The one great characteristic in human nature on which the gambler
counts is the fact that it requires more nerve in a man to win than
is required of him to lose! It is startling for the layman to be told
that $5,000 in a night is a big winning for a player, while $5,000 is
only an ordinary loss in a big establishment.
This fact is based on subtle psychology. There are two types of
players, one of which gambles when it is in a state of elation and
the other when in a state of depression. With either of these types
winning, it is a gambler's observation that the man who will play
until he has lost $25,000 when luck hopelessly is against him cannot
hold himself to the chair after he is $5,000 winner.
Gamblers have made money--fortunes--in times past, only to be buried
in the potter's field. There are several reasons assignable for this
end. Extravagant living appeals to the gambler, and when he has left
his own special line of gaming it does not appeal to him strongly as
either pastime or means for recouping his fortune. If he turns to
gaming at all it is likely to be in fields where he does not know the
game. Sometimes he goes to the Board of Trade--sometimes to the stock
market. Playing there he is without system and without knowledge of
conditions. He is likely to bull the grain market two days after the
weather conditions have assured the greatest grain crop in history.
Once a gambler, always a gambler, is his condition; and it is only a
matter of time until someone has a game which beats him out.