Often times in my country, i have visited a sports betting shop to place my bet, and each time before I am about to do so, i always look out to the other service booths where bettings are received for other other individuals placing their bets as well.

Each time, i notice that out of the five service booths in this sports betting shop, it is common to see two or sometimes three individuals out of the five occupying the service booths always bow their head and mutter some words solemnly, a prayer i suppose.

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

If you believe it does work, examine this scenerio.
If we both worship and serve same god, and we place our bets on the same games, in a manner that our bets are opposites, and we both say a solemn prayer to this our god before casting our bets, Who will this god favour?

 We all have a level of discipline when it comes to HODling but that discipline is tested by the the level of challenges we face. Everyone has challenges, true...but the challenges are different for everyone, some more peculiar to others.

 I had a conversation with a friend today who was excited that he was able to discipline himself, ignore the financial challenges he had and still was able to HODL  his many altcoins without selling even when he had some  pressing needs.

I agree that there will always be needs and challenges, but the big questions are?

Will you Judge someone who sold his altcoins in the face of a situation
which he did not see any way out of financially other than to liquidate some assets as not disciplined enough?

In the face of a life threatening situation that finance is the solution to, will you still hold on to your coins knowing that liquidating some or all will get you out of the situation? Or will you wait for help from above or somewhere else?

You can make a living from gambling, but there is no financial assurance that you will not loose all your money first. There is no assurance either that if you make a career out of it, you will make it big, because gambling be it Sports gambling, blackjack, video poker etc requires a degree of expertise, chance, pattern recognition and luck (something some do not believe in).

Some examples of some Individuals who against all odds made a million and more out of gambling are;

(1) Benjamin Tucker “Parlay” Patz who won a $1 million out of parlays which is a type of sports bet in a few months.

(2) Billy Walters, who has made an estimated amount of $300 million out of  sports betting and gambling in his lifetime.

(3) Haralabos Voulgaris a greek Canadian who is a renowned gambler known for his exploits in the NBA sports betting and poker.

(4) Daniel Negreanu, a Canadian professional poker player who has earned over $42 million from poker.

(5) Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr., an American professional poker who has earned over $30 million from poker.

(6) Don Johnson a professional blackjack player who during a period of six months in 2011, beat Atlantic City casinos for over $15 million.

(7) Venessa Selbst, a formidable female who has made US$11.8 million in live poker tournament earnings.

Source- https://www.gamblingnews.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-from-gambling/

In conclusion, It is not impossible to become a millionaire out of gambling, but at the same time it doesn't come easy as even after making it, it requires a level of discipline to hold on to the money you have made. To make it in gambling, you must first choose (select) the type of gambling that appeals more to you be it sports betting, poker, blackjack etc and then discipline yourself to discover a betting style or pattern that works for you. This is the first and foremost step in becoming a professional gambler and making a living out of it.

Here is an original illustration:
(1) The green and blue colors on the bitcoin symbol are the colors of vegetation and water bodies illustrating that bitcoin is going global.

(2) The stretched hands is illustrating that people are reaching out to be a part of it through this forum.

(3) The mixed skin colors on the stretched hands illustrates how this forum (bitcointalk) is bringing people together of different race and background who share a common interest in bitcoin and other crypto currency to share their thoughts and ideas about crypto currency mostly and other related topics.

Conclusion
It is important that the forum be seen as a place to learn and get the opinion of people from all over the world. Personally, I always had interest in crypto currency, and was always looking to meet others like myself to share opinions; this forum has created that meet up and opportunity.
   Information is power, and this forum through the help of its many users has proven to be one of the top runners in dispensing this power called information.

I personally welcome new members and wish you all well in this your bitcoin journey

We all habe our reasons for doing the things we do, we all have our reasons for joining bitcoin. What is important is not our reasons for joining bitcoin but that we are here now, that is we have joined.

And the truth is, the reason that made us join is not the only reason keeping us right now as we have now discovered the numerous benefits of being a bitcoin enthusiast.

Give people two weeks, say another major event occurs that shifts people attention, you will see that people will no remember Elon musk for his few tweets that really did the market over.

One of the pecks of being influential and successful is that, people permit and allow you to say things you like, and most times, they cut you the slack knowing that.

Because the market is highly unpredictable and moves with trends, different market conditions can result from different trends such as – A remark from an influential individual or a political decision that prompts a certain kind of action among other large, medium and small HODlers.

 If it is a positive market trend, it will result in a good market condition that may cause a “bull run”. If it is a negative market trend, it may cause investors to become bearish and some may quickly liquidate their crypto assets or convert to another coin for safe keep.  This action will cause a temporary or a slightly prolonged decrease in the value of a crypto and if this slump in price continues to like 10-20% from its former ATH, it is said to be a “bear market” somewhat close to what we are experiencing currently.

When there is a bear market, it is often common to hear among crypto enthusiast to “buy the dip”. Though it is a very profitable strategy or scheme to buy the dip and wait for the surge, the probability of loosing is not completely eliminated as the dip can get deeper afterwards and you run into looses even after buying the dip.

The aim and objective of this topic is to point out some strategy and key things to remember during a bear market in order to safeguard your portfolio. Some are;

(1)  Waiting and trying to pick a point in the dip that you believe is the bottom before investing is very risky as the point you pick might not be the bottom, perhaps just the top of the bottom. Adopting the strategy of investing specific amounts of money into your portfolio over time is advised. This ensures and helps you to avoid the temptation of putting all your money into a portfolio with no certainty.

(2) There is usually a lot of fear among HODlers of cryptocurrency during a bear market, it is very important that investors/HODlers during this period should think long term, because the temptation to sell will be there.

(3)  if you are too bearish and don’t have the confidence to remain in the market, simply convert all your portfolio to a stable coin or cash and wait for the market to recover before you join back in.

References
https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-a-bear-market
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/how-to-invest-during-a-bear-market

To the best of your understanding, feel free improve on this topic

Two things are certain in cryptocurrency, prices either go or come down. When it is favourable, holders are usually excited at their profits, but panic usually sets in when there is a Bear Market. An important things to do to save your assets in a time like this is to convert all your Holdings to a stable coin and continue to observe the market.

Thank you so much sir for the opportunity. I sincerely appreciate.

Please note, do not take my reply as a financial advice, it is simply my opinion. I am not so much a big fan of doge coin, so of it is doge coin against bitcoin, I will choose to invest more in bitcoin anytime any day because compared to doge coin, it is a better store of value.

Elon musk is the center of most bitcoiners discussion at the moment mainly because of how much effect his tweet is doing to crypto currency mostly bitcoin.

If a single tweet from Elon musk can send the price of btc to 45k (current price at the time of this post), then it is not impossible for bitcoin to fall to as low as below the 20k mark if all the big names in the crypto world (crypto influencers) tweet negatively against btc.

What do you think?

His one word reply "Indeed" has really sent the price further downward. A great opportunity for those who don't have enough btc in their hold to get more, investors on the other hand like this my friend on WhatsApp who is loosing money is screaming for Elon musk to shut up and stop tweeting.

Not really a taboo i think, The scope of english language and it's use has evolved, there are some new context that need and require a specific kind of English word to describe it. Hence the need to constantly upgrade and update your vocabulary so as not to use an outdated grammar for a modern day description or situation.
  Instead of using "Good morning ladies and gentlemen", use " Good morning distinguished guests" which is more appropriate for modern day use and less gender selective.

They say death finally meets every man and living thing so there is no need to fear it because fear will not exempt you from it. It is not a matter of how and when we die, what matters and what is important is the legacy and mark that we leave behind before dying.  It is what lives on after you.

If the option of crypto currency wasn't invented, people will still be living and doing just fine with the traditional fiat. It is only that crypto currency (bitcoin and altcoins) have provided another option outside the traditional system to get money across to someone, this doesn't make fiat abandoned. Even with bitcoin, people still consider it as an investment option rather than a currency for day to day transaction.
So yes, without bitcoin, the world will still be alright and normal.

Congratulations to Leicester city and all those supporters of the club who tipped them to win this FA Cup (including myself). Although it didn't go as exactly as predicted, I knew this game goes down to who wants the win more, and for me i didn't just see Chelsea as the more hungry side to win this.

Senior man kelechi Ihenacho has been on top form, and i highly expect him to be on the score sheet against Chelsea in the this finals. I predict the game to go 2:1 in favour of Leicester. They are my favourites for today's final.

And we all know this is not the case, Who is to say that if you hop on a trade when its in red , that the value won't just keep going down. We have seen situations where someone bought a coin when it was in a supposed red, immediately after purchase, the coin keeps going down in value almost that you can see your capital going off.
Buying just any coin at the dip or red is not the best trading method unless you have plenty capital to spread around and the patience to wait. In such a situation, you will need to be monitoring to the market at all times because the Market is highly volatile.

Many like me have added religion to our crypto journey, we are still holding our shitcoins because we have faith that one day it will no longer be shitty or will be less shitty.

Think of this, these days cryptocurrency price movement (btc & other altcoins) is highly affected and dependent on the media. People now follow up closely with information around the world to know when to buy and dump a coin, as a result a simple occurrence because of the media might just cause a cryptocurrency value to go up or to come down.

Do you think the collapse of the media (Say a media blackout) can trigger the collapse of the value of cryptocurrencies?