There are so many people in denial about gambling and the math surrounding it.
There is never any of this nonsensical "I changed a negative expectation game into a positive one" going on. Every time you win playing a -EV game you have had a positive result. Theory has ended/reality has taken over. And that is the ONLY thing in gambling that counts. This misleading notion that we hear regularly saying "I'd rather make a good bet and lose than make a bad bet and win" is pure unadulterated BS.
The truest approach to enjoyable and successful gambling is to find a method your own personal abilities and capabilities are suited for that gives you your best opportunity of walking into a casino with X amount of money, and walking out with minimum X+1. And as I have learned long ago, it is not that hard to do. Motivation + determination + intelligence = a high chance of success.
Of course, as we've seen on these forums for years ad nauseum, some people who call themselves AP's (but may or may really not be) insist in turning the whole thing into an exercise in long-term theoretical probabilities--which when it comes down to it is nothing more than what the books have to say about gambling. Sure, it's helpful and statistically very interesting to many of us, understanding the numbers etc. of what we're getting into. But again, the only part of all this effort is, upon leaving any casino, have we won money?
Claiming to have had "a good day" after losing ANY amount of money because you've "played in a theoretically positive environment every moment of your visit" is nothing more than elitist, feel-good nonsense, created for the sole purpose of justification for having had a truly bad day of gambling. That's why people who do that are well recognized as having a bevy of personal and social issues to deal with, and their struggles in such an arena really do them no public favors.
Remember, most people who gamble are not happy people. A healthy life-balance is required to even begin thinking about making it worth anyone's while. And then, there MUST be an acceptance at the end of the day about the reality of gambling being far more important than the theory of it all.
Wise people get it.
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