Pros and Cons Gambling

I guess one of the finer points of the gambling issue is not the betting itself, but the surrounding addiction that follows some. Addiction is not fun or particularly attractive. But winning surely is. My coworker literally starting a conversation yesterday thusly: "I know I'm probably addicted, but I'm up $600 from last night"...sports betting, ya know? He then proceeded to tell me about his fantasy about selling his house and moving into an RV and living in Florida. I suggested he compromise and live in a van down by the river....LOLOLOLOL. Nice guy, and I don't care if he bets and all, but he's headed for a reckoning. But good luck to one and all, live and let die, right? I did caution him that if he ever finds himself starting another sentence with "I know I'm probably addicted..." , then he may me overdue for some self reflection.
 
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I won the first horse bet I ever made. $24 bet playing 24 combinations on a $1 superfecta box on the 1999 Bluegrass Stakes, the year Charismatic won that race and then almost completed the Triple Crown, but broke its leg in the stretch. It paid over $1700 for the buck payoff. I said to my self....self, this here track is awesome. But I also knew that my future self would be pretty pissed if my past self had frittered away the winnings. So, I took my buds out for a night bar hopping and such, but put the lion's share in an individual retirement account. God, what a nerd I was/am. But damn, nerds rule the world, so.....

Oh damn...I just remembered who rode Charismatic...Chris Antley...died of an overdose a year after he rode that race. Dammit. RIP Chris.
 
jalapus logan said:
From good ole Wikipedia: "Robert Rossen said: "My protagonist, Fast Eddie, wants to become a great pool player, but the film is really about the obstacles he encounters in attempting to fulfill himself as a human being. He attains self-awareness only after a terrible personal tragedy which he has caused — and then he wins his pool game."[20] Roger Ebert concurs with this assessment, citing The Hustler as "one of the few American movies in which the hero wins by surrendering, by accepting reality instead of his dreams".[14]"

Great movie, not really about gambling per se, at least in my opinion, but nevertheless about those who gamble.

For the record, I like keeping personal tragedies limited to fiction, but they do bleed into reality, now don't they?
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Very well said👍
 
I always made money on pool.

At community college I was the 2nd best player there....and a complete dog. I had a work study job in the pool hall. If someone wanted to play no charge...it would be playing me for money. I had a whole stable of guys I could beat. Week in and week out a couple hundred 30 years ago. One guy took me to JC Penny with his credit card after I won a bunch of cash, 2 guns and some collectible knives. Bought my wife a toaster, a pair of sneakers and bunch of shorts!

Back then I couldn't hardly draw the cueball and I just didn't play the best guy. I learned early how to get action and treat the customers right.
 
ShootingArts said:
Brutal truth, I have never seen anyone in it for the gamble rather than for the game emerge winner long term. If they are a winner at pool they throw the money away somewhere else. Fats made a bunch playing pool but rumor has it he lost most of it at cards or other gambling.

Titanic Thompson was millions ahead between gambling at good odds and just plain cons. He died broke having given most of it to the ponies.

Having pool tournaments in casinos means most winners never leave town with their winnings. The craps table seems to be a particular weakness of pool players.

Action junkies are in it for the action. They would rather be in bad action than no action. The local guys bet with me on the tacit understanding that I would at least give them a chance at the money although most of them knew I had a "road player" game that was several notches higher.

One of the funnier things was when I played a tough road player and had to pull out all the stops to win. Afterwards the blood was still pumping when a local gambler put his money up. Still in full race mode I slashed through the first few games. He said "Hey, this is me you are playing now!"
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And yet we have people advocating that even with the above truths is "worth it".

Nice post Hu !!
 
ShootingArts said:
Unfortunately distracted driving has always been a problem. One study found that eating while driving was just as dangerous as driving while drinking alcohol, for different reasons of course. One guy I worked with was famous for eating while driving. He was also reading a real book and watching TV. He seemed determined to see how much he could do while driving. Nobody that knew his habits stayed near him on the highway long!
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I witnessed a woman driving in rush hour traffic, newspaper in her lap and on the steering wheel, talking on a cell phone and putting on her makeup but looking in the rear view mirror. and this was about 2005-ish before self driving cars.

One must make a distinction between people that "just can't drive" and those that are not "driving right now". Only the later is distracted the former is simply incapable.
ShootingArts said:
We need to go back to driving as a one task occupation instead of thinking we need to be entertained while driving.
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Can you imagine the uproar if cells phones were not allowed to be in operation {talk, text, downloads, mail, photo, video...} while the car was in motion (>1 MPH)
 
MitchAlsup said:
I witnessed a woman driving in rush hour traffic, newspaper in her lap and on the steering wheel, talking on a cell phone and putting on her makeup but looking in the rear view mirror. and this was about 2005-ish before self driving cars.

One must make a distinction between people that "just can't drive" and those that are not "driving right now". Only the later is distracted the former is simply incapable.

Can you imagine the uproar if cells phones were not allowed to be in operation {talk, text, downloads, mail, photo, video...} while the car was in motion (>1 MPH)
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An interlock would be a cool feature and should be doable with today's technology. If the vehicle isn't in park, neutral, or the engine off the phone wouldn't work. An idea I like! Have to smooth out a few things like emergency calls but you should be able to pull over for those.

Thinking about this I remembered the scariest thing I have ever seen on the highway, up close to the top anyway. I am headed north on I-55 in rush hour traffic when I look over at the eighteen wheeler beside me. There is a little old blue haired lady behind the wheel intently focused on the mirror while using both hands to put on make-up! I kept a close eye on that chain's trucks for years after that!

One that was just amazing to me but had to be terrifying for the driver, I was in Houston. Going up a big bridge before I got to the superstructure a ten wheeler, (an eighteen wheeler without the trailer) was hanging over the side of the bridge. It was turned around mostly backwards and only the wheels and tires on the right rear were mostly inside the railing. The entire rest of the truck was dangling from that corner and hanging out over the river or whatever the waterway was, maybe the intracoastal canal. I was an owner/operator at the time and it made me wonder what do you do?

Do you try to climb out before something gives and you fall a long ways into the water bobtail and all? Do you try to sit there and not even breathe too deeply until they get some cables supporting the truck? Somehow they lifted the truck back onto the bridge according to later news articles. Later I had a wrecker service myself, for that sized truck down. Fortunately I never ran into a situation like that! I did run into some situations that whatever you did next was going to be wrong!

Hu
 
BRKNRUN said:
Only if you get caught!!;)
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It remains "Not legally".

Winning anything from a sanctioned event and not reporting it; make it easy to get caught.

Just because you did not a) get caught, b) arrested, c) adjudicated; does not mean it was legal to begin with.
 
we all gamble on things in life. those that cant do it for money and win criticize it, and the people that do it.

everyone has some addictions . be it drinking, drugs, fast food, smoking etc. that are more harmful than gambling on pool for money.
dont put down those that gamble until you close down all of yours.
 
Gambling adds excitement to a game like pool, as long as it's done responsibly. A small wager keeps things interesting and makes people play more seriously, which is part of why poker and other games thrive with gambling involved. It can become a problem if someone is betting more than they can afford, but I don't see it hurting the sport in casual games.

I've been checking out Big Candy Casino if you're into online gaming. They have a nice $50 no-deposit bonus offer, which is excellent if you want to try some games without spending your money first.
 
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I find putting on a wager is motivationals. I wouldnt call it gambling. Each time me and friends play, we also often do a $10-20 a match up. It puts on the focuses, seriousness and competitions spirits to helps us all thriving for the better. We used to go to halls and play a couple hours here and there but now we all have our own table to practice and play on.

The thing that ruins Pool in the US is the capitals, and hosting events. There are not many events around me where we can join and play or compete against strangers and so on. Even if we go to lpcal bar tourney , Noo referees And people can often be rude or agressive on mistakes/fouls and so on
 
David in FL said:
The pro is that sometimes I make money.

The con is that sometimes I lose money. 😁



I've always said that I would rather win a $5 from one of my golfing or pool buddies than find a $100 bill on the ground.

Pool is like golf. from the earliest days it has been a betting/gambling game. A lot of people think that neither is the same without a little sumpin' sumpin' on the line…

How often does anybody ask the question "has gambling hurt golf"?

So no, I don't think that gambling hurts pool. The perception of the environment in which it's often played has a lot more to do with it than the fact that people often wager on it.

Given the nature of the game itself, one that's most often played in bars, I don't know that you're ever going to be able to do much to change that perception, simply because much of it is true.
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The definition of 'Gambling' is 'Uncertainty'!

The definition of 'Winning' is 'Having the Best of the game or Out running the Nuts'!
 
Last weekend with my friends playing nine ball $1 on 5 $2 on the 9 for 4 hours.
I was thee only winner, & the 9 re-spots if made early.
If this group of married/working men over 50 yr were friends very close to me, I wouldn't of enjoyed it as much if at all.
If they were close friends like my dad/otto I'd of played $1 a game ten ball.
 
Cons of Gambling... losing money needed for something important or a necessity. Giving back whatever was won. Expecting a jackpot that is not there. The crappy feeling after losing.

Pro's....You just won some money. Big deal. Did it change our life?
 
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