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I can see how gambling can be addicting. I started with $300, lost almost all of it, and am now up by $75. I refuse to make another trip to the ATM machine while I'm here...if it's gone, it's gone. Still, it's a lot of fun.

Two games I've been playing:

1. Craps
2. Blackjack

I also played Casino War...which was amusing since I won a ton of money and it's simply the game of war lol.

Craps is pretty much awesome. I'm naturally a tight wad with my money - so I like to bet the minimum ($10) on everything, then back it up when the odds are best, like if the button is on 8. If you have the Dice and are on a"heater" it can be incredibly exciting. A bunch of drunk men standing around the table cheering and clapping every time you roll. Thousands of dollars on the table...it's quite the experience.

With Blackjack, one of the guys I work with has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the odds...so sitting with him at the tables is awesome as he always has good advice on when to hit and when to stay. I see people sit down and lay $300 on hands like it's nothing...while I agonize over losing $10. Pretty interesting.


I will say this, it is kind of depressing some of the people you see in Casinos here. Old haggard women clicking mindlessly away at the slot machines, a cigarette in hand and a mixed drink resting next to them. I saw one of these women hit a huge jackpot...she didn't even get excited. Didn't even smile. My friend pointed out she was probably still down overall, or perhaps she's been gambling so long in her life there's no fun in it anymore...she just...has to.

Gambling is one of societies ills no doubt - but it can still be quite fun in small doses.

Thoughts? Any gamblers here? Should we make it illegal?

I'm against penalizing the entirety of society because some members of society have an addiction to gambling.

Gambling has the potential to be a huge issue or a fun and casual past time.

My friends and I sometimes play poker for very small sums of money just to have fun. Like $20 for chips, maybe less.

If we're gonna ban gambling, might as well ban alcohol while we're at it. It's a money sink and it also has the potential to cause death if used irresponsibly.

Of course I dont think either should be banned. I'm pointing out the direction we'll end up taking as a society if we continue to enact legislation that penalizes all of society for the actions of a few.

Brawlsack

Taking an extended hiatus from gaming

Azelma at work...



Blackjack is a simple and predictable game. There's nothing "encyclopedic" about it, just simple probability.

That said, playing the odds will get you kicked and blacklisted fast. Casinos look chaotic but in reality they are tightly monitored and controlled. Nothing goes unseen and no contingency is not provided for.



People who enjoy gambling are stupid. It's really that simple.
Unfortunately, the "Right To Be Stupid" Act is outstanding...

Regarding the nature of games of chance, I was actually thinking about this other day. I believe the best game is 75% skill, 25% chance. Games of pure skill, like chess, are fairly boring; games of pure chance, like craps, are even more boring. Games that are part skill and part chance are actually more skill-intensive than games of pure skill, because the ultimate application of skill is managing chance.

I used to be very dismissive of sports, a perception that has changed dramatically over the last five years playing WoW and reading about the classical world. I have come to appreciate the power of games to develop good character. And I believe that chance-based gaming is inherently linked with bad moral character. I think it is a poisonous influence which should not be allowed to run its course unchecked.

I think the status quo is best. Gambling is not something that should be mass entertainment, but I don't think it should be illegal either. Keeping it tightly confined to a theme-park city is a good compromise.

I am a hardline opponent of Indian and waterfront gambling.

I firmly oppose efforts to "revitalize" areas like New Jersey through gambling because I believe that trying to get money for literally nothing destroys communities in the long run. These troubled communities must develop productive industry and invest in their future to survive and thrive. Gambling is not only a social evil but a means for a small group of insiders to profit at the expense of everyone else.

This is doubly true for Indian gambling. It creates a perverse incentive for the chiefs to distance themselves from the day-to-day problems of their own people and keep them in their squalid state to ensure their continued relevance and personal wealth.

In the long run, poor communities building casinos as a quick fix only serves to reinforce and harden the lines between rich and poor - between those communities that have enduring success and those that try to get by on the crumbs.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

I like sports betting but have zero interest in the casino style gambling.

stop playing games of chance and play games like poker, where you can actually win.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

LOL. That's literally all blackjack is...playing the odds. Some dealers actually tell you what the odds are on a specific hand and offer advice ("the book would say you should hit here"). Blacklisted for playing the odds in blackjack? Hahahahaha.



Still up overall on the trip. Get mad.

If I've posted this before, so sorry, but this thread reminded me of my bro. Heh. Doesn't matter. I know it's tl;dr anyway.

My brother, Steve, enjoys the idea of money as much as the next guy, but Steve wants to have a lot of money because of something HE did that others did not. Something that is not work. To this end, Steve likes to bet on sports. He’s forever delving into the stats like some kind of crystal ball, looking for an angle—the golden nugget—the epiphany that reveals the hidden marker that only he can see. Admittedly, Steve is much better at this than anyone else I know. (I’m not sure if this is much of an accolade considering that I know precious few people who are into losing their hard-earned green because some horse or running back or shortstop or point guard has the shits or whatever at show time, knocking him off his game.) Steve wagers small amounts as he works out the kinks in his “system”. I suppose he is saving the BIG SCORES for a time when he feels it is finally ready. I know that he has not yet discovered the Holy Grail in this endeavor, as he is not independently wealthy, and he has not bragged about his system of late. Still, the search goes on. Why?

Steve is a sensible man. He has been to Las Vegas many times, a city built on the “systems” of men who study the games. He has seen the magnificent resorts. He knows how they exist. Still, the search goes on. Why?

If a game can be beaten with regularity by any gambler, then the casinos in Las Vegas DON’T FUCKING OFFER THAT GAME! (Card counting Blackjack players are considered cheaters and are quickly spotted and banned.) And, yet, Steve can enter a Sports Book and bet on virtually any sport. In the last few years, offshore establishments have popped up on the Internet which allows the Steves among us to hone their crafts from the comfort of their homes. With the dawning of each new day, the paper boy tosses a passel of new excitement. With eager anticipation, our Steves jump passed headlines of the Middle East, crime waves, government corruption, droughts, famine, and all the other bad news. With the lingering effects of a heady morning wood bolstering his mood, our hero can get to what really matters! Today’s EPIPHANY! How is Mike Vick's knee, Crosby's concussion or Kobe's stomach flu? Who is pitching in the first game of the Mets/Giants double-header in New York, or did the Twins use up their bullpen on the road last night in Oakland?

Ah, the bullpens. Steve fucking hates the bullpens of baseball. I can’t tell you how many games his system “had pegged” until a bullpen blew it. Bullpens make him drink an extra beer or two, stay up late watching extra inning games that didn’t have to happen, scream at the beanball Gods, and search. Always searching. And, in each sport it is the same. There is some conundrum that fucks with the system just enough times to make him lose. In football, it’s “the fucking kicker”. In basketball, it’s “the fucking refs”. In horse racing, it’s “the fucking jockey”. Systems depend on hard facts. But some things can’t be quantified, and these tiny “extras” are all the bookies need to build the goddamned Bellagio. Why does he do it?

I think he does it because Steve hates to think of his life as a roll of the dice—tumbling balls in the lotto machine. He is terrified of the prospect that everything depends on luck. One guy is born Prince William with a silver spoon so far up his ass it couldn’t be dislodged with power tools, and another schlub squirts out into the chicken shit on the dirt floor of a mud hut in Sudan. Somebody hits the lottery…somebody gets decapitated by a flying forklift falling from the back of a truck. Somebody lives to 110 smoking camels and drinking a fifth of Jack Black every day…somebody is killed by a mosquito bite. So, it goes. We live ALL IN and we’re just an unlucky deal from losing our seat at the table. Randomness. Luck.

This is different from fate. Fate implies some predestination which in turn implies a God who set up everything in advance and the dominoes are simply falling. “God did it!” “Thank God!” That would be easier to stomach, right? If it is Fate, every move is laid out. Steve isn’t to blame (and doesn’t deserve credit) for anything that happens. But, if it is random, every move he makes could be a significant one, making all of the dominoes fall differently. Everything is his fault. The problem here, obviously, is that he just doesn’t know which move is a winner, or which little move is a big loser. There are hundreds of scenarios that might have kept any one of the people who died on 9-11 from being in exactly that place at exactly that time.

So, Steve wages his assault on randomness and fate by trying to control randomness, and ignore fate. If Steve can simply apply reason to unravel some small aspect of the seemingly random, CARPE DIEM! If he can just know who is going to win a game--if he can do it repeatedly, without doubt--then EVERYTHING might be figured out and manhandled! But enough of this metaphysical mumbo jumbo, let’s talk about something important, like how Yu Darvish will affect the Texas Rangers’ bullpen.

Boredalt - 80 Dwarf Priest - Dissension

Oh, and good luck in Vegas, Azelma! Have fune, don't wager the rent money, and I hope you have time to see a couple of shows. Go over to Bill's and see Fat Elvis. Heh.

Boredalt - 80 Dwarf Priest - Dissension

My brother played in the world series of poker in vegas a few years back.

said the weather there was like someone had a hot blow dryer in your face the entire time you were outside.

It's like that in Sacramento too. Honestly I prefer it to summers in Boston or Florida.

I think I kind of miss it, actually.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Florida is too hot =[ We get one day of cold a year if we're lucky and then people cry about it.


On the topic of WoW: WoW has a lot to offer in terms of fun, social experience and just other small things. I've gotten way more out of WoW than I have from ever gambling. Short of winning it big, I don't think gambling could ever top WoW. WoW sometimes is gambling in itself, hoping there's some PvP happening.

Jesus christ

Druid: Meowth
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RETIRED.
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