Do you also count the potential win as a loss when you gamble?

[livingfree]

Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

I think it's with the both but I'll just accept that I've lost the staked amount and not the potential winning with that odd that I've taken.

Because that just adds to the damage that I'll feel if I am also going to bother myself with that. So, it's best to simply take the stake's loss and then forget about the potential win.

We never had that potential win so, only the money that we've lost should count.

[Su-asa]

Op I understand your point very well but as it stands right now you need to stop counting your potential winning anytime you lose your bet because counting the potential winning with your initial stake (after the loss ) will probably increase the urge in you to continue gamble to chas your loss because you feel that the money is too big to lose. However, I think this just another form of greed. You don't need to include something that you habet possessed.

[alani123]

Potential win is not a loss because otherwise every time you spin on the slots you have a 10k multiplier loss hehe

This concept makes no sense because it also invalidates many forms of winning where you could have won more like cashing out early in a crash game or also cashing a bet slip before all the matches have ended. Honestly it's not a bad endeavour to cash out. But with this mindset you will never do it. So I'd say such mindsets are quite such up.

[Richbased]

Lately I noticed something about how I think when I place bets.

~snip~

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

Lol, this is feeling happens to almost all gamblers and to be honest, when a loss happens the potential winning pains more than the staked amount because you will begin to calculate what you would have done with that amount had it been it was a won bet. Sometimes we even feel like we are going to win the bet after staking because of the potential winning but when the bet loses, the amount we staked with does not matter anymore but the amount that would have been won. Gambling is just filled with fun when you don't get too attached because tell me why someone will feel the pain of losing a potential winning and not care about the amount used in staking the bet. Maybe the reason why we do have this feeling is because we stake with small amount most of the time.

[promise444c5]

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

Nah, I think it happens to the majority, not just you..
The mind gets attached to the potential profit whenever you place a bet. Losing it can make you feel like you were already entitled to it..sometimes you even make plans around a bet that hasn’t been won yet, and losing it shatters those plans like it was yours all along, so it’s pretty normal.

[Patikno]

Lately I noticed something about how I think when I place bets.
Aside from the actual stake, I also mentally count the possible winning as something I’m losing if the bet fails.

For example, I bet $100 at odds 1.90.
The return should be $190, but when it loses, I don’t just feel like I lost $100. It feels like I lost the whole $190 that could have been mine.

Because of that mindset, I’ve become more serious with my bets, like I take more time to study and analyze before placing anything, since in my head the loss feels bigger than the actual amount at risk.

Personally, I don't feel the loss that the OP does, because I am solely focused on the bets I have placed. I think your mindset is quite dangerous, meaning you might be trying to recoup your losses, right? If that is the case, then I think you should avoid that mindset. Trying to recoup losses from bets placed is difficult enough, let alone trying to recoup all your losses (including potential profits) is incredibly difficult. Well, you are entitled to whatever you think or do whatever you want with your gambling, but I am simply offering advice that I believe is best for you, not meant to be judgmental.

[gunhell16]

Lately I noticed something about how I think when I place bets.
Aside from the actual stake, I also mentally count the possible winning as something I’m losing if the bet fails.

For example, I bet $100 at odds 1.90.
The return should be $190, but when it loses, I don’t just feel like I lost $100. It feels like I lost the whole $190 that could have been mine.

Because of that mindset, I’ve become more serious with my bets, like I take more time to study and analyze before placing anything, since in my head the loss feels bigger than the actual amount at risk.

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

In gambling, once you're inside the casino playing your chosen games, it doesn't matter how serious you are. If bad luck catches up with you,
No amount of technique or strategy will work; every bet you place will likely result in a loss.

That’s why there’s never a day when winners outnumber losers. To this day, the number of people who lose still far outweighs those who win. Essentially,
the payouts for the winners are funded by the losses of everyone else. That is how the system truly works.

[Orpichukwu]

That's a very dangerous way to think about betting; as long as the game has not been won yet, it's not safe to start calculating it as something which you could have won. It might encourage you to analyse your bet more, but it will also hurt you more each time you lose any bet and might even extend to the point where you start making plans for an unrealised win.

[Odusko]

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

I consider only the money I put on the line to be losses. I don't consider the money I could "potentially" win a loss, even when I place a bet, for example: I place $2 and win $50. If I lose the $48 I won (considered as a gain) in the next plays, I don't consider them a loss.
I have a strange mentality, but this way I never suffer losses, in the end it's always a psychological issue.

Most of us already have this thought that once we stake on an odds, the total outcome is already ours, this is why most loses hit such set of people harder than anyone else, majority of them thinks is easy to win a bet just because it looks promising, this is why we need to avoid whatever will put us under pressure to start over calculating our potential income instead of the amount put on the game.

[Mindyspace]

I find this way of thinking quite interesting because it shows how much the psychological aspect weighs on betting. Even knowing that the real risk is only the amount wagered, many people end up taking the possible return into account when deciding, even unconsciously.

In the end, everyone deals with it differently. Some focus only on the stake, while others use the potential gain as an extra factor to be more cautious. The important thing is to understand how this type of thinking influences decisions and see if it helps or hinders in the long run; it's always good to have strategies and balance.  

[Somto9Light]

Lately I noticed something about how I think when I place bets.
Aside from the actual stake, I also mentally count the possible winning as something I’m losing if the bet fails.

For example, I bet $100 at odds 1.90.
The return should be $190, but when it loses, I don’t just feel like I lost $100. It feels like I lost the whole $190 that could have been mine.

Because of that mindset, I’ve become more serious with my bets, like I take more time to study and analyze before placing anything, since in my head the loss feels bigger than the actual amount at risk.

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

This is more like claiming something that doesn't belong to you. The $90 is the money you would win if the game eventually played, but since the game didn't play you just need to be worried about your actual stake and not the one that isn't yours. Though I used to feel this way but not exactly the way you feel, in my own case I only focus on the stake because that's the one I know it's mine. I only feel that I lost the whole thing if I'm almost sure of wining maybe the last game just ruin everything, at that point I feel like I lost the whole thing more especially when the potential return is huge.

[xbetz.io]

I think this is actually very common. Mentally counting unrealized gains as a “loss” can make the risk feel much larger than it really is.

I’ve noticed that when I start thinking this way, it pushes me to over-analyze or hesitate, even on bets that are objectively fine. Personally I try to only define risk as the stake itself. The potential win was never guaranteed, so treating it as something already “owned” distorts decision-making. Focusing on EV instead of imagined outcomes helped me stay more consistent.

[TypoTonic]

For example, I bet $100 at odds 1.90.
The return should be $190, but when it loses, I don’t just feel like I lost $100. It feels like I lost the whole $190 that could have been mine.

Well, don't count your chickens before they're hatched. You haven't won that money yet, so it doesn't make sense to count it as a loss.

Because of that mindset, I’ve become more serious with my bets, like I take more time to study and analyze before placing anything, since in my head the loss feels bigger than the actual amount at risk.

This mindset is kind of risky because the more invested you are emotionally, then it's more likely for you to make poor decisions.

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

I do feel disappointed missing the win for sure, nothing wrong about that. But I don't consider the potential win as a loss, only my initial bet.

[freedomgo]

I think this is actually very common. Mentally counting unrealized gains as a “loss” can make the risk feel much larger than it really is.

I’ve noticed that when I start thinking this way, it pushes me to over-analyze or hesitate, even on bets that are objectively fine. Personally I try to only define risk as the stake itself. The potential win was never guaranteed, so treating it as something already “owned” distorts decision-making. Focusing on EV instead of imagined outcomes helped me stay more consistent.

It actually makes you work harder on your analysis because the whole point of gambling is to win. So when we lose, it feels like we missed the prize and wasted the cost of the ticket too. That mindset is pretty common among gamblers who end up fooling themselves. 

In reality, they only lost $100, but mentally it feels much bigger than that. ( they're like having their own world)

[Cryptoprincess101]

Why would you count an amount that you haven't won as part of your money? you should be concerned about your wager amount only because if you keep feeling bad about losing your potential winning then you will have to become emotional each time you lose a bet. Potential winning is just the amount in paper and not in reality so why should you take it seriously? I know that there is a feeling of excitement when you stake a bet and view the potential winning amount but that doesn't mean it's your money. Until you win it that is when it becomes your money otherwise don't even think about it when you lose a bet.

[Josefjix]

Every gambler thinks about the potential winning than the stake amount, that's how this thing had been from day one, I can't really explain the mechanism behind this but that's the realest spirit this thing carries. The moment the bet is been staked, your psychological expectancy of been awarded the potential amount keeps triggering the the mind and delusional attitude of that gambler. It difficult to explain this OP.

[DaNNy001]

you cannot say you lost if you did not really lose the amount of money staked, that's not what is considered to be a loss...a lot of people loae a bet and instead of saying I lost my stake of 20 dollars they go ahead to say that they lost the amount of money they are supposed to win...That's not how it works, alot of gamblers get this mixed up, I thought only newbies make this mistake but experienced people also do

[Pandorak]

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

In my personal opinion, when placing a bet that is truly lost it is still $100, the nominal value of the bet itself. I never consider the odds of winning as something that belongs to me, more accurately it is almost mine if i win, so it has never really existed. I think that unconsciously calculating the potential winnings will also add more emotional weight. We must think logically and rationally, that kind of mindset will only make you more stressed because it will feel like losing more than just the initial $100 stake, but also the potential $190 winnings.

[len01]

-snip

Is anyone else like this?
Do you only focus on the stake, or do you also factor in the potential win when deciding whether a bet is worth it?

Sometimes, an overly serious mindset makes you feel afraid whenever you want to place a bet on any option. I’ve had a similar experience. For example, I wanted to bet on under 3.5 at odds @3, but I reconsidered because I kept thinking about the potential loss if the bet failed. In the end, I chose to take a lower risk betting on over 1.5 at odds @1.3. In reality, neither team scored, and I should have gone with the under 3.5 option. Because I was too afraid, I ended up losing my money.

That experience made me realize that it’s better to bet without fear, as long as you’re using small amounts, around $1–$10. And betting with single bets across multiple matches. This makes us more comfortable without worrying about losing all our money at once.

[Ivystar5]

I usually used to count it when I was so interested in gambling and thought I could make a breakthrough from gambling or maybe not but I can remember that I once did it but I realised later in life that whatsoever that is not in my account or in my hands are not mine, I don't expect things anymore I just do things if it works good if doesn't I let go too just like gambling I gamble for fun now and if I win good if I don't win it's also fine.