I QUIT!

Since this is generally an issue of unwanted behavior, I thought it might be helpful to mention something that worked for me. Best thing about it, is you won't have to buy anything, or read anything other than this post. And it's almost completely effortless. Only thing you need to do is understand the basic concept correctly and apply it.

A couple caveats, I don't know if it can be applied to gambling problems, and never tried to do that. You may have to work out a creative method yourself. And I don't know how effective it would be for really addictive behavior.

I learned it from my mother who actually failed at it.

She was trying to get us kids on to a cheaper version of milk. Powdered, also known as dehydrated milk. She did two things right. She mixed the unwanted product with the wanted product. Unfortunately, she kept increasing the amount too fast. We all knew something was wrong, though not exactly what. We thought the milk was sour at first. And even when we still didn't know what was wrong with it, we still refused to drink it when she made the change too big. She never really guessed if she had had more patience, she might have pulled it off with very small increments.

So, the basic method is simple if you do it right. You have to find a way to mix the bad behavior and good behavior together, not separately. You need to associate the two things together.

For instance, let's say you crave French fries far too much and wish you could easily switch to more leafy greens. Rather than add a small plate of leafy greens next to the French fries plate you need to mix the two together and eat them that way. Start with the smallest amount you want, even if it's just one shredded leaf sprinkled in. You always want to associate eating them at the same time not separately. Even though it might take a longer time, there's no need to push yourself. Take as long as you like rather than pushing your tastebuds to the limit of tolerance, that is if you want the change to be effortless.

Like I said, you may have to be more creative to apply it to something that's not easily mixed as food. But maybe you can find some way that works for you.

Quote: mwalz9

I don't care to share in hopes it prevents someone else from falling down the same rabbit hole I did.

Also, this is still the only thread I opened. So I have no reason to want to gamble, trust me, I touched the hot oven and my hand still has 3rd degree burns, Im not going back to the oven anytime soon.

First off, the post about me crying was not literal. I did lose the money I had set aside for my mortgage, but did not cry. Luckily, my parents bailed me out.

The rest of the story...

Yes, I used to make $30,000 a year. I started off betting as entertainment and would buy in for $100 or so and play $5/hand blackjack, $5 line bets on craps or bet $5.50 or $11 on a sports bet and chalk it up as entertainment expense if I lost. It was under control and I had 0 issues managing it. I NEVER got into a pickle at this time.

Fast forward a few years and West Virginia makes online gambling legal about the same time my income increased tremendously. I started making over $250,000/year and the $5 bets werent doing it for me. So I started buying in for $1,000 at a time and playing $50-$100 a hand, $50 craps line bets with odds, and $55 to $220 on a sporting event. FanDuel made me a VIP and treated me like a king! I had a personal rep who would send me $500-$2000 bonus money a week, gave me tickets for free to pro sporting events, and the promos were 10x what normal players were getting. Some of that info is in another thread I started. Again, I still felt I had it under control and my bankroll could handle it. Even losing, I was able to maintain a 6 figure bank account and felt financially stable.

My job is commission based so my income then took a hit, I went from $220,000/yr to about $120,000/yr. The problem, I was still hooked on BIG bets and I couldnt control it and back down. The problem, was my income could no longer handle it. I started dipping into the savings. I was chasing losses. BIG TIME! Id deposit $1,000, trying to win a few hundred, but Id lose the $1,000. Then I felt I had to get the $1,000 back too! So Id deposit $5,000. If I lost it, Ineeded it back too. So Id deposit $20,000.

I hit some licks during this time. I have 6 tax tickets for 2022 even though I have a HUGE net loss. There were some very good days. Id say out of a 365 day year, gambling every day, I was a net winner 330 of those days. The problem is the 330 days of "net wins" did not out weigh the 35 days of HUGE losses.

When I self excluded, my FanDuel account alone, not counting any brick and mortar play at The Mardi Gras was approx. $6.5 million wagered and a net loss of around $117,000!

Please dont let this happen to you!
link to original post

What’s the Free play Like down there in Mardi Gra ? Would love to come through WV and bust up some of these places. These casinos need to be beat.

Quote: BillHasRetired

But, the greatest limitation on my gambling behavior is my spouse, which is a good thing.

My wife is a dichotomy. She understands advantage play and pretty much trusts me but puts a limit on it. If I find a good play I will explain it to her and show the advantage but keeps me in check from going too deep. If it was up too me I would gamble almost every dollar we have if there is a good edge and the volatility isn't crazy.. She will allocate me a budget depending on the makeup of the play. For example she may say that it sounds good but I have to stop if and when I get down $10k. I will follow budget but I hate it when I know I am walking away from a good play even if I have lost some money.

On one of our first plays together I was down about $4k in the first 30 minutes and I thought she was going to have a stroke (before getting married she didn't have much and was on a very tight month to month budget). Fortunately that play ended up working out showing a small profit or else I don't think she would have ever allowed me to gamble again.

I have a friend who had been sober for 20 years or so [when I knew him] who said horrific examples typically don't work to stop someone with a drinking problem. The more horrific the example, the more that person says to himself "well, that's not me, I'm not like that... I'm avoiding that". If the example is less horrific, then it's "if I get that bad I'll get ahold of myself in time"

The problem of ineffective example may be even worse with gambling addiction, something tells me

Quote: Seedvalue

What’s the Free play Like down there in Mardi Gra ? Would love to come through WV and bust up some of these places. These casinos need to be beat.
link to original post

(Quote clipped, relevance)

I've never been there, but both Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island are Delaware North casinos in WV.

I would say cards can be done at a decent profit (at least for WI) if you live around there or you have someone who can do the pick ups such that it is only a minor time inconvenience. If you don't have anyone who passes through there regularly or lives around there, (WI was 6x pickups/month when I did it) then you would lose a lot in terms of time to free play value to the extent that I would say it would never be worth the time with much better (per hour) opportunities out there.

Quote: Mission146

Quote: Seedvalue

What’s the Free play Like down there in Mardi Gra ? Would love to come through WV and bust up some of these places. These casinos need to be beat.
link to original post

(Quote clipped, relevance)

I've never been there, but both Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island are Delaware North casinos in WV.

I would say cards can be done at a decent profit (at least for WI) if you live around there or you have someone who can do the pick ups such that it is only a minor time inconvenience. If you don't have anyone who passes through there regularly or lives around there, (WI was 6x pickups/month when I did it) then you would lose a lot in terms of time to free play value to the extent that I would say it would never be worth the time with much better (per hour) opportunities out there.
link to original post

We know that advantage plays do exist. But let's not promote even those plays to addicts or potential addicts. It's not doing them any favours.

Quote: OnceDear

Quote: Mission146

Quote: Seedvalue

What’s the Free play Like down there in Mardi Gra ? Would love to come through WV and bust up some of these places. These casinos need to be beat.
link to original post

(Quote clipped, relevance)

I've never been there, but both Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island are Delaware North casinos in WV.

I would say cards can be done at a decent profit (at least for WI) if you live around there or you have someone who can do the pick ups such that it is only a minor time inconvenience. If you don't have anyone who passes through there regularly or lives around there, (WI was 6x pickups/month when I did it) then you would lose a lot in terms of time to free play value to the extent that I would say it would never be worth the time with much better (per hour) opportunities out there.
link to original post

We know that advantage plays do exist. But let's not promote even those plays to addicts or potential addicts. It's not doing them any favours.
link to original post

I was responding to Seedvalue; MWalz is also self-excluded from both casinos mentioned in my post.

If the Moderators want to break Seedvalue's query, and my response, off into a separate thread, I obviously would have no objections to that.

I'm technically capable of doing it, but I don't take any Administrative actions that I am capable of aside from spam removal and Nuking blatant spammers. The only reason I have any Administrative capabilities at all is because they are too difficult to break off from my ability to edit articles, which I have already publicly disclosed.

Quote: OnceDear

Quote: Mission146

Quote: Seedvalue

What’s the Free play Like down there in Mardi Gra ? Would love to come through WV and bust up some of these places. These casinos need to be beat.
link to original post

(Quote clipped, relevance)

I've never been there, but both Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island are Delaware North casinos in WV.

I would say cards can be done at a decent profit (at least for WI) if you live around there or you have someone who can do the pick ups such that it is only a minor time inconvenience. If you don't have anyone who passes through there regularly or lives around there, (WI was 6x pickups/month when I did it) then you would lose a lot in terms of time to free play value to the extent that I would say it would never be worth the time with much better (per hour) opportunities out there.
link to original post

We know that advantage plays do exist. But let's not promote even those plays to addicts or potential addicts. It's not doing them any favours.
link to original post

Wouldn't that be a long flight for you? 😂

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: AxelWolf

I know a few people that are Advantage Players who are addicted to action/playing, but they only play games with an advantage they won't touch -EV stuff unless absolutely necessary for cover. They are super successful.
Aside from being smart, their success is also contributed to the eagerness to find +EV plays and to put a ton of hours in.
link to original post

i've tried but cant stick to the rule of ONLY playing known +ev situations.

i chase high progressives.
ie: $40 (4x reset) mini

i also believe that max bet will immensely help in hitting that progressive once i trigger the jackpot bonus.
unfortunately, getting that jackpot bonus to activate is the problem.

i've lost $2k in an slot chasing a $60 mini. (4x reset)
combination of lack of bonus rounds and when i get them, it paid very little plus a long time before getting a jackpot pick but hitting the minor thus needing to play more to get another shot at the mini.

other times i max bet chasing a high progressive and hit a handpay.
i guess i like the action/variance which is bad if you're AP.

2023 resolution: wait till it's 8x reset
reason: i dread entering all those w2g's when i file my 2022 taxes next year

and it should cut down on my swings
link to original post

chasing the $500 capped bottom progressive.
lost $2500 at 5lines ($5/spin) and never got it or any progressive.
i guessimate 25% return..

and of course if i would have bet max (9lines, $9/spin total), i would have hit that progressive 3 times plus the red progressive for $1700.
but that's fluff since if i bet max, i would have never gotten it.
just a tease by design.
if you would have bet max 9lines instead of 5, this is what your could have gotten bs.

what's the min return of this game?

and this loss is my wake up call to stop playing high progressives unless it's 8x reset.

edit:
where's my pic???
slot is called Triple Jackpot Gems

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: AxelWolf

I know a few people that are Advantage Players who are addicted to action/playing, but they only play games with an advantage they won't touch -EV stuff unless absolutely necessary for cover. They are super successful.
Aside from being smart, their success is also contributed to the eagerness to find +EV plays and to put a ton of hours in.
link to original post

i've tried but cant stick to the rule of ONLY playing known +ev situations.

i chase high progressives.
ie: $40 (4x reset) mini

i also believe that max bet will immensely help in hitting that progressive once i trigger the jackpot bonus.
unfortunately, getting that jackpot bonus to activate is the problem.

i've lost $2k in an slot chasing a $60 mini. (4x reset)
combination of lack of bonus rounds and when i get them, it paid very little plus a long time before getting a jackpot pick but hitting the minor thus needing to play more to get another shot at the mini.

other times i max bet chasing a high progressive and hit a handpay.
i guess i like the action/variance which is bad if you're AP.

2023 resolution: wait till it's 8x reset
reason: i dread entering all those w2g's when i file my 2022 taxes next year

and it should cut down on my swings
link to original post

chasing the $500 capped bottom progressive.
lost $2500 at 5lines ($5/spin) and never got it or any progressive.
i guessimate 25% return..

and of course if i would have bet max (9lines, $9/spin total), i would have hit that progressive 3 times plus the red progressive for $1700.
but that's fluff since if i bet max, i would have never gotten it.
just a tease by design.
if you would have bet max 9lines instead of 5, this is what your could have gotten bs.

what's the min return of this game?

and this loss is my wake up call to stop playing high progressives unless it's 8x reset.

edit:
where's my pic???
slot is called Triple Jackpot Gems
link to original post

9 lines 1 per line for a $9 bet. If the version you are playing is capped at $500 it’s not a play. Only the uncapped version is beatable. Plops that’s bet max drive up the meter, and bottom progressive needs to be north of $600 when betting $9. Not that great of a game.

Sorry Edit above I thought you were talking about a game by IGT with a similar name with a max bet of $45 on some machines.