Scared Money

Are You Playing with Scared Money?

I have a friend who's a big time gambler -- horses and sports book mostly, but he'll take a flyer out to a casino and burn up a crap table once in a while. His playful lifestyle has given him a unique view of reality, and here's what he told me about betting and risking: He said that the absolute worse way to approach any game of chance was to go in with a pre-set maximum limit in your mind of just how much money you are willing to lose.

"I'm only gonna bet $50 -- if I lose it, forget it... I'm done. This way I can only lose a maximum of $50! That's not so bad, right?..."

Notice how much energy is expended deciding how best to protect your money -- while less consideration is given to doing whatever it takes to actually WIN something with it? This is a classic loser's mentality, not the "smart guy" style of play. Why? Because it's an overriding play 'strategy' (and I use this term loosely) that's based upon the assumption that you will probably LOSE no matter how events ultimately unfold. There is no consideration given as to how you're going to win -- because in the deepest recesses of your mind you do not accept that winning is really possible for you. Oh sure you might've chalked up the rare victory here and there along the way, but in the long run you will always somehow end up the loser (you think). So the "Big Overriding Idea" then becomes to protect yourself against any serious losses.

My buddy calls this playing with scared money. And he has another saying too...

SCARED MONEY ALWAYS LOSES!

Timidly, you lay down your bet and the house sweeps it away. Bye bye, jackass... see ya again when you have another $50 bucks for me to cleave off your wallet. It never fails. There is just no way to play the game of life in a half-assed protective manner and ever make any real progress. The "I'm-not-going-to-take-any-risks" approach to life is a formula for abject failure, plain and simple. Nature seems to abhor this line of reasoning, and it ensures that all its practitioners are gleefully punished with unending failure and frustration.

The successful gambler -- by contrast -- always remains focused on WINNING, and keeps punching through his losses with a bulldog determination until he gets there. The way my friend describes the process has to seem terrifying to the risk adverse... if you lose $50, you bet $100 next time. Lose that, and now you bet $200. Next time, $400. The idea is to keep doubling your bet so that when you finally DO win it will more than cover your previous losses. Yikes!

You see, the confident, ballsy gambler has to keep pushing harder and harder