Commentary|Beginner's Luck Turns Suicidal

I have never met anyone who had made so many rookie's mistakes. It is sad that such phenomena could be found in the news. Maybe I have never met a gambling addict who is so open about past mistakes.

Hayley Ringrose had fallen into so many gambling pitfalls such as

• gambling with a burden
• gambling beyond means
• chase gambling losses
• discontented gambling

That is 4 out of 6 deadly pitfalls listed by SavySeph. In addition to that there are uncontrolled gambling faults such as over-confidence and pushing your luck too far.

I had to agree with SavySeph, Ringrose had been frank with her story because she wanted to reach out to those who had experienced it. Now she is leading a fight to tighten rules for online gambling.

More on SavySeph's Webpage.

Commentary | A Loan Shark for Whale-Gamblers

Sometimes we fail to realize that the casino allowing us to win so that they could keep us playing until house edge gets the better hand and we lose everything back in the end. If we are not happy with our losses we will take more money out from the credit cards. While poor guys like us go to the legalized loan sharks, the big boys get their loan from the casino. This the story of Chinese millionaire Zhao Li with the Melbourne's Crown Casino as reported by the Daily Mail on 12 May 2014.

We Chinese are so "landu" the casino knows how to target us. Chinese tycoon, Li Jun, was sued by the Wynn Macau casino for HK$14 million ($1.81 million). By being a money lender to gamblers the casinos not only wants you current wealth, they want your future wealth too.

More on XingCai's Webpage.

Commentary | Students Gamble Away Their Study Loans

As a disciplined gambler, I always laugh at questions used by gambling rehabs to spot a "landu" or a person with a gambling addiction problem. Over the past decade their questionnaire are not structured to differentiate the discipline regular gambler and the landu. Pinkie brought in a crude one to the thread several years ago. It had rated most of our regular and disciplined gamblers as dangerous.

The recent questionnaire which XingCai brought up in Gambling Addiction does separate the pros from the punters. XingCai still see problems with the new improved guidelines when applied on those who are not willing to wash their hands from gambling. This explains the reason WhySee (our rehab guy) is facing so many problems trying to help the potentially hazardous gamblers.

XingCai take a whack at students lured by easy money until they gambled away their loan. This time she cited a Malaysian case of student using the PTPTN loans to gamble. This really irks me as I had been strict on minor gambling on our GGC thread. I wish WhySee could reach out to these young horns to tell them that backtracking is a viable option.

It would be appropriate to conclude this blog with an advice to students not to attempt to use their intellect to master gambling. This is where logic breaks down and emotion dominates.

More about students getting in trouble on XingCai's Webpage.

Commentary|Borgata Sues Phil Ivey $9.8 million

Charitable Ivey is like the hero in the God of Gambler movie. After knowing about Ivey's philanthropic heart, GGC had regarded him as the fictional character in flesh and blood. Not many gamblers are giving. Most of the time gamblers are looking for money to gamble. Ivey should reserve his giving heart for the needy. Crocksfords, owned by our homeland casino Genting, deserve not quarter from him.

By sparring Crocksford, nobody will be compassionate to Ivey. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City had commenced legal proceeding on Ivey. The way the media had twisted Ivey's words, it is only a matter of time before Ivey is seen as a low-down hustler. This will lead other casinos whom Ivey had whacked with edge sorting to join Borgata in the legal battle.

SavySeph look at the keywords that will most likely be twisted like a snake as Ivey case goes into the legal arena.

More on SavySeph's Webpage.

Commentary | Borgata versus Phil Ivey

It is kinda whimsical that people see the casino as an expert in gambling. On the contrary, the casino needs to be taught a lesson by gamblers to become wiser. Gamblers should be proud about this because we educate the casino. Xingcai's latest breaking news commentary tells about the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City using faulty cards for a long time until Phil Ivey took advantage of the flaw with edge sorting.

We had previously covered edge sorting when our sour-grape homeland casino at Crocksford, Mayfair denied payment to Ivey. Edge sorting is a method to mark the cards without placing any physical markings on it. Xingcai covers Ivey's tactics using edge sorting and compared it with the crooked way.

More on XingCai's Webpage.