Strange experience at WOV

[billryan]

Appreciate it, and I promise I won't give you cause to regret it.

[DaBurglar]

In any event, one of the key ingredients is belief in yourself and the system. Perhaps it's the Tinkerbell effect, but those who don't believe they will succeed, rarely do.This is an oft-repeated piece of 'wisdom' that certain players here like to repeat and insist it has merit when it comes to gambling......this is ridiculous.Let us clear up just what exactly are the benefits of a "positive mental attitude"  and under which circumstances and situations such wisdom actually APPLIES.....I wholeheartedly agree that in MANY endeavors in life, a POSITIVE attitude (whereby a person generally expresses optimism of success and HOPE for the future) is a very beneficial, even vital component of SUCCESS in specific endeavors.    A person's job/employment generally benefits from a healthy positive vibe and "Can do" approach.....relationships (friendship/romance) are ALSO a healthy place to manifest a positive attitude.   A person's physical and mental HEALTH & Wellbeing also are areas that benefit from optimism and a healthy attitude about the future.When competing or playing in games that involve actual real SKILL and concepts such as Teamwork, whereby a person's actions have direct influence on success, as does PREPARATION, then a healthy positive attitude definitely helps here as well....in so much as video poker and blackjack are "Skill games". then certainly a player who prepares and studies and practices, stands more of a chance for success than a player who does not;   some of you might lump "Studying"  and PREPARING into examples of "being positive", but I personally do not see it as such....I call that INTELLIGENCE.The fact is, Elements of pure chance, and Casino GAMBLING in general,  are NOT impacted whatsoever by what type of thoughts or attitude a person is manifesting at the time of actually gambling and playing the games of chance.   I think many of you are confusing what I just mentioned, the CONFIDENCE of having done all that a person can do BEFOREHAND in PREPARATION is being passed off as "positive thinking".....in fact, it is something totally different.In and of themselves, a person's THOUGHTS do not influence outcomes or events.....

[billryan]

I guess we'll have to disagree. I can give you any number of examples of a person's faith affecting play but why bother.
Ill give you two.
You are playing blackjack against a red hot dealer in a game with no surrender.
You are dealt two Eights and dealer draws a Ten.
16 vs 10 has a negative expectation,8 vs 10 has a negative expectation. Many people will stand or draw a card, refusing to put more money into a losing hand. The right play is to split, putting up twice as much money in a losing situation. You need faith in the numbers that tell you, in the long run splitting eights will result in you losing less money than any other option in most games.

Dueces Wild. You are dealt two pair.Keeping one pair will give you more frequent small wins. Holding the two, depending on the pay table, will give you less frequent wins but in the long term pay more.

Having faith in yourself means acknowledging the fact that you are in it for the long term and not letting short term results affect your play.
Having faith means you don't change get your bets based on negative short term results.
It means not getting mad or jealous when inferior players make silly plays that reward them handsomely.
It means having a well thought out plan and sticking with it
It means not chasing losses.

As one of my favorite Zen proverbs says- Fools laugh, the wise understand.