The single most important part of playing for money, and I'm not talking about playing for fun here, I'm talking about gambling...is that you can not have a HEART when playing because it'll cause you to lose in the long run....and go hungry!
I think that is VERY true, but not 100% true. It depends upon who you are playing and what you consider the "long run". Are you talking the "long run" as in with this same opponent or the "long run" for gambling as a whole with "any" opponent?
The reason I ask is because it reminded me of the FIRST time I EVER felt any compassion for beating someone for a LOT of cash. We are talking hundreds and even thousands of dollars in a setting. This was a lot of money back in the late 60s and early 70s.
I was 15 and 16 years old and playing a guy who was in a wheelchair. It DIDN'T matter that he was one of the best pool players and GAMBLERS in the area. I FOCUSED on the fact that he was in the wheelchair and I later felt a bit sorry for taking his money and I didn't play him for a while.
THEN, I kept noticing that if I DIDN'T beat him out of it, that he would SOMEHOW LATER lose the same cash and MAYBE MORE to the other people around. It DIDN'T matter WHO took it...the OUTCOME was the SAME at the END of the day. HE was BROKE and SOMEBODY had his money.
From that point forward, I was at the pool hall at 7 A.M. EVERY 1st of the month when he got his paycheck. He LOVED to gamble and I LOVED taking his money. On some pay days I would win hundreds until he quit or sometimes a couple thousand. When he wasn't playing me, he would have me drive him around throughout the town and other towns and he would back me against people.
The thing that I HATED about doing THAT was you had to keep an eye on him. You could be winning money hand-over-fist on the pool table and THINK you were AHEAD. He would be losing THAT money and EVEN more playing cards or something while you were concentrating on your pool game. You had to make sure YOU held on to the pool playing "stash" so he didn't lose it.
I NEVER felt the same compassion for anybody else I ever beat out of their money. It wasn't because I beat him and he was a good pool player...I let the IDEA that he was somehow "crippled" and a "lesser opponent" and I took advantage of him enter my brain. When I started wising up, I realized I NEVER took advantage of him...I JUST BEAT HIM...the wheelchair became irrelevant to me after a while.
If anybody knows J.D.or "Little One" from Kennett, MO., you will know who I am talking about. He is not with us anymore, but when it came to GAMBLING he would bet on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING until he either WON all YOUR money or HE LOST all HIS. He WASN'T happy EITHER way. The ONLY time he was HAPPY was when the money was changing hands back and forth all the time. He was a STONE COLD gambler.