What do you do the day after a big loss to feel better?

Yesterday was another big loss after a smaller big loss last week. $1300 lost forever, again since I was 19 the losses add up. I keep saying I’ll never do it again but there I am 8 hours in with a sore but trying chase a bad start only getting deeper into loss.

You wake and say $#%^ I can’t believe I did it again!

What do you do next and all day or week to feel better?

Welcome whp ,

The only way I ever felt better in relation to gambling is when I quit doing it . The bottom line is , if you gamble , you are going to lose and if you have a gambling addiction you are going to continue to lose until you are financially , mentally and spiritually ruined .

If you want to stop gambling , we are here to help you . If you just want to feel better , stop gambling .

After a big loss, the thing that made me feel better was going to go gamble again. Once I was in action again, those big losses never really seemed to bother me. We often have a 2 second memory for losses but those rare wins stays with us forever. That is why the cycle of addiction is so hard to break out of it...

A better way to feel better is to take that anger and use it to self-exclude or to say that "I will NEVER give these bloodsuckers any more of my money". Perhaps that big loss can trigger you into the right directions and over time, you WILL feel A LOT better

Hi WHP,
What I would do was play again and try to play through the bad luck and win. Winning again made me think I could recoup it all eventually. However, it is inevitable that we lose again and lose more and more until we will never, ever win it all back. When you understand this you understand you are addicted to the action. The best thing you can do is to write off all your losses as a big experiment that has failed and stop gambling while you are young. Believe me, what you have lost is nothing compared to what you will definitely lose if you continue. We all feel bad when we lose, but gradually the bad feeling goes away and we think we can re-set and gamble in a controlled fashion. We get sucked in again and the cycle begins anew. Bottom line: you only win if you do not play.

Not really what I was asking but good advice none the less

Thanks

Dear whp,
To be candid you do not ever feel better the day after a big loss. You take responsibility for being a jackass and going on tilt and either promise to quit or promise never to go on tilt again. Some bad beats are painful for weeks. It is painful because we do it to ourselves.

Hi everyone...yes i'm still stinging over my huge loss last week. Ouch! that one hurt me bad. My own fault for faltering and i'm learnin' from it. I've lost so much in my lifetime from gambling that I know for a fact I could never recoup the loses. if your young and think that you've lost a lot, think again, you' ain't lost nothing yet. Take your loses and stop right NOW. You will be so much happier tomorrow. you will never beat the game. never.

day 6 gf.

*mod edit*

Why is our brain wired in a way that it weight "hope" (hope for the next big win) stronger then the facts of losses and debths?

I wonder this every single hour. I am a logical thinking man. Why did I think a jackpot / big win will occur soon while losing money ALL THE TIME??
It is very clearly evident that you will lose everything, but still cling to the stupid hope to get rich.

Must be something hardwired, otherwise why is gambling basically the second oldest "trade" and still alive in countries where gambling is strictly illegal.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

Frankly , I think it goes beyond money . In the last stages of my gambling addiction , I could have won a million dollars and all it would have done was provide me with the means to satisfy the real need - my addiction to the abnormally high levels of dopamine that the act of gambling swamped my brain with .

In time , there was no pleasure at all associated with a win . There was only relief that I could continue to keep playing . When I wasn't gambling , nothing seemed fun or enjoyable because it couldn't trigger that massive dose of feel-good chemicals in my brain that gambling did . It was the need to keep those levels maintained that kept me going back even when I knew it was ruining me financially . They had become my new normal .

After I stopped gambling , it took a few months before I felt anything like pleasure/happiness in "normal" things , like a favorite food , a beautiful day or spending time with good friends .

Do some research on how our brains are affected by gambling , particularly by slot machines . It's both enlightening and horrifying .