The Only Way to Win and the Unclimbable Mountain

[Frank Kneeland]

So is it safe to say your advice to people who want to be professionals is that they have to "know their stuff" or they won't make it as a pro, and that you have no comment about recreational gamblers except that you don't want them to become addicted?

Oh it's safe to say I couldn't get all my advice into another 185,000 word book. Here's just a couple terse points.

Would be PRO advice:
1. If you really want to make a living gambling in casinos and have the intelligence to make it. Shame on you! Please go do something more useful to the human race with your considerable and rare gifts.

2. If you really want to make your living gambling in casinos, there is a high probability that something is really wrong with your mind and we must question your motives. The only completely stable PROS I know hate the job, but were hornswoggled into it before they could realize their error. People that really love it are almost always mentally unstable and addicted. Think about it. How could anyone sane, like pushing buttons 12 hours a day week after week and year after year and define themselves by their amazing button pushing ability. I can just picture my Father seeing me 10 years ago, "Wow you've really made something of yourself, do you use all your fingers?" would not have been his comment.

Have we really become so shallow as a species that one can feel good about themselves simply because they have made money with no regard to how they made it?

Would be recreational gambler advice:
1. Don't deceive yourself. Everything about gambling takes advantage of our ubiquitous human failings and cognitive weaknesses. No one is immune. To engage in gambling is to invite the vampire into the house while everyones sleeping.

2. The reason why pathological gamblers develop serious life ending problems and the reasons why casual recreational gamblers "enjoy" gambling, are in fact the SAME reasons. It is only a matter of intensity and the presence of self control that differentiates the two. It's thin line with cliffs on either side.

3. All recreational activities are not created equally. Most pastimes have little addiction potential, some are educational, and some are even good for your health.

So here's my final point: Morphine is addictive, and potentially lethal, but has perfectly valid uses in medicine--therefore, I think anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival is completely justified and has my complete support.

[Alan Mendelson]

Frank, I had to think about this for a bit before posting. In your conclusion above you wrote:

"So here's my final point: Morphine is addictive, and potentially lethal, but has perfectly valid uses in medicine--therefore, I think anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival is completely justified and has my complete support."

I understand and agree with your comment about morphine-- no disputing that even though modern medicine can use non addictive forms of such drugs today.

But I can't understand how you can say this:

"I think anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival is completely justified and has my complete support."

Forgive me for being naive about this but is there anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival?

Or, am I just missing your entire point again?

[Frank Kneeland]

Frank, I had to think about this for a bit before posting. In your conclusion above you wrote:

"So here's my final point: Morphine is addictive, and potentially lethal, but has perfectly valid uses in medicine--therefore, I think anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival is completely justified and has my complete support."

I understand and agree with your comment about morphine-- no disputing that even though modern medicine can use non addictive forms of such drugs today.

But I can't understand how you can say this:

"I think anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival is completely justified and has my complete support."

Forgive me for being naive about this but is there anyone that absolutely has to gamble as a matter of life and death survival?

Or, am I just missing your entire point again?

Nope, you didn't miss my point. You got it perfectly.

~FK