The Best Advice You'll Ever Receive

[JengaMaster]

For those of you that know me, know that I like to degen a lot here on Stake. I've had good moments and bad moments here. Some of my play on here will forever be etched in my memory.

I thought I'd write a thread about something I feel would benefit all players in the long run. Because in my 8 years of being an active risk-taker, I've learned a lot. I've been through addiction phases (not related to drugs) and I've done some fucked up shit that comes along with being in that state of mind. I've never stolen, but, specifically, I've got myself into huge amounts of debt with friends and family, some of which were only repaid 3 years later.

I remember I was so desperate for any amount of money, I was going through my contacts list, my IG contacts, my FB contacts, in search of people who I thought I "could" borrow from. At one point, I ended up owing maybe 40 different people (friends and family, and even 1 or 2 strangers-cum-friends). Some of these people, I borrowed multiples times from. I would settle their debt today and tomorrow when I run out again, I'd text them again asking them to send me back the money that I just sent to them the day before. Fucked up shit, guys, don't ever do that. Your reputation and pride is worth more than a few hundred bucks, believe me.

Why do gamblers take debts? 2 reasons. The first one being that they feel like they're "close" to making back their losses. Of course this is all in the mind. I've tested this theory. When you lose huge, and you can only borrow a little, more times than not, you will fail to run things back up to breakeven. After all, the house edge is more pronounced the longer you play. What is ahead of you is far worse for you if you decide to act on that feeling of being "close" to hitting something. Because, you see, you might be right one time. But the next time, you're not going to be as lucky.

The second reason why gamblers take on debts is because they simply do not want to adjust their bet sizing because for them the dopamine no longer kicks in at 5 dollars per bet, because just yesterday, they were playing 100 dollars per bet. They also think it is impossible to win back the amount they lost by playing smaller stakes. And I guess they're right. But they're only half-right. Your bet sizing, relative to your bankroll, is so important for you to manage. You CANNOT "get used to playing" so-and-so amounts. Just because you're used to playing for those amounts, doesn't mean you have to always play those amounts. Don't make this mistake. Grind it from the bottom again. 

The best advice you'll ever hear if you're down a lot of money one day is this: don't try to win it all back in one attempt. Don't. Sometimes you gotta end the day in loss. You just have to accept that. No matter how much you're down for the day, don't think of redepositing to try to win it all back in one go. Guys, believe me on this one.

My worst day playing on here was February 19 2021 when I lost $11.5k in one 6 hour degen session. Thereby losing ALL my money that was in my bank account. The 2 following days, I took up $2k worth of debt from 3 friends. I lost that 2k so quick because as soon as I deposited a portion of it, I would go all-in just to win back my 11.5k you know. Fortunately, thanks to Stake's rewards systems, counting my reloads, my top monthly players bonus for Feb, my weekly bonus and my monthly bonus, I was able to recoup the 2k debt by the end of the very next week. I fully settled the amount I owed. Was I able to recoup that 11.5k of my own money that I lost? Unfortunately, no. I decided in early March that I was going to take a break from playing because I was unhappy with how things had gone down over the prior 2 weeks. Not just unhappy with my luck, but more so about my lack of discipline.

After a period of inactivity, in June I started playing again. 16 June 2021 - I lost 4.6k in one day. Again, my own money. I deposited 15 times that day. I could have deposited more, but decided against it. The most miraculous thing happened though. With only about 1k left in my bank account that was my own money, I depo'ed 50 bucks. Lost it. As a hail mary attempt, I depo'ed another 50. And that 50 became 1k in 8 rounds of Baccarat. I went all-in, or close to it, for 4 or 5 hands, won all of them. In 8 rounds, I lost just once. And that one time I lost was not so big such that the very next round, I was able to recoup it + profit. In the end, I ended the day by withdrawing 800 of that 1k. I was "only" down 3.6k that day. Or so I thought. The 200 that I left in my Vault, I withdrew it all to play Baccarat again. Only to lose the entire thing in 3 successive rounds. So I actually ended the day 3.8k down. But I was happy.

Happy because I knew that I could actually deposit more if I wanted to, but I didn't. Happy because I knew that I could borrow from friends and family if I wanted to, but I didn't. Happy because I was averted from a full-scale disaster as a result of my own lack of discipline (the full-scale disaster scenario being that I lose the 1k I had left in my account).

And I am happy to report that 2 days later, thanks to some luck (for me I believe it is a mercy from my Lord), I am only down 2k. From being down 4.6k -> 3.8k -> 2.8k -> 2k. Bankroll management, guys. Get used to playing smaller when you lose big. Over the last 2 days I've really pondered on the saying, "Don't try to win it all back in one day." Slow and steady truly wins in this case.

Some days you just gotta chalk it down to a loss. Don't make the mistake of not leaving anything for yourself to try to win it all back again in the following days. It's never all-or-nothing.