Gambling And Good Intentions
The road to hell is paved with good
intentions.
So the old saying goes.
And here's the rub. When it comes to gambling that old adage is absolutely
100% correct.
We all wake up in the
morning with a mental road map for what lays ahead for the day. Well,
we should or how would you know where to start? My days are absolutely
structured to within a 30 minute time frame. Because if they weren't,
I'd never be able to get through the amount of stuff I do.
I know - get a life!
I have a certain amount
of time in the mornings for "discretionary things" - my
afternoons are fully focused on the task at hand and that task, of
course, is to finish in front of the day's racing activities. That's
my lot - no complaints - I enjoy it. I also enjoy the holidays from
it when I'm away and always look forward to the return to "the
daily discipline" at the end of a break.
If I stopped enjoying
it, I'd walk away from it in a heart beat and wouldn't miss it for
one moment. Life is way too short to do otherwise.
Now I don't hold myself
up as some sort of paragon of discipline and what you have to do to
finish in front of the punt, but if you want to be successful at this
game you have to have a structure in place that supports your mainstream
efforts or the whole thing is a waste of time. And only fools waste
time.
Every punter has the
list of good gambling intentions filed away in the back of their minds.
Like the "bucket list" - all the things you're going to
do before you "kick the bucket".
All those good gambling
intentions like: I'm not going to be greedy today because when
I get greedy I lose.
Greed is one of the greatest
jeopardy factors that will bring you undone in the blink of an eye.
You can make $100 if
you start with $1000.
It is very difficult
and generally against the run of things to start with $100 and turn
it in to $1000.
I often do the former.
On rare occasions I've done the latter. If I were relying on the latter
to feed myself I would long ago have become anorexic.
When the greed takes
over, you tend to forget one of the true maxims in gambling: there
is a limit to EVERYTHING. It is not an endless pathway to fame and
fortune.
I'll repeat that so you
have to read it twice because it is important: When the greed
takes over, you tend to forget one of the true maxims in gambling:
there is a limit to EVERYTHING. It is not an endless pathway to fame
and fortune.
There are strict mathematical
limits of "chance" in play every time you have
a bet. They are mostly inflexible and if you believe
that pure luck - whatever that is - is going to guide your every betting
move, you also believe in leprechauns, fairies at the bottom of your
garden and that John Howard is going to be Prime Minister of Australia
again one day.
A lot of punters find
it impossible to simply walk away if they are having a losing day.
Of course, this ends up constructing an even bigger losing day. Walking
away losing for the day is no great shame. Walking away losing BIG
day after day after day is.
You have to have
the losing days to make the winning days possible. (You may
like to think about that for a while because it is absolutely true).
And think about this
- we all start the day with a feeling of hope and expectation. When
we start losing, those positive thoughts go straight out the window
and the the feelings of despair kick in.
The feelings of despair
are way stronger than the feelings of hope and it is these stronger
feelings of despair that propel us towards those exorbitantly large
and ridiculous bets. You know the ones I mean. I certainly do because
those ridiculously large and stupid bets were the ones that ALWAYS
got me in to trouble.
They're mostly bets that
were completely unplanned at the start of the day but are the product
of desperation and despair...... and pushing the pedal to the metal
will undoubtedly accelerate your trip down the road to ruin. You simply
HAVE to know where the brake pedal lives or "doom and gloom will
follow you all the days of your life" as a minister from my early
Presbyterian life used to repeatedly say.
You know how they talk
about jockeys being a "good judge of pace"? It is exactly
that same judgment you need to exercise in your pacing of bets and
knowing when to simply accept that "hey, today's going to be
a losing day".
And if it is a losing
day? What are "they" going to do? Put you up against a wall
and shoot you? Of course not - and again - losing is just as much
a part of gambling as winning. Accept both of those positions as true
and you will have a happier time when you are gambling and, probably,
a more successful time.
The road to ruin only
becomes your chosen pathway when you step off the "map"
you had firmly in mind when the trip began. As boring as it may be,
stick to your original plan of staking and selection. Don't listen
to the voices of despair. Stay focused and stay in control - winning
OR losing. You'll have more fun!
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