Nov 05 2007
A gambler I am not.
When I was a teenager I took part in my first (and last) relatively big stakes poker game. I successfully managed to lose around $800 (my final paycheque from a job I had just quit) over the course of the evening, not only that but I had borrowed $100 from a friend before finally shutting it down. I’d spent the entire evening chasing my losses, figuring I’d make it up on the next hand. I didn’t. What I did do was deliver flyers door to door for the next week earning that money back to pay my rent.
In retrospect it was an important lesson learned early, and one that colored my view on gambling from that point forward.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve gambled since. But that lesson taught me to play with only the money I could afford to lose. If I win I pocket my stake and count myself lucky. If I lose then I’ve spent a sum of money equal to a night out drinking or at the movies. No harm no foul. No more chasing my losses.
Reinforcing my early lesson I spent a few years working security in a casino (actually a couple of casinos, but who’s counting) and from the perspective of “people watching” they’ve always reminded me of strip clubs. Drab, depressing and reeking of desperation. People chasing a fantasy to the detriment of their real lives. It’s unfair to paint all gamblers with the same brush, but the ones that stick in my mind were those that were spending money they couldn’t afford to lose, and all the while clinging to the hope that the next hand would pull them up out of the losing column.
I’ve really no point here, it’s just that I watched Owing Mahowny last night and was reminded of my time at the casino.
Gambling is one of the only addictive activates that has never really hooked me. I’m a nickel slot kind of guy, and as it turns out, I’m good at it. More often than not I walk away with more than I sat down with. For me gambling is just another form of amusement, and like anything costs money. When we went to Vegas last, it cost me less to sit in casino for several hours, than it would have to go rent a movie and buy a pizza.
“I successfully managed to lose around $800″ Boy that could have bought a lot of JPS, and Lander’s Cove….:)
The only poker game I went to i was told to bring $40. I did, I lost it early and spent the rest of the night watching other people put IUO’s and deeds to cars into the pot. Like Erik, I lost a night beer money, and had a laugh. People kept offering to loan me money to get back in, especially the “shark” who was somebody’s father, but nobody else knew.
I’ve never even liked Bingo. I’d go to Dirty bingo at my local watering hole, or Bingo at Sneaky Dee’s but I just never felt compelled to do it. The zombie like anticipation stares of desperation by people holding Bingo daubers just weirded me out.
I dabbled with the Texas Hold’em craze, but the only time I put money on it, was when my mother-in-law donated $100 so Brenda and I could do it just before Wes’ was born. We lost. She did much better than me, but her brother in law was a semi-pro with no sense of mercy…but it was mildly fun, but not fun enough to do again with my money.
It seems to be the Ingerman way. We’re weird, but not willing to loose control like that. We stick to booze and drugs.
I also remember when The Holiday Inn on King st. would hold charity casino’s and people would be running out to the bank machine getting $600 a pop.
I like to think that the vices I have are much more interesting and fun than throwing my hard earned money at other people. Gambling has no appeal for me. We would go to the track when I lived in Calgary decades ago and mostly just watch the horses run. I remember going for an evening of racing with $20 to blow and only betting $10 of it. Yeah, I’m thrifty, not cheap!
Good post.
James
Brenda had a good line. A lottery is a tax on the stupid.
Must be genetic. I remember going to a casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico with your mum. She walked over to a one-armed bandit, dropped a quarter in, pulled the handle and a couple of bucks’ worth of winnings rattled down into the tray.
“I won! I won!” she exclaimed.
And then we left.
I had a similar lesson early in life.
For some (mericifully forgotten) reason, I literally bet the shirt on my back. Naturally, I lost. That was the end of my brief gambling career!!!
Merle