David Milch Lost $100 Million at the Track

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Exotics are Heroin, but when you get 12 dollars for a super beating the 1-2 shot and getting a 55-1 in 3rd, that Heroin turns into a whiff of second hand smoke from marijuana.

Bigger problem is the stewards cutting up the heroin and mixing it with their dizzying chalk powder.

[thaskalos]

Why do ultra-successful people take their fortunes to the gambling arenas...and destroy themselves? Can't they gamble for modest sums, and have their "fun"...while still keeping their financial lives intact? I understand the motivation of a person who lacks financial stability, and looks to gambling for a little side-income that he might need. But does a multi-millionaire businessman really need to make another fortune at the TRACK?

I have a friend who started with nothing...working as a grill-man in smoldering kitchens for a few hundred dollars a week. He would play the horses for modest sums on his day off...looking for a few hundred extra a month that he needed, in order to live a better life. And he had a dream of owning his own restaurant. Fast-forward 15 years...and he is more successful as a restaurant-owner than he EVER thought he would be. He worked hard to build his business...and now enjoys the sort of income that could easily support the "luxurious lifestyle". But he can still be found at the track...where he now bets with both hands, while screaming his lungs out at the TV monitors. And he loses 80% of his income...while telling himself that he is "having fun".

Do these "successful" people think that their "success" will carry over into all the other aspects of their life?

[moneyandland]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Exotics are Heroin, but when you get 12 dollars for a super beating the 1-2 shot and getting a 55-1 in 3rd, that Heroin turns into a whiff of second hand smoke from marijuana.

You didn't get $12 you got 129.5 to 1, you're betting a pool with 24% takeout before breakage. Without the take out you got 170-1 that the favorite would be out of top 4.

Win odd's have no reflection of the super pool. Ex: There was a hypothetical race with Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Affirmed, and 2 horses from a 3500Mdnclm at Rillito. The 2 horses from Rillito are going to be 10,000-1 to win, but 1 of them has to finish 4th. Should the superfecta be taxable because you have a 10,000-1 shot on the ticket?

You never say how much you think the payout should be, always that you think it's low or unfair

It was a 5 horse race, you didn't beat a 1/2 in a 14 horse race and put 2 bombs in it, you put the only 2 horses left that could fill the ticket in a 5 horse race if the 1/2 is out

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Why do ultra-successful people take their fortunes to the gambling arenas...and destroy themselves? Can't they gamble for modest sums, and have their "fun"...while still keeping their financial lives intact? I understand the motivation of a person who lacks financial stability, and looks to gambling for a little side-income that he might need. But does a multi-millionaire businessman really need to make another fortune at the TRACK?

I have a friend who started with nothing...working as a grill-man in smoldering kitchens for a few hundred dollars a week. He would play the horses for modest sums on his day off...looking for a few hundred extra a month that he needed, in order to live a better life. And he had a dream of owning his own restaurant. Fast-forward 15 years...and he is more successful as a restaurant-owner than he EVER thought he would be. He worked hard to build his business...and now enjoys the sort of income that could easily support the "luxurious lifestyle". But he can still be found at the track...where he now bets with both hands, while screaming his lungs out at the TV monitors. And he loses 80% of his income...while telling himself that he is "having fun".

Do these "successful" people think that their "success" will carry over into all the other aspects of their life?

Once a victory is attained it gradually loses its shine, and the next challenge holds a promise of recapturing the joy in attaining that victory.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

Once a victory is attained it gradually loses its shine, and the next challenge holds a promise of recapturing the joy in attaining that victory.

But does the possibility of ultimate DEFEAT not enter the picture? Should life ever become a game of "all or nothing"?

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Do these "successful" people think that their "success" will carry over into all the other aspects of their life?

Gambling demands skill set independent of all else.

I play in a private game every Monday. We are all friends. Only those who can afford to lose or win graciously are included.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by TJDave

Gambling demands skill set independent of all else.

I play in a private game every Monday. We are all friends. Only those who can afford to lose or win graciously are included.

I've never seen a friendship that could withstand the strain of a "real" poker game. But this doesn't preclude that such a thing exists.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

But does the possibility of ultimate DEFEAT not enter the picture? Should life ever become a game of "all or nothing"?

I believe the addiction is chemical and is not related to winning or losing but, as your friend demonstrates, the action, the dopamine bump that comes from screaming at the TV. You can no more chide a gambling addict into playing sensibly than you can convince a clinically depressed person to just snap out of it.

From Scientific American at http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...d-to-gambling/

"The APA based its decision on numerous recent studies in psychology, neuroscience and genetics demonstrating that gambling and drug addiction are far more similar than previously realized. Research in the past two decades has dramatically improved neuroscientists' working model of how the brain changes as an addiction develops. In the middle of our cranium, a series of circuits known as the reward system links various scattered brain regions involved in memory, movement, pleasure and motivation. When we engage in an activity that keeps us alive or helps us pass on our genes, neurons in the reward system squirt out a chemical messenger called dopamine, giving us a little wave of satisfaction and encouraging us to make a habit of enjoying hearty meals and romps in the sack. When stimulated by amphetamine, cocaine or other addictive drugs, the reward system disperses up to 10 times more dopamine than usual.

Continuous use of such drugs robs them of their power to induce euphoria. Addictive substances keep the brain so awash in dopamine that it eventually adapts by producing less of the molecule and becoming less responsive to its effects. As a consequence, addicts build up a tolerance to a drug, needing larger and larger amounts to get high. In severe addiction, people also go through withdrawal—they feel physically ill, cannot sleep and shake uncontrollably—if their brain is deprived of a dopamine-stimulating substance for too long. At the same time, neural pathways connecting the reward circuit to the prefrontal cortex weaken. Resting just above and behind the eyes, the prefrontal cortex helps people tame impulses. In other words, the more an addict uses a drug, the harder it becomes to stop."

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

But does the possibility of ultimate DEFEAT not enter the picture? Should life ever become a game of "all or nothing"?

Risk of ruin?

Are you saying the Wall Street 'too big to fail' mantra doesn't apply to us?

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I've never seen a friendship that could withstand the strain of a "real" poker game.

Not real in the sense that fortunes are at risk.

No one is betting their rent check.

[pandy]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Do these "successful" people think that their "success" will carry over into all the other aspects of their life?

I think they do...ego. One of the traits of successful people is confidence, but that same confidence can quickly morph into arrogance, which often comes back to bite you in the ass.

[Grits]

Originally Posted by pandy

I think they do...ego. One of the traits of successful people is confidence, but that same confidence can quickly morph into arrogance, which often comes back to bite you in the ass.

Good observation...and never does one look more unsuccessful.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by pandy

I think they do...ego. One of the traits of successful people is confidence, but that same confidence can quickly morph into arrogance, which often comes back to bite you in the ass.

Right. This is a guy who has created very popular and acclaimed TV shows, who has read and been told that he is literally a creative genius. He thinks somewhere in his mind that he can do the same thing in racing, which he also loves. And because of his success as a writer, the money losses didn't sting for a while either. He had a bigger safety net than the vast majority of us, but ending up losing everything (everything material anyway).

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by castaway01

Right. This is a guy who has created very popular and acclaimed TV shows, who has read and been told that he is literally a creative genius. He thinks somewhere in his mind that he can do the same thing in racing, which he also loves. And because of his success as a writer, the money losses didn't sting for a while either. He had a bigger safety net than the vast majority of us, but ending up losing everything (everything material anyway).

We have no idea what he thinks. Everybody is confident and successful is some aspect of their life. Does that mean that they will automatically carry over that attitude to everything they do? People are way more complicated than to assume if A then B.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing

I believe the addiction is chemical and is not related to winning or losing but, as your friend demonstrates, the action, the dopamine bump that comes from screaming at the TV. You can no more chide a gambling addict into playing sensibly than you can convince a clinically depressed person to just snap out of it.

From Scientific American at http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...d-to-gambling/

"The APA based its decision on numerous recent studies in psychology, neuroscience and genetics demonstrating that gambling and drug addiction are far more similar than previously realized. Research in the past two decades has dramatically improved neuroscientists' working model of how the brain changes as an addiction develops. In the middle of our cranium, a series of circuits known as the reward system links various scattered brain regions involved in memory, movement, pleasure and motivation. When we engage in an activity that keeps us alive or helps us pass on our genes, neurons in the reward system squirt out a chemical messenger called dopamine, giving us a little wave of satisfaction and encouraging us to make a habit of enjoying hearty meals and romps in the sack. When stimulated by amphetamine, cocaine or other addictive drugs, the reward system disperses up to 10 times more dopamine than usual.

Continuous use of such drugs robs them of their power to induce euphoria. Addictive substances keep the brain so awash in dopamine that it eventually adapts by producing less of the molecule and becoming less responsive to its effects. As a consequence, addicts build up a tolerance to a drug, needing larger and larger amounts to get high. In severe addiction, people also go through withdrawal—they feel physically ill, cannot sleep and shake uncontrollably—if their brain is deprived of a dopamine-stimulating substance for too long. At the same time, neural pathways connecting the reward circuit to the prefrontal cortex weaken. Resting just above and behind the eyes, the prefrontal cortex helps people tame impulses. In other words, the more an addict uses a drug, the harder it becomes to stop."

Great post.

Put a teenage boy at the track with a buddy that will buy him a couple beers, maybe take a toke or snort of your preferred attitude adjuster, look at the pretty girls walking around......and then hit a $500 trifecta.

Every pleasure center that young man has in his body is in overload right now. If it doesn't make some kind of an impression on him, he's a zombie.