All In is not a joke

[Jester]

Lots of people make stupid bets. Most people, however, realize the bet was stupid and pay it, and if they are angry, they are angry at only themselves.

The dumbest bet I ever one was about six years ago. I was working the bar at the Luxury Landmark Hotel, and it was during March Madness. One of my coworkers, a huge LSU fan from Louisiana, asked me when the LSU game was. As it happened, I had glanced at the sports section that day, and knew when the games were. And told him. And he told me that I was wrong, that he KNEW that LSU played that night, not the next. I told him that I, too, was certain. He told me he'd bet me fifty bucks. I told him I didn't want to take his money, but that LSU did in fact play the next night. He again offered the bet. Not being one to turn down a free gift, I accepted the bet, and we shook on it.

Later that night, he walked up to me, handed me fifty bucks, jokingly called me an asshole (which he was clearly thinking of himself), and left.

Easiest fifty bucks I ever made.

Sadly, we all know how well that turned out for her...

Well, she's not in rehab, now is she?

[Kristev]

All-in is not a joke. In gambling, I always found it to be a mistake . . . but then, I never played in anything but a video game.

[reimero]

All-in is not a joke. In gambling, I always found it to be a mistake . . . but then, I never played in anything but a video game.

There are times to go all-in. It's a risk, but I see poker more as a game of risk management than one of chance. I also don't play that often.

But honestly, if you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to gamble with it. With the possible exception of poker, casino gambling is not a zero-sum proposition: over time, you will lose money.

[PepperElf]

And then you get the ones who say shit like "Now my kids don't get to eat tomorrow, you just took their lunch money." Like you're supposed to care. I had a guy who literally told me that once, and I said to him, "Now whose fault is that? Mine for winning it? Or yours for betting it?"

Bet that one shut him up.

cos if it's the kids' food money don't fucking gamble it and expect others to fix things when it's lost

But honestly, if you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to gamble with it. With the possible exception of poker, casino gambling is not a zero-sum proposition: over time, you will lose money.

which is why i went to the casinos in mississippi twice. once i broke even, the second time i lost like 60 bucks. It stopped being fun.

Only time I gambled since then was in japan at the penny arcades. usually i had better luck there, coming out with windfalls of 20-30.

[manybellsdown]

I absolutely LOVE Texas Hold'em. And I never play in real life, because I hate to lose real money. Well ... also I have zero poker face but mostly the first one. I confine my winning and losing to virtual money, and I'm not bad at it, but I hate to lose pretend money so much that I know better than to try it with real money.

[suburbandecay]

And then you get the ones who say shit like "Now my kids don't get to eat tomorrow, you just took their lunch money." Like you're supposed to care. I had a guy who literally told me that once, and I said to him, "Now whose fault is that? Mine for winning it? Or yours for betting it?"

CSB time:

My old man ran into one of these guys back in the days when he was still a pool shark. "Guy" came in to shoot pool and dad took something like $300 off the guy over the course of the night. When he went to leave Guy decided that him and two of his buddies would be getting that money back outside. They approached dad as he was getting to his car and just as they were about to lay hands on him, my dad reaches into the car (windows rolled down), pulls out a crowbar and thumps the guy. Knocked him out cold. At that point, Dad's friends walk out of the bar and tell him to get the hell out of there.

Dad came to find out the guy had lost his entire paycheck and had two kids at home to take care of. Bout a week later, my dad sees Guy back at a bar. Dad walked up to him, throws the money he won from him the week before on the bar and told him that if he caught him in a bar again blowing his money, he'd beat the shit out of him. Dad said he never saw him out again.