Smart gambling psychology and how to master it

Before reading this article, we would like to stress that we take as a prerequisite that all readers are smart gamblers or at least potential smart gamblers. One of the characteristics of the smart gambler is that he is able to confine and restrain any gambling instinct. We will not talk about gambling psychology in this article, but about smart gambling psychology. These two should never be confused.

That said, do not expect us to teach you how to restrain your gambling instincts. This is your duty. We will examine smart gambling psychology, and we will give crucial information and practical advice on how to master it.

Humans are pattern-seeking animals. This is analyzed by psychologists, and we are not going to elaborate on this. Take it as an axiom. Let’s suppose that you are in the happy position to make 2-3 successive trades in the row. This happy news will force the anterior cingulate and nucleus accumbens of your brain to predict or anticipate that it will happen again.

Addicted to your own success

This is a procedure that takes place automatically. If it does repeat, dopamine floods your brain, creating a mild euphoria. Whenever you have a successful arb/sharb/middle/value bet or any other winning action, more small doses of dopamine flood your brain.

Therefore, if you repeatedly have successful action, you get higher and higher, even though one top is not that far away from another. This is the reason why smart gambling is so addictive and why smart gamblers would never trade their job for any other job, at least until they master it. Effectively, they become addicted to their own success.

But what happens when you lose money from smart gambling? The loss you suffer wakes up the part of your brain that produces fear and anxiety, your amygdala. This procedure also takes place automatically.

What to do if you made a mistake

Now it is common sense that you should immediately stop when you suffer losses. You will not be able to make correct decisions under a state of fear and/or anxiety. It is usually the case that when you make a mistake and you insist on continuing gambling, an even bigger mistake will occur.

Our advice is that you stop all activities when you make a mistake. You should take a break from all action and analyze what went wrong. Give your amygdala the time to calm down and to stop producing fear and anxiety, until your brain regains its balance. This procedure may take 2 minutes if your mistake is insignificant, or even 2 months if the mistake is big.

Psychological Burdens

Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky have shown that the pain of financial loss is more than twice as intense as the pleasure of an equivalent gain. Making 100 Euros from a successful trade feels great, but an equal loss creates a psychological burden more than twice as powerful.

Losing money is so painful that many potential smart gamblers, terrified at the prospect of any further loss, stop any gambling action and quit gambling altogether, making it the end of their smart gambling career.

As a side note, we should mention that some smart gambling action comes with bigger psychological burdens compared to others. Usually, the sharpest action is combined with bigger psychological burdens!