Gambling For Love

For all they say about romantic love being a painstakingly crafted monument, about it being more the product of effort than chance, there are many similarities between love and gambling.

Type One: Puppy Love

Puppy love... is akin to amateur gambling. As someone without any experience whatsoever, you tend to plunge ahead of yourself, betting on the first thing that seems to proffer the best chances. Your bets are either too large or too small, you're not sure how to play your hand, you make mistakes. If you win, good for you. If you lose, burnt by your experience you withdraw from gambling altogether, swearing "never again!"

The more cautious ones would look on from the sides, nervously fingering their betting money and hoping to learn a thing or two from the experienced gamblers in the field. But watch all you want, there are only so many lessons you can learn from the sidelines.

Think... lottery ticket buying, or betting on soccer teams you've never heard of.

Type Two, Subspecies A: Casual, Flippant, Guilt-free Love

What do amateur gamblers mature into? One type is this, the sufficiently well-off gambler who is naturally immune from the agony and woes of losing. It is his luxury, his privilege to flit from game to game, playing whatever takes his fancy at the moment, without worrying about the repercussions or consequences. He delights not so much in the outsmarting of each individual game, but in the conquering of as many games as he can.

Either that or gambling is nothing but a distraction for him, a way to while away the hours as he focusses on the other things in life. If you perchance happen to scream at him in frustration, questioning his cavalier approach to gambling, do not be taken aback if he simply responds with "I do it because I can".

Think... the high rollers who gamble for the momentary thrills, and who never are quite perturbed if they lose.

Type Two, Subspecies B: Cautious, Indulgent, Exclusive Love

After weathering a few storms of your own, losing and winning in more or less equal proportions, you finally begin to develop some technique, some style to your play. You know what games of chance you prefer, where your skills lie, and you calculate odds to a much more refined degree than you ever were capable of before. Even when you think you've find the game that suits you best, that thrills you like no other game can, you still tread cautiously. Painful lessons from the past still linger.

Enter the experienced gambler. You're the one the casinos watch out for, the one card shark who knows what he's doing and does it well. When you finally do settle on a game you fancy, you're not there because you feel lucky. It's because you know what your odds are. Lost the first few rounds? No matter. You bet on, knowing that the odds have to turn in your favour soon. And when they do, you start earning big.

But as with all gambling, you inevitably have to take a certain amount of risk. You're not here to gamble for fun, you're here to gamble for keeps. And the only way to do that is to gamble everything, bet all that you have. You push all your chips towards the banker, seeking comfort in the knowledge that all your calculations have led you down this path.

Who knows how the dice will roll? When you bet big, when you give all you have, you either gain the world or you lose everything. That's how the game goes.

Think... poker, or other high stakes games of calculated chance.

Conclusion

Gambling with spare cash is fun. Gambling with cash you need for something, isn't. You've got to figure out just how much you can afford to lose, really. And my advice is, even when you go for broke, thinking you can win it all, always, always keep an extra $20 or so in your shoes or something.

For gambling is a caprice, an unruly creature of chance. And when the banker grins and pulls your chips towards him, you're left standing there cold, like a fool. One moment you have it all... and the next, when you don't, you'll be glad for that $20 to go home with.