5 ms·

Man this article is sad. Being addicted to gambling really does suck the life out you.

Joker_vD 2y ago
I've played enough poker (and similar games) on computer (against bots, no real money) to know that 1) I am quite bad at assessing the expected value of my moves; 2) I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? Anyhow, I do know quite well that were I to gamble with real money, I'd very soon go broke and it's not a difficult observation to make, even for someone as bad at self-reflection as myself. So, I don't gamble. And yet apparently there is something about gambling with real-life consequences that is very attractive to oh so many people who (again, apparently) can not replicate the similar experience in a less life-ruining way, so they return to gamble again and again?
- lostlogin 2y ago
  > what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it Is this ‘a gambler’? Addict, risk taker or similar?
- germinalphrase 2y ago
  “with reckless abandon” might be an equivalent phrase, e.g. “he played poker with reckless abandon”.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  > I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? Does the word have to denote (literally mean) that the person is emotionally excited and engaged at the same time? If so, then perhaps "a daredevil", "hotheaded", "impetuous", "impulsive" or "rash". There are a lot of close words like "reckless" or "irresponsible" which are often used when the person is excited, but technically they don't require it. Someone can be quite reckless while also half-asleep doing something they don't personally care about.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- mateo411 2y ago
  > I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? I think degen is the common term that used here. It's short for degenerate.
  - Terr_ 2y ago
    > I think degen is the common term that used here. Sir, I think you mixed up your HN account with 4Chan...
    - _dain_ 2y ago
      "degenerate fuckin gambler" is a common term predating 4chan https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/degenerate#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/degenerate#Adjective >(of a gambler) Addictive or compulsive.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - MaxfordAndSons 2y ago
    I guess you're getting downvoted because people think you mean HN by "here", but you meant amongst gamblers. And you're right, it is the most apt term gp was looking for.
    - Joker_vD 2y ago
      I definitely was not. "Courageous", "adventurous", "risk-taking", "reckless", "impudent", "bold", "daring", but with something that would mean "...almost and even to a fault or own peril", but without an inherent negative moral connotation is what I was looking for.
      - MaxfordAndSons 2y ago
        It doesn't have an inherent negative moral connotation when used amongst gamblers. It's been reclaimed, so to speak. But I suppose we're not amongst gamblers here, so, fair enough.
- saghm 2y ago
  > what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? The best I can come up with is "adrenaline junky", but that isn't specific to gambling; I feel like people use that to refer to people who like base jumping or something.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - Terr_ 2y ago
    Well, since we're all already in pedantic grammarian territory: That would be "junkie", since it is a noun identifying an addicted person. In contrast, "junky" is an adjective to describe a generally bad state or quality. "Junky adrenaline" is probably medical waste. Ex: "It's not safe to travel in a junky car driven by a junkie. Worse still to sail on a junkie's junky junk."
- BobaFloutist 2y ago
  Poker players would label you as being strategically too "aggressive", but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with emotion, it's just what they would call the way you play.
- csa 2y ago
  There are several terms of art in poker that describe various versions of this: action player — This is fairly neutral, and describes what I think you mean. Someone who likes to gamble. Sometimes these players are really bad, sometimes they are only sort of bad. These players make bank when playing against weak players who overfold and aren’t willing to gamble. VIP — This is a polite way to say “donator”. Many/most action players are VIPs. Their attitude is that they can gamble in the pits or gamble at the poker table, and often times the poker table presents less bad (or even good) odds when compared to the house. LAGtard — LAG is short for “loose aggressive”. LAG can be a very profitable style, especially when deep stacked. That said, LAGtards tend to play the style badly. spewy — describes someone who puts a lot of chips into the pot, often times in questionable spots. Noun form is “spewtard”.
ryandrake 2y ago
As a non-addicted, casual gambler (I recreationally play 1-2 no limit poker at casinos once in a blue moon), I'd hate to see casinos simply disappear, but yea they tend to be kind of sad places full of the people who can least afford to lose the money in their pocket. Don't know what the solution is. If you outlaw it, you're getting rid of a benign source of casual fun for folks like me who can keep it under control, and are not really addressing the underlying addiction of the victims--they'll just move on to underground casinos and/or more extreme gambling.
- andrewstuart 2y ago
  Society pays a pretty high price for that casual fun for people like you. Maybe go see a movie instead.
  - pixl97 2y ago
    Vice has a cost. Anti-vice has a cost. There is no such thing as a free lunch and you're going to pay the piper somewhere. While I'm not a gambler myself, the "Just don't do $vice$" moral argument just never works on it's own.
  - ElevenLathe 2y ago
    Unfortunately, there's not a livable version of society where we "ban" gambling. Doing so just pushes it underground, and therefore inevitably into the hands of some kind of organized crime. I imagine the best compromise would be to create a state monopoly and make it easily (but not universally) available, while also trying to push some social stigma against it. Unfortunately for harmful vices like this, the anglosphere (and I assume a lot of other places) tends to oscillate between prohibition and hands-off marketism. We are seeing similar with sports betting and marijuana in the US. Less than ten years ago, these were major crimes basically everywhere. Now, in large swaths of the country, you can't drive a mile without seeing a billboard for one or the other. Making them illegal again is not the answer, but we don't seem to have a standard way of shading things like this in any meaningful way. (By the way, I'm not against people smoking a little weed or betting on football, but plenty of people do get momentum with both and it can have harmful effects for them. I believe the industries pushing both behaviors are in large part profiting off this small group of heavy "users". )

I've played enough poker (and similar games) on computer (against bots, no real money) to know that 1) I am quite bad at assessing the expected value of my moves; 2) I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? Anyhow, I do know quite well that were I to gamble with real money, I'd very soon go broke and it's not a difficult observation to make, even for someone as bad at self-reflection as myself. So, I don't gamble. And yet apparently there is something about gambling with real-life consequences that is very attractive to oh so many people who (again, apparently) can not replicate the similar experience in a less life-ruining way, so they return to gamble again and again?

lostlogin 2y ago
> what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it Is this ‘a gambler’? Addict, risk taker or similar?
germinalphrase 2y ago
“with reckless abandon” might be an equivalent phrase, e.g. “he played poker with reckless abandon”.
Terr_ 2y ago
> I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? Does the word have to denote (literally mean) that the person is emotionally excited and engaged at the same time? If so, then perhaps "a daredevil", "hotheaded", "impetuous", "impulsive" or "rash". There are a lot of close words like "reckless" or "irresponsible" which are often used when the person is excited, but technically they don't require it. Someone can be quite reckless while also half-asleep doing something they don't personally care about.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mateo411 2y ago
> I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? I think degen is the common term that used here. It's short for degenerate.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  > I think degen is the common term that used here. Sir, I think you mixed up your HN account with 4Chan...
  - _dain_ 2y ago
    "degenerate fuckin gambler" is a common term predating 4chan https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/degenerate#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/degenerate#Adjective >(of a gambler) Addictive or compulsive.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- MaxfordAndSons 2y ago
  I guess you're getting downvoted because people think you mean HN by "here", but you meant amongst gamblers. And you're right, it is the most apt term gp was looking for.
  - Joker_vD 2y ago
    I definitely was not. "Courageous", "adventurous", "risk-taking", "reckless", "impudent", "bold", "daring", but with something that would mean "...almost and even to a fault or own peril", but without an inherent negative moral connotation is what I was looking for.
    - MaxfordAndSons 2y ago
      It doesn't have an inherent negative moral connotation when used amongst gamblers. It's been reclaimed, so to speak. But I suppose we're not amongst gamblers here, so, fair enough.
saghm 2y ago
> what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? The best I can come up with is "adrenaline junky", but that isn't specific to gambling; I feel like people use that to refer to people who like base jumping or something.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- Terr_ 2y ago
  Well, since we're all already in pedantic grammarian territory: That would be "junkie", since it is a noun identifying an addicted person. In contrast, "junky" is an adjective to describe a generally bad state or quality. "Junky adrenaline" is probably medical waste. Ex: "It's not safe to travel in a junky car driven by a junkie. Worse still to sail on a junkie's junky junk."
BobaFloutist 2y ago
Poker players would label you as being strategically too "aggressive", but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with emotion, it's just what they would call the way you play.
csa 2y ago
There are several terms of art in poker that describe various versions of this: action player — This is fairly neutral, and describes what I think you mean. Someone who likes to gamble. Sometimes these players are really bad, sometimes they are only sort of bad. These players make bank when playing against weak players who overfold and aren’t willing to gamble. VIP — This is a polite way to say “donator”. Many/most action players are VIPs. Their attitude is that they can gamble in the pits or gamble at the poker table, and often times the poker table presents less bad (or even good) odds when compared to the house. LAGtard — LAG is short for “loose aggressive”. LAG can be a very profitable style, especially when deep stacked. That said, LAGtards tend to play the style badly. spewy — describes someone who puts a lot of chips into the pot, often times in questionable spots. Noun form is “spewtard”.

ryandrake 2y ago

As a non-addicted, casual gambler (I recreationally play 1-2 no limit poker at casinos once in a blue moon), I'd hate to see casinos simply disappear, but yea they tend to be kind of sad places full of the people who can least afford to lose the money in their pocket. Don't know what the solution is. If you outlaw it, you're getting rid of a benign source of casual fun for folks like me who can keep it under control, and are not really addressing the underlying addiction of the victims--they'll just move on to underground casinos and/or more extreme gambling.

andrewstuart 2y ago
Society pays a pretty high price for that casual fun for people like you. Maybe go see a movie instead.
- pixl97 2y ago
  Vice has a cost. Anti-vice has a cost. There is no such thing as a free lunch and you're going to pay the piper somewhere. While I'm not a gambler myself, the "Just don't do $vice$" moral argument just never works on it's own.
- ElevenLathe 2y ago
  Unfortunately, there's not a livable version of society where we "ban" gambling. Doing so just pushes it underground, and therefore inevitably into the hands of some kind of organized crime. I imagine the best compromise would be to create a state monopoly and make it easily (but not universally) available, while also trying to push some social stigma against it. Unfortunately for harmful vices like this, the anglosphere (and I assume a lot of other places) tends to oscillate between prohibition and hands-off marketism. We are seeing similar with sports betting and marijuana in the US. Less than ten years ago, these were major crimes basically everywhere. Now, in large swaths of the country, you can't drive a mile without seeing a billboard for one or the other. Making them illegal again is not the answer, but we don't seem to have a standard way of shading things like this in any meaningful way. (By the way, I'm not against people smoking a little weed or betting on football, but plenty of people do get momentum with both and it can have harmful effects for them. I believe the industries pushing both behaviors are in large part profiting off this small group of heavy "users". )