Wanna bet?

Since I am in Vegas I want to explain the first time I fell in love with gambling. My mom’s birthday is either on Mother’s Day or a few days before/after the holiday. Living in the horse racing capital of the world, my family spent a few Mother’s Day at the horse track when I was little celebrating the double holiday.

The sheer majesty that is the horse track is overwhelming to a six-year old. The beautiful grounds that are still in their finest shape following the first Saturday in May are gorgeous. The blending of a hint of aristocracy with a pinch of working-class hope leave an mixture of grace and desperation that clings to every individual on the grounds.

More than anything else, when your parent’s give you two-dollars to make a bet and you pick out your horse and cheer them on to victory … the rush of excitement is enough to rival a Kansas basketball game. When your horse sputters to a disappointing finish, you feel betrayed and yet entirely alive.

These bets of $2 were always for a horse, generally a favorite, to show. My winning tickets blessed me with a hard earned dime or quarter. Though I didn’t understand why I merely won a dime and not the $2.10, I was ready to bet again and again and again.

Over the Mother’s Day events, my parents probably wasted some money on me and my sister. I doubt we won much with our bets, but we hardly could have bankrupted them at that rate either. What they did do for me was teach me valuable lessons about gambling.

I learned that playing it safe does little to help you win money in the long run. I learned that taking large risks rarely resulted in my winning anything. I learned how to play the game.

How you play the game is simple. You need to know what you are doing when you make a bet (any bet, not just horses). You need to know your possible odds and potential payouts. You need to take no big risks ever … until the payoff is actually worth the risk.

For example, if you play blackjack by the book on hitting and staying but never double or split cards (which isn’t by the book), you will lose money in the long run. However, if you take your shots by going big on good double and split chances … you can actually come out on top most of the time. Sure the cards don’t always fall your way and you can lose, but if you don’t take those chances you can never really win.

That is what I learned. What I taught myself is this: Never bet what you cannot afford to lose, no matter how sure you are and once you get up some, bank some of your stack and make it untouchable. Don’t ride the rollercoaster.