You have a point on the French team but we should not entirely condemn them, for them not to have scored as expected doesn't mean the guys did not try. This is what a team gets if they place too much reliance on a player, the absence of Mbappe was seriously felt but as he is back with the team and he's one of the lined-up players against Portugal, I believe it will spice things up better than their earlier performances, Portugal should be worried.

Still, I might want to agree with your neutrality about this match because it is truly difficult to predict as Mbappe will play for France while C. Ronaldo will play for Portugal. As we can judge from the recent games of C. Ronaldo, you can see that he is becoming more desperate and emotional on the pitch, this is because, in these last years of his glorious football career, he doesn't want a taint. Meaning that he's playing for glory and he will give his best as a dangerous striker. I only hope the defence of France is good tomorrow, especially Mike Maignan's post, it may be tougher than expected. But one thing I will always respect about the French team is that they know that goal sense, even if their defence is somewhat porous, the pressure on Portugal will reduce the threat. The French team may win though.

As for the rest countries, I don't think the predictions are difficult, they are almost certain except for Spain vs Germany, which is another must-watch match for me. The two sides are good and so far have not disappointed. For the rest, I choose England over Switzerland and the Netherlands over Turkey judging by what I've seen so far.

Nice as the winning stories may be, we should always balance things and know that they can't always be true, and if they are true, it can't be happening all the time, so giving ears to the losing stories too is good, after all, it will help us to get more prepared and cautious about gambling. Luck is real in gambling, so those who could truly gamble and win with their last cash should know they are merely lucky, they should never believe this can be replicated often, at least not so soon. This mindset alone should speak volumes to wise gamblers that gambling is risky and regardless of what anyone tells as a success story, it can't particularly be replicated, no one controls the winning/luck, which may make it so difficult for gamblers to win.

However, for the smart ones, this belief will undoubtedly help them to continue to think of gambling as a risky activity rather than think of it as a means to make that easy money all the time. Many testimonies are online and many are only by influencers, they can't be trusted, and in the end, gambling is what it is and will never change for any reason. It is we who are supposed to know its nature and try our best to enjoy it and also try to gain something from it if possible.

How can one get this prepared if there is no balance between the positive and negative stores of gambling?

You can only be greedy mostly on what is guaranteed and get away with it, as we know, gambling is not guaranteed, for this, no one should preach to gamblers to avoid greed. I've not seen anyone who engaged in risky activities under greed and got away positively with it if done too much, it has always been debated over time, and the majority can't be wrong in this regard. In a way though, greed could be good as well, but it's only when we are sure of what we are doing and we have the affinity for the risk and also gamble rightly at that time.

At times, there are sure sports betting that has helped me, and despite having a sure outcome before betting it, the odds could be encouraging as well, which prompts me to be greedy. I tell you, I've never missed such before, so it has emboldened me now. One of them is the last crucial matches in football tourneys, and whether it is the local league, world cup, UCL, Euro cup, Copa America or many others, I often get the winning. This is where I know that greed is cheating in the general context that greed is not good.

This can only mean that it is generally true that greed is not good in gambling, but there are still exceptions to it which will be worth it if you are greedy. Ever since I discovered my proficiency in such matches, instead of gambling such a crucial match with $250 or less, I may increase it to 2-5 (greed) of that amount depending on my affinity to take the risk at that time. Even if it stopped working in a future bet, I am certain that I will still win many more after. So the risk is somewhat reduced for me which prompted my greed.

Nothing is sure for anybody in risky affairs, this is why it's good we do not put our minds highly on anything that is risky but learn it and give it our best shots as much as possible as we can. Also, the right management of these risky activities will go a long way in preserving both our account and psychology. If we can achieve this then we can engage them responsibly and will ever preserve our sanity. Many have lost their sanity due to risky activities and this can only be possible due to how they take them in their minds.

If traders/gamblers could take it desperately for the money, there is no way emotion would not set in and this will always cloud their judgement into making the wrong decision due to some avoidable mistakes. It could be obvious at times too, which is why it is good that we trade/gamble with a neutral mind, and if the money comes from it, fine, if it doesn't, we can still call it a day without having much damage to us. This would have been well-tailored with the right management and plans that would lessen any damaging effects.

I must say that I like your last question because, in some quickness, there is the possibility of issues as well. For me, I am indifferent about slow and quick-result games, all I want is my money/winning. What difference (monetarily) does that make if I wagered $1,000 in a day or a week and lost it in slow or quick-outcome games, the day or the week is already stamped that I lost the money at that period, so it matters nothing. However, our mindset and what pleases us are important here, so whether we like slow or quick-result games doesn't matter but what gives us joy and fulfilling feelings about gambling, is what we must do.

Still, the quick-result games are the most addictive and destructive as for the last question. Take for instance, if you go to a lotto house and play a game that will take 8 hours for the result to be published, will you continue to risk more money on it on that spot if you later lose? Certainly not. You'll have to wait 8 hours before you can risk another money on such a slow-result game. But the same can't be said of the game that will be concluded in a few minutes. In such a case, you must have risked money many times before the 8 hours you were waiting for the slow-result game compared to the latter. The latter (quick outcome) is more wasteful and addictive if you investigate the lives of random gamblers.

@Orpichukwu is so right about this, but it's sad that the mindset you have is the reason why many are falling victim. If simple advice about being budgetary while gambling is too difficult for you to agree to, then nothing else can help you to be a successful gambler. Gamblers often pamper weakness in their mind, which is very wrong and it can only explain the reason why they are faced with difficulties which often lead to losses and addictions.

My plight here is, let us fight gambling issues with one voice and stop giving people the soft mind that a solution is not possible, this is only tantamount to feeding their weakness. We should rather tell them it is possible and give them the reasons why it is possible instead of dissuading them. For me, gambling addiction is avoidable and every gambler should try as much as possible to be responsible in their gambling to make it possible. This is possible when the gambler knows what he is doing through experience and also has viable gambling plans that entail the time and money budget and management. Such gamblers should also train their gambling psychology with the needed discipline and determination to do what they've planned.

This is achievable!

We shouldn't compare the national lottery and casino lottery together, they are structured and planned differently, so the outcome and people's expectations about them can't be the same. As huge as the national lottery is rewarding, are people winning often through it? And as low as the casino lottery are people not winning rampantly? That is how we should view it, the national lottery will always have fewer winners while the casino lottery will always have many winners.

Also, we should look at it in the range of how quick is the outcome. There must have been many lotteries concluded with the casino lotteries in one year compared to the national lotteries, this alone means that the two are not mechanised the same way, so the outcome can be the same. For this, it is better we do not differentiate but patronise the two, after all, the national lottery is often cheap to be an alternative at any time.

It's unfortunate that people take football and other sports more than what they really are to the point of taking the life of another for it, this is unspeakable as far as I am concerned. Even if you are cheated or even scammed in person, that shouldn't have prompted you to take the life of another, it is just absurd.

We've always been preaching about risking the money you can afford to lose in gambling, trading and every other risky activity, now tell me, who is at fault if not the person who did not listen to such risky activities' advice? If not for their greed or desperation, that hurt feeling would have been averted. I hope people can stop all the nonsense they do in the name of betting.

1. This is normal, it will hurt every true supporter of the team. But we should also know that players are humans, there are reflexes that are involuntary, and they may not knowingly do that. It pains them as much as it pains you in most cases.

2. Of course, it is a common loss as far as I am concerned. Whether it is the opponent or the team's player that scored the goal, that's the outcome of the match so I take it as such at the end of the game.

3. I don't and I will never be an extremist in anything, I've trained myself for that.

Trust me, this is human and no one should say they can't envy anyone in this situation, it may happen to you before you know you are capable. But the good part is that when you feel like that, just try to control it and be happy with your friend, but to say you will not feel bad whatsoever about it is a lie. However, this should not stop your friendship or change anything about your outing, just find a good plan around it, that's me.

Also, at times, some people could say they hated the friend, but in practice are only feeling that way due to envy, but deeply inside them couldn't hate the friend, they may not know how to express themselves in that situation and mistaken it for hate. Notwithstanding, I advise the guy to rejoice with his friend or even partner with him since one is a winner and the other is a loser. Why then continue to lose when you can still win through your friend? This is better than the necessary feeling and ranting.

Hahaha...Although, Fury is not my kind of person with his show of arrogance most times but this shouldn't stop me from telling the truth. He fought Wilder very well then and I see nothing happened in the ring that is not common to boxing, he was professional. He even won him through a knockout, so I call that a clean win if must say.

As for the match between Fury and Usyk, I already knew the outcome, I drew that from their past matches, especially with the way Anthony Joshua beat Ngannou which was difficult for Fury despite winning the match. Although the rematch will be a little bit different, yet, I see the same outcome. The two sides will always try to be a better version of themselves and avoid earlier mistakes.

But as I know Usyk, survival is key for him, so no matter what Fury does, I believe he will not be able to break him. And the outcome may not be by a knockout, Usyk may still edge higher by performance.

That's true and I've mentioned that it is not a question of being rich or not but the question of what you will deposit and wager that will pinch you. Both the rich and poor have their limits, so when they are gambling in the bracket of these limits, it will definitely break them if this turns bad. Now, if they deposit and wager more than what their limits can take and they continue like that, they will surely be affected over time. It now depends on how wise either of them is to avert much gambling disaster. If they realise their fault, stop and change their way on time, fine, they can still be upstanding. But if not, it may devastate them regardless of whether they are rich or poor, we are all humans, and it is the right plans that matter here not status.

You've already got it right but later contradict yourself. Well, when we gamble and win and later withdraw it and still come back to gamble, one may say it is not an actual winning, but that is not particularly true. This is because you sent the money back win, and it could even get worse for the person to lose the money sent back and continue to send fresh money to the point that he might have now lost more than 5 times the initial money withdrawn. This person is not also different from the person who left the money in their account to continue wagering until a decisive fate about the money is known by fate over time. But the difference is that the term "withdrawal" can be taken lightly, it means "it is already your money not the money in the casino's custody money more" or the money you are still "exposed to gambling risk."

This mindset on its own is relieving and shows the sense of having. It now doesn't matter whether you sent money back or not, some people may send the exact amount back later, others may send a lower or higher amount back, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you completed a gambling transaction at that initial time, which is fulfilling. Even those who lose are still sending money back to continue gambling, how much more is the person who had initially won? Should he not gamble again before we can call it true winning? I don't think so. Gambling will ever be a game of winning and losing, however, those who are advantaged to withdraw at times regardless of whether they will lose later are winners at that time, temporary or not.

I'm in line with your points, but at the same time, what people are stereotypically inclined with should nevertheless be approached cautiously. But if you look around you, those who are causing the stereotypes of gambling are not changing their ways, that's the issue. I believe generally that when people are facing issues/mistakes, the first case(s) could be a mistake but when it is being repeated, it is no more mistake but their fault or who they really are. That is what I view about gambling as well, if many are dealing with it wrongly, changing their ways should be the best approach here so that it will stop all these bad names that are being meted out to gambling. Sadly. the reverse is the case.

Gambling on its own is not bad and is even beneficial in some ways, and it is even an extra activity that is socially inclined. But people are engaging in it wrongly, how nonsensical could that be? I often wonder what people could think or how could they be weak to the point that they allowed themselves to be controlled by gambling to an extent. Above all, this can't be the fault of gambling, and most importantly, I maintain that everything about it can't be bad, it only depends on the preparedness and smartness of the gamblers in engaging it. If done well, it will be positive overall.

You are right though, our minds should not be on that money per se. But at the same time, you might have that goal of making money in gambling and still not get addicted. This is why we have to preserve our minds while gambling and not be desperate about the money as the desperate gamblers are the only ones who will always be aggressive about it which will never take them anywhere but for them to lose more than the money wagered, which includes their sanity.

In my sports betting, I solely gamble for the money, and the reason is that I saw the less risky opportunity there, and till today, what I have been doing for about two decades is yet to make me get addicted. This is why our mindset towards gambling matters so well, we should never believe that it is the avenue through which we will earn that millions to get rich in life. Instead, we should have a neutral mind about it, and even if our goal is to make money, it should be done conservatively in such a way that a viable plan that will help our budget and management and also preserve our psychology towards it is properly tabled down.

Well, prevention is better than cure, this is why I advice people to make sure they get acquainted with gambling before engaging in it, otherwise, something like this could happen and it could devastate them. However, it is not necessary for the gambling addict to cooperate before he is healed as you claimed, although it makes the healing faster if he does. Some cases are too severe for them to willingly cooperate, they just lack the willpower, but the expertise of those handling their case will get to them one way or another. There have been many cases of stubborn addicts who got healed eventually, I hope that says much of it. The gambling addict might have tried by himself, but if he doesn't have the willpower, he should consult a specialist in that field. If he did, then whether he has the power to say No or not, he must be healed one way or another. They will find a way to force it out of him psychologically and with some helpful drugs, that's what they do.

Many people define gambling as they like, above all, gambling is a game of "luck" and it is our "choice" to gamble. These two facts will never change in the field of gambling, which is why we should gamble with a cautious mind so that we can control our feelings towards it, we can't have it all and we are at the mercy of the gambling and casinos depending on the games we are playing, how they make it difficult for us. Also, gambling will always remain in its state, but so long as we go there to play it, it is our choice, and whether we lose or win, we should take it in good faith, we should never let any of the outcomes define us, otherwise, we should abstain from gambling. I said this because of the "addiction" you mentioned and the "need" you tagged with it. Well, that's how you define/view it and I've said earlier, many people have their different definitions/views about gambling. But no matter how I view or define it, I will never still say it is a need for the addicts. Gambling will never be a necessity, it is rather a compulsion for the addicts which is better dust off before it becomes worse.

Do not worry yourself so much about the missed opportunities of new crypto projects, some faster people to buy some new projects have regretted being too fast in some as well, crypto projects are mostly generally a question of luck. Some will perform, some will fail, and this doesn't mean the intention was for it to fail initially, but it will just happen, while others will even be scammed.

This is why you have to be very careful, you should not let the feelings of the missed opportunities push you to lose money, it has happened to me many times before, try to be calm to make the right decision. One thing that is helping most of these new projects at times is their thin liquidity and popularity/hype around them, however, most of them doesn't sustain it even if they had a good start. This means that they may not be able to continue with what you think is a success now, which is more reason why you should be very careful.

Bitcointalk is a one-of-a-kind forum and I must say that I respect this forum so much, especially for its uniqueness. What you wrote above could be exaggerated though because they are not particularly without fault as you want it to be, nevertheless, Bitcointalk is the forum that is trying its best to outshine others.

One thing I love the most about this forum is that it is better democratised. I've never seen a forum with freehands like this to the point that the admin listens to the plight of people and makes changes based on that and also allows users to govern the forum. It is just the forum of users for the users and I don't think there is another forum that will allow users to have that kind of sense of belonging.

Bitcoin is the number one crypto with the hugest market cap and it's in the mainframe of the financial market as well. For these alone, I don't get affected by its price drop. This is because I know it can't be easily manipulated with those characteristics and if it falls so much, one day, it will rise back. It has done this many times, so it will not stop doing that and it is what I call Reliability. The only doubt I have about Bitcoin is for it to hit an ATH of around $100,000, it is going to be a tough task for it. I hope this will happen one day but it might not be as quickly as many thought.

As for the suggestion;

1. Try to invest the amount of money that you can afford to lose.

2. Always try to buy low only, perhaps after a major reversal or retracement.

3. If you can't buy low, you may want to DCA, but at a reasonable price, not at the peak.

4. Be speculative. Learn how to use your trading chart correctly.

I'm being discouraged to say that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 anymore in 2025. Initially, I thought the coin could hit $150,000 easily by that time based on the hype around it and for not leaning only on my investment experience but base it on how the coin had performed in the past. But this is changing and whether or not it will hit $100,000, I will solely let my technical chart guide me as I've never been wrong with it before when it comes to the true investment guide.

As for the market speculation of buying low, this is a good idea, but it is only when the market has bottomed already or returning up. Has Bitcoin bottomed already or returning up? That's what you should be asking yourself so that you can decide right. And if you ask me the same question, I will tell you No. The market is still extremely bearish and the breaching of the TrendMagin level of $62,120 is another discouragement to buy the coin for now.

The truth is that Bitcoin lacks liquidity inflow and the price action on the weekly chart has returned to be bearish which is a very huge discouragement. Anyone buying now is only wasting their money regardless of what tells them to buy as the overall outlook is extremely bearish. Why not wait until the whole situation changes to favour the bullish path?