The Quotable Captain: The struggle

21 August 2018

By Frank Scoblete

(The late Captain was my mentor in gambling. I’ve written six books about him. This series contains some of his quotes, ideas and advice. This particular article concerns the biggest problem gamblers have at the games.)

The Captain: “The struggle is not between you and the casino; it is between you and yourself.” — The Captain’s Craps Revolution (1993)

Casino gambling is fun. That is why over 54 million Americans go to casinos every year. Add another 40 million tourists and you have a monstrous number of people who love attempting to seduce Lady Luck. Most, of course, fail, and some fail miserably. That’s the truth; a sad truth and a truth that brings down the player.

Very few casino gamblers think that they will have an edge over the house. Those who do, with the exception of true advantage players, are foolishly wishing the facts away and substituting them with vain hopefulness.

The Captain used a phrase (above) that in many different guises has been used by many philosophers and writers. He believed that many, if not most, casino gamblers had themselves to blame for their disasters. Yes, the house has the edge, but how much a person loses is totally up to the person.

Casino gambling can be much like drinking for some people. A person gets his first drink and slowly savors it. He sips it, enjoying its taste and fragrance. He is in no hurry to down it rapidly. Now he goes for his second drink and sips it somewhat faster. Then a third drink, then a fourth, then . .. glass after glass after glass (or beer bottle after beer bottle) gets swigged. The running time during a drink becomes like lightning. And, naturally, drunkenness occurs. The fellow wakes up the next morning with a headache and the question, “What did I do last night?”

At games or machines, the person at first takes his time between decisions; the person bets intelligently, never betting more than he can afford. This is a well-planned and thoughtful strategy.

But as time wears on, the person starts to bet faster, spinning the slot machines like a top and betting many bets at craps, playing higher and more hands at blackjack. Suddenly the amount of money this individual is risking is no longer in the area that he can afford – he is swigging bets the way a drinker swigs drinks. His reasonable and thoughtful plan has been thrown out the window. This person will wake up and say, “What did I do yesterday? My wallet is empty.”

Of course, casino gamblers who also drink too much will wake up and really say, “What the heck did I do yesterday. My wallet is empty and my head is pounding. How much did I drink? How much did I lose?”

Facts are facts, and a certain fact is that a player has to stay in control of his feelings. He cannot allow the moments of play to change a simple, well-considered strategy. That is easy for me to say and hard for people to actually do. Casino gambling is often like a jog down a steep hill that becomes faster and faster the more a person does it.

Yes, the Captain is right, “The struggle is not between you and the casino; the struggle is between you and yourself.”

Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. Frank’s latest books are I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps, Confessions of a Wayward Catholic and I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack. Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.