Gambling

[JonnyBGood]

I seriously just don't understand people with a lack of self control. I think it's something to do with the fact that when I was about 13 or 14 I used to get constant headaches for about six months or so. Eventually I just got used to these. How can you not get used to being hungry fairly often?

[milo]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I seriously just don't understand people with a lack of self control. I think it's something to do with the fact that when I was about 13 or 14 I used to get constant headaches for about six months or so. Eventually I just got used to these. How can you not get used to being hungry fairly often?

What do you mean by lack of self control? can you go into a pub and not drink? to me its largely situational dependant, theres somethings that i can easily say no to and others i can't.

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by milo

What do you mean by lack of self control? can you go into a pub and not drink? to me its largely situational dependant, theres somethings that i can easily say no to and others i can't.

Yes. I can't say no to breathing if you want an example though. I have perfectly adequate knowledge of the long-term effects of drinking as much alcohol as I do. I accept these consequences. If hyfe ate accepting the long-term effects of doing so then what would our problem be? It's not sensible to talk about addictions when it's not running contrary to what you desire.

[Dace]

Originally Posted by milo

What do you mean by lack of self control? can you go into a pub and not drink? to me its largely situational dependant, theres somethings that i can easily say no to and others i can't.

I decided not to drink for 4 weeks. I continued going to the pub after work with my colleagues though. I didn't drink alcohol once. It's really not that difficult.

[hyfe]

Originally Posted by Dace

Actually, it's not.

You're right, and I phrased myself badly. Regular hunger isn't very hard to ignore.

Regular hunger really isn't the problem though.. Back when I was a fatty cravings were the real problem (atleast as soon as I started trying to lose weight). Especially for sugar (even if my diet was reasonably suger-free to begin with). It's how the body copes with finding it's getting less food than usual.

Nowadays, I don't have any trouble skipping eating / going hungry.. because my body is working relativly normal'isher.

I still say people who've never been fat should shut up about how easy it is to lose weight and the whole 'lack of will'-bullshit. It's offensive to the extreme. Avoiding getting fat is easy and getting there in the first place is a lifestyle problem, but getting back down again is ****ing hell.. and sugar / other nasty stuff really is wreaking havoc on some people's digestion / apetite. That you're not experiencing trouble doesn't count for shit, except making it even more annoying when you're branding everybody with the same iron.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I seriously just don't understand people with a lack of self control.

I'd describe myself as someone who has some compulsive gambling traits. I wouldn't say it was "losing control" per se it's just your perspective shifts temporarily and your risk/benefit analysis is a bit askew. It's kind of like being drunk I suppose - things just take on their own internal logic. I mean, if someone bet everything they owned on a horse we might think them a fool, but if later we found out they had some 100% guaranteed inside info that the horse was definitely going to win then their behaviour might seem much more rational. It's not necessarily the behaviour but the analysis/motive behind it. Unlike other compulsions, the problems caused by gambling are also the ones that could (theoretically) be solved by gambling. I doubt if you blow all your money on crack you're under any illusions that smoking more crack will get your job / family / life back.

Also, something like gambling is a totally subjective (and semi-irrational) actiivty anyway so there's no real external logic to follow. If you tell someone a gambling story that goes something like "I started playing Poker, won up to £500 and then lost it all" people invariably reply "OMG, why didn't you quit at £500?!". But why? Why not quit at £499 or £200 or ten billion?(OK, poker is a bit different since you might quit a table if it was getting too tight or something but you get the general idea).

Apparently it's affected heavily by things like serotonin levels so I doubt being on a permanent come down helps much!

[Marilyn Manson]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I seriously just don't understand people with a lack of self control.

Nobody has complete self-control, duder. It's just a matter of degrees. Some people have much less than others.

[Pilgrim]

Gambling is a bit of fun, not too sure if its still fun if you do it everyday, it becomes more routine and makes you an addict. If you dont lose too much each time casinos are great places to have fun and meet people. Not to mention get drunk! Not sure if all casinos are the same but the one i go to gives free drinks.

[pig]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

I'd advise you to stop. Especially becuase you are winning. It's must easier to become addicted if you're doing well (at first).

Like Dante I completly agree.

When your winning it feels great, sure £20/30 for free every night, who wouldnt want that.

But then you start getting greedy and wanting more.

You then gamble higher stakes, shit ive just won £50/60

You then lose a rather large amount.

Its ok, you think "Im up by £70 still, so I can carry on."

You lose again, but your still in profit overall.

Finally you want to make back the money you lost so you gamble more again.

You win some, the cycle starts again.

Then you have another bad loss.

The funny thing with roulette is, you can make money off it. But thats once a week. No matter what system you have, you arent ever guarenteed a profit. I did a system where I made about £50 every few days by just waiting until 3 red/black/even/odd/19-36/1-18 came up and then I would bet say £2, if I lose double and add 1 etc.

In theory you can ofc lose with it being 50/50 but you think you cant lose.

One day I lost about £200.

I gamble a fair bit, but ive chilled out now. The best way to gamble is once a week, go to the casino, take £20 and dont give a **** if you win or lose. Theres very few forms of gambling where you can make serious money off it, if there was we would all be doing it.

So I would advise step back now and use gambling especially at the casino more as a novelty thing as oppose to a daily thing (thankgod you havent discovered the roulette machines at bookies).