Thinking like a "loser"

CharlieMaxwell · May 12, 2004

A poster on the RX Web site who owns his own sports service recently brought up an interesting point that should be addressed. He pointed out that even when he gave his clients consistent winners, they still always ended up broke.

Read Wild Bill's entire story by going to the RX home page at www.therx.com

Charlie

FunkSoulBrother · May 12, 2004

Interesting article, but I challenge the authors implication that there exists such thing as a "quality" "reputable" sports service.

wilheim · May 12, 2004

What comes to mind for me after reading the article is the ego almost all gamblers have. Everyone no matter how informed or un-informed has an opinion, and ego makes many feel their opinion is the right one. Regardless what others (including paid touts) say, most (not all) bettors can't help but bet their own opinion, however flawed, or in some cases strong it may be.

wil.

lander · May 12, 2004

"Thinking like a "loser"

Ok, I guess I could try putting myself in SPI-VI's shoes for a day.

PanchoSanza · May 12, 2004

Sort of similiar to the people who lose money in a bull market.

TheGeneral+ · May 13, 2004

In reading this article and about the Packers, those NFL backdoors came to mind. Guess I'm getting mentally ready for the NFL in May.

OccamsRazor · May 13, 2004

Psychoanalytic theory postulates that gamblers are a neurotics with an unconscious wish to lose and therefore always lose in the long run. The article quoted here talks about the losing bettors failure to look for value and their bias for their favorite teams. It goes much deeper than that. The author points out that even when giving out consistent winners gamblers lose. That fact gives credence to the psychoanalytic theory of an unconcious wish to lose. I've been researching and experimemting with the theory myself and currently agree with its premise. Even though picking winners at a consistent 55%, emotional irrational decisions eat away at the bottom line i.e. betting 2% of a bankroll going on a winninng streak suddenly betting 30% of bankroll (Why?)losing. Another 30% bet, you get the picture. Unconcious wish to lose? It would appear so. What is fairly obvious to me and many of you is that money management is MORE important than picking winners in the long run and that this is the arena that the unconcious wish to lose resides in. I believe that severely adhering to behavioral rules in both picking winners and money management that overide the unconcious wish to lose is the way to go. Tough to do but it can be done. For more info check out, The Psychology of Gambling by Edmund Bergler M.D.