recall the story, it took them all night to get this poor sap's money back to him. I think Eisenhower and several others just refused to play with him after that.
The pornography comparison is most apt because just like the anticipation is the thrill of gambling, the "hunt" is the thrill of pornography. It is natural for people to anticipate opportunities to make money and win, and it is natural for people to anticipate and seek sex. Both gambling and porn prey upon these instincts to make something that will hijack your natural drives to self-destructive ends.
We had this monster in the cage when I was a kid in the 60 s. The only legal gambling was in Vegas. Even lower middle class people mad it there once in a while . The cops would bust you for a friendly poker game in your home. It wasn’t a big problem unless you had a bookie(mob) . The came the lottery. So the camels nose was under the tent. Then the Indian casinos . Then riverboat and costal day trips 12 miles out for gambling. It will take a toll as bad as heroin. Very sad we let the demon run riot.
The way the betting industry is going reminds me of financial markets - another casino. Where retail investors and day traders plow their money in thinking they understand the game they are playing when the institutional investors and the mega banks have these markets sewn up with their own dark arts and derivatives that no one entirely understands but the retail investor least of all.
I remember many many years ago there was uproar in the cricket world when some young players on the national Pakistan team were caught fixing a game. They made bets in really obscure bookies possibly in the black market about certain plays that would happen in the course of a 4 day test match. To make such obscure bets and the fact there is a market for this in Asia can only suggest that large scale fixing does exist.
In Britain our relationship with gambling is different to America - we do not go in for the mega casinos. I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head what the law says. Casinos do exist - but they are normally low key and only in the major cities. Every high street and 3rd rate shopping precinct does have a bookies - or several. Ladbrookes, Coral, William Hill, Paddypower, Bet365 and many of these have expanded into an online footprint of late. You will get a crowd of middle aged men on their lunch breaks, retirees and benefits claimants in these during the weekday betting away all their money on the horse racing. Many working class lads will probably have a crack at the weekends football results for a few quid. For about 2 years I was around such people and many a time they missed out on winning several hundred pounds based on an obscure fixture added on for a few pence that would have returned a few pounds but scuppered their whole winnings - for example one guy who lost out on £450 because Blackburn drew for the first time in 17 games instead of losing.
I know our government actually legislated controls on these gambling machines a lot of the bookies installed - that instead of having to go and place a bet at the counter people stuck their cards in and blew through their pay for the whole week in minutes. An awful lot of the money most bookies take in is often benefits paid out to those unemployed or on long term sick.
Many years ago my dad worked with a guy who had been a manager of a Ladbrookes (I think) and he had actually been sacked for betting with his franchises money instead of his own. I believe he was rumbled when he lost over £70,000 (a considerable sum in the 1980's) and he essentially had to bluff the books and minimise the liability to payouts for a few weeks while he made it back. The irregularities in the books gave him away to management. He would have a bet but only on a horse that was a near certainty and he would bet big because the returns were so weak. He told my dad most horse racing in Britain was fixed.
I just wish all these people with more money than they know how to spend would chip in a little and pay off my mortgage.
This prompted me to look something up. The blackjack dealer's shoe holds 2, 4, 6, even 8 decks, and they split it with a shoe card for complete reshuffles. Not quite slot machines but pretty close. I'd just go play at the poker tables. But that's if I were good at cards, which I'm not, so I don't.
Eisenhower was a good poker player who had the odds memorized and good recall. In his autobiography, he told the story about one of the officers who was a terrible poker player, literally losing grocery money, and finally his colleagues decided to have a night where they let him win. As I recall the story, it took them all night to get this poor sap's money back to him. I think Eisenhower and several others just refused to play with him after that.
The pornography comparison is most apt because just like the anticipation is the thrill of gambling, the "hunt" is the thrill of pornography. It is natural for people to anticipate opportunities to make money and win, and it is natural for people to anticipate and seek sex. Both gambling and porn prey upon these instincts to make something that will hijack your natural drives to self-destructive ends.
The only good card playin' is at home with friends actually around a cardtable , smoking cigars, gambling with bottlecaps or whatever.
Playing for money is fine , because if you lose at least your money stays in your fried group, instead of a corporate owner.
I remember my parents and their friends playing for pennies.
Good poker requires bluffing, and proper bluffing requires stakes large enough to make you sweat.
We had this monster in the cage when I was a kid in the 60 s. The only legal gambling was in Vegas. Even lower middle class people mad it there once in a while . The cops would bust you for a friendly poker game in your home. It wasn’t a big problem unless you had a bookie(mob) . The came the lottery. So the camels nose was under the tent. Then the Indian casinos . Then riverboat and costal day trips 12 miles out for gambling. It will take a toll as bad as heroin. Very sad we let the demon run riot.
The way the betting industry is going reminds me of financial markets - another casino. Where retail investors and day traders plow their money in thinking they understand the game they are playing when the institutional investors and the mega banks have these markets sewn up with their own dark arts and derivatives that no one entirely understands but the retail investor least of all.
I remember many many years ago there was uproar in the cricket world when some young players on the national Pakistan team were caught fixing a game. They made bets in really obscure bookies possibly in the black market about certain plays that would happen in the course of a 4 day test match. To make such obscure bets and the fact there is a market for this in Asia can only suggest that large scale fixing does exist.
In Britain our relationship with gambling is different to America - we do not go in for the mega casinos. I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head what the law says. Casinos do exist - but they are normally low key and only in the major cities. Every high street and 3rd rate shopping precinct does have a bookies - or several. Ladbrookes, Coral, William Hill, Paddypower, Bet365 and many of these have expanded into an online footprint of late. You will get a crowd of middle aged men on their lunch breaks, retirees and benefits claimants in these during the weekday betting away all their money on the horse racing. Many working class lads will probably have a crack at the weekends football results for a few quid. For about 2 years I was around such people and many a time they missed out on winning several hundred pounds based on an obscure fixture added on for a few pence that would have returned a few pounds but scuppered their whole winnings - for example one guy who lost out on £450 because Blackburn drew for the first time in 17 games instead of losing.
I know our government actually legislated controls on these gambling machines a lot of the bookies installed - that instead of having to go and place a bet at the counter people stuck their cards in and blew through their pay for the whole week in minutes. An awful lot of the money most bookies take in is often benefits paid out to those unemployed or on long term sick.
Many years ago my dad worked with a guy who had been a manager of a Ladbrookes (I think) and he had actually been sacked for betting with his franchises money instead of his own. I believe he was rumbled when he lost over £70,000 (a considerable sum in the 1980's) and he essentially had to bluff the books and minimise the liability to payouts for a few weeks while he made it back. The irregularities in the books gave him away to management. He would have a bet but only on a horse that was a near certainty and he would bet big because the returns were so weak. He told my dad most horse racing in Britain was fixed.
When you’re a 20 year old with despair…
Ok, we all were, possibly not despairing.
Make your mistakes and no they aren’t society’s fault. > the most Boomer rerun ever, we X heard that whiny shit as kids.
Find a good friend.
Have him kick you in the nuts. This will remind you you’re a man.
Then get up and move on.