by Alexius Tan

Created on: May 22, 2008   Last Updated: March 23, 2009

We all are gamblers! Life is a gamble; it is all about taking risks.

Gambles take place everyday; gambling in is about knowing how to take weighted risks. Common sense, experience and advices educate us on the possibility of winning the gamble. After weighing the possible gains and losses, we take the risk because we know there's a possibility of winning, while losing on the otherhand, does not necessarily mean losing everything. This is the kind of mindset we gamblers have.

Some common examples in showing that life can be a gamble:

When we decide to buy something from ebay, it is a gamble. This is especially so when we buy second-hand goods. Some sellers do not even describe the conditions of the goods clearly, creating a nebulent image of the product. You know, there is a risk of getting this product. What most of us do is, check out the seller's profile, and browse the past transactions with other users and the type of comments other buyers gave the seller. Only when we feel comfortable with the seller, we will then proceed buying from him or her.

When you decide to wear an expensive piece of watch or jewellery out on the streets, you take the risk with the possibility of getting robbed. The decision of whether to put in on depends on where you are going and who is the person you are going out with.The same applies for the gamble over at the game table. We are willing to take the risk because we know winning means big money, while losing doesn't mean everything.

There is a Chinese saying "shi du jiu shu" (literally mean ten gambles, nine losses), meaning out of 10 games one gambles, 9 of them will be losses. And this is certainly true! A simple gambling business can be a low-cost yet high return venture, most of the time, players lose. But that doesn't stop the Chinese from gambling! Gambling dens existed alongside with Chinese civilizations and it will continue to exist with human civilization.

When we talk about mindset, there are 2 kinds of people we are talking about. One is a gambler who takes weighted risks while the other is a chronic gambler who takes higher risks to achieve goals.

Gamblers that take weighted risks are always on the safer side because they ensure their losses are maintained within their management capacities. Gamblers of the other type take very high risks that their losses might cost them bankruptcy, or even their lives.

In an event of a disaster, we see people risking their lives to save others. They do take weighted risks too. If they knew it's a sure-death outcome, they would not risk their lives to save others. The possibility of a positive outcome is what we call 'hope'.

The mentality of taking risk in inherent in human beings, everything we do involves a certain level of risk. It is the same risk-taking mentaility that save lives as well as destroying lives. This is why I say we are gamblers too! Everything we do, every decision we make, it is a gamble; it is about win or lose, failure or success. It is the possibility of winning or in some sense "Hope" that keep us taking on the gambles we have in life.

It is interesting to note that "gambler" is not a very nice word to use, in casinos, they call gamblers "players", which is a euphemistic way of addressing us gamblers. Admit it, we are all gamblers!
Be it a game at the table, or a decision in your life, weigh your risks sensibly and make the best choice, whether to stay in the game or leave the table; whether to go on based on your judgement or seek more advice, it is ultimately your own responsiility to bear the consequences. Good luck gamblers(players)!

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