The “Walk Away While Ahead” Illusion

[Russlenat]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

Sure, there are times we hit profit and stop for that day. But are we really not coming back anymore? Of course we come back. And once we come back, there’s no guarantee we win again. That’s where the whole idea starts to fall apart. If in the long run the house edge or reality catches up, then this “walk away when ahead” strategy doesn’t really make us profitable overall. It only works if we win, take the profit, and quit gambling for good.

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

[Orpichukwu]

Staying away after you win, maybe the person should just stop gambling forever, that's the only way never to lose it to gambling again.

To me, the advice to take a break after you hit a profit is not to secure the profit forever for long-time gambling but to protect you from losing it that instant out of confidence, unless gambling winnings are being invested in something. There is no amount of break you take that can guarantee you won't lose an equal or even greater amount in the long run.

[PostQuantumBTC]

It is like you are saying gambling is not fun and should not be seen as something fun or what? You gamble today and win money but you gamble tomorrow and lose money, that is the fun of gambling. It is not good to have in mind that any time you gamble you will be winning money, you should know that is not possible.

[Odusko]

It is like you are saying gambling is not fun and should not be seen as something fun or what? You gamble today and win money but you gamble tomorrow and lose money, that is the fun of gambling. It is not good to have in mind that any time you gamble, you will be winning money; you should know that is not possible.

The real fun in gambling is actually gambling with an acceptable and easy to go by amount, this way you gamble without minding th outcome of it, winning is sweet likewise losing small amount is manageable the funin all of this is the ability to accept the outcome and enjoy the game in itself, most gambler's attached o much emotions to gambling results because of the amount of money they are risking on those games, which is more than what they can actually afford.

[Ziskinberg]

No one can avoid losses in gambling, that's one thing that a casino has higher advantage from us. But if you decide to walk away after a big win and leave gambling for good, maybe that's where we can say that we have finally taken a huge advantage from the casino.

But the problem is, there's more gamblers who are non-stop than those who finally get rid of gambling and walk away completely. And that's where the walk away while ahead illusion fails its purpose, simply because people will always stick where there is money is, even if it means putting them at a massive loss at the end of the day.

[Cryptohygenic]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

No, that is one of the most smartest move to safe yourself from regretting it over greeds.
If you win and don't take control of your urge, you will think the windows of your breakthrough has just opened and will be tempted to keep on playing and expect another round of luck to win.
If you don't walk with that accounted profits made, there are high chances that you could loos all back to the house.
The stitch in time and saves nine is not a cowardice decision, it is a smart one.

[rachael9385]

They say that but that's not really easy, it's easier said than done. It is not really easy to walk away from gambling especially when it has become a connection to it. It takes a lot of discipline to be able to walk away from gambling. It is possible to walk away from gambling bit this doesn't just happen because you want It to, work must be done.

[Hispo]

Yeah, you are correct. It only works if someone actually wins money during their gambling session and decides to completely quit gambling for the rest of their life, otherwise, if they decided to walk into a casino again the edge of the house will continue to have effect upon their wallet and the money they won could get back to the casino's trunk.

Actually, it is kind of interesting as it reminds me the case of a friend of mine who lives in Chile, he is not a gambler, but was invited to a casino and decided to play blackjack, he won fifty dollars and walked away, it has been like to years and he has not gambled again.

That is the only way one can say one has defeated the house, to be lucky in a single session and walk away for good, never to come back and lose that money to the casino.

[rbynxx]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

Sure, there are times we hit profit and stop for that day. But are we really not coming back anymore? Of course we come back. And once we come back, there’s no guarantee we win again. That’s where the whole idea starts to fall apart. If in the long run the house edge or reality catches up, then this “walk away when ahead” strategy doesn’t really make us profitable overall. It only works if we win, take the profit, and quit gambling for good.

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

You can probably walk away if you win a lot more than you can imagine. Well, for a day you hit something then you'll be telling yourself that you won't be able to earn or profit this much for a day so probably quitting is a no-brainer. And yeah I agree that it's more like delaying more our losses but that's gambling, as I've said beforehand just take it moderately and take it as a mixed of getting money and leisure.

[Dave1]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

Maybe it depends on how much you win. Lottery? For sure I will walk about from gambling and then will go and invest that money and built generational wealth for me and my family. But if it's like $1000 then it's not going to be a life changing win.

So maybe the next question is how big is the money for us to really walk out of gambling for good. Maybe we can win $100,000 but if you go on your records of losing money throughout in your gambling career, it might not be enough as you could be in break even or still in the losing end.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

Sure, there are times we hit profit and stop for that day. But are we really not coming back anymore? Of course we come back. And once we come back, there’s no guarantee we win again. That’s where the whole idea starts to fall apart. If in the long run the house edge or reality catches up, then this “walk away when ahead” strategy doesn’t really make us profitable overall. It only works if we win, take the profit, and quit gambling for good.

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

Actually it's not an illusion, just have to have the right mindset to gollow through on those words. Sometimes when I am sick of some site I self exclude for an extended period of time. Since you cannot end a self exclusion early you have to stick with it until it's gone. Sure, it's not the same as quitting fully since you can still use other sites but it's kinda the same.

Unfortunately only a people people can actually follow through, that's the main problem.

[noorman0]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

I'm sure this quote isn't an encouragement to stop gambling at all, but rather to enjoy the wins which you might not get in every gambling session. This is a tactic to combat compulsive behavior, preventing wins from slowly turning into losses before you can enjoy them for something else.
Not bad advice when viewed from the right perspective.

[Cointxz]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

The general application for this saying at least personally is walk away with profit for that particular moment so that my mind will be stabilized and normal when I come back gambling again to make my game not influenced by my recent win.

I think this will be applied when you win a significant amount such as on lottery that you don’t need to gamble again just to experience some gains.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

People say “once you hit profit, just walk away.” But isn’t that just us trying to fool ourselves a bit?

Sure, there are times we hit profit and stop for that day. But are we really not coming back anymore? Of course we come back. And once we come back, there’s no guarantee we win again. That’s where the whole idea starts to fall apart. If in the long run the house edge or reality catches up, then this “walk away when ahead” strategy doesn’t really make us profitable overall. It only works if we win, take the profit, and quit gambling for good.

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

This is something we have discussed before on this board but it's been quite a very long time, in that particular thread, we talked about how it is often said that the house can't ever be beaten, but I established that the house can actually be beaten but to actually succeed, the gambler will have to take some very important decision, where one of such decisions will be to immediately stop and quit gambling never to return to it again the moment he wins and he is in profit, with this strategy, the house can indeed be beaten, but who ever gambles and win a huge sum of money and automatically puts them in profit against the casino, then he takes a break only to return later, it's the same thing as he or she was just helping the casino keep that money because surly, the casino will take back every of the penny the gambler won and even plus more.

But if the gamblers wins a huge sum of money and immediately quits gambling never to return to it again, then he or she succeeded in beating the house..
But making a decision like this is usually not easy, only someone who is already fed up and have concluded he is quitting whether he won his last game or lost it, and eventually he won, then him quitting and maintaining that decision will require a strong discipline.

[danherbias07]

Well, the good part about walking away after a win is having a joyful day ahead. The thought of being a winner and defeating the house can sometimes give joy that is unexplainable. Then, there are also gamblers who would probably buy what they want, so they are having a better time because they know they spent the money on something good.

Sure, after all that, a gambler will probably go back and slowly lose all the profits he made. Still, the delight of having one day of defeating the casino is something that could be memorable. There are stories about gamblers who walked away and never came back, like the very famous FedEx founder. I bet some gamblers did the same, but they are not too famous for the story to trend.

In my case, I like it that way. I win, I get out, enjoy the money, and come back another day or two. Sometimes it takes a week or more.

[Julien_Olynpic]

In my opinion, this doesn't work well in practice. Someone who's tasted victory won't quit easily. They'll likely be consumed by an ancient hunting instinct, which will drive them to play again and again. It's like telling an alcoholic to stop drinking after the first drink. In reality, few people have the willpower to do that. Most don't. It's easy to tell others to quit after their first profit. But you'll likely think you're on a hot streak and need to keep going.

[Odusko]

Experience gambler's knows that winning is not guaranteed in gambling, so gambling and winning are just based on luck. This understanding builds in us the ability not to expect winning anytime, so when you win, it should not bring the question of quitting, but rather taking a break for a while, because continuing gambling with such early winning excitement keeps you stuck with the expectations of winning more since you begining to chase the winning direction, but if you take a break off to cool off, you will definitely be making a more calm and accurate predictions when next you return although even with that, winning again o not guaranteed but a least you are starting up fresh again.

[coinrifft]

I wouldn't say that we are fooling ourselves. But it's going to be a vicious cycle at least for most gamblers. Because we will go back again and wanted to get that experience of winning and the rush that it brings into our mind.

And the emotion involved, so after a win, yeah, maybe take a rest. And then in the next couple of days, hoping  that you will have the same luck in your side to win big and so that cycle starts and there are no ending unless you really quit gambling for good.

[Fiatless]

So maybe the real question is not “can I walk away today?” but “can I walk away forever after I win?”

Because if not, then maybe we’re just delaying the loss, not avoiding it.

My strategy is to walk away,.withdraw my gains, and stick to my budget. Walking away after big wins doesn't mean that you won't come back to gambling. It is a means of controlling oneself to avoid gambling away one's winnings. You will still return to gambling but not with every amount you have won. Wins will be withdrawn while the budgeted amount will continue to be used.

Walking away is not forever, but if you don't do it, you might lose everything.

[Kelward]

It is not actually walk away when you win for every gamblers, my strategy is that I don't use my wins to continue gambling, if I win I like to take it like a reward and enjoy it, ofcourse I can continue gambling after a win whether it's big or small but I wouldn't use the win for gambling. When I'm in a casino I focus on my bankroll to gamble not my win, what determines when I stop most times is when my budget for the session is exhausted, when it does I just stop whether I'm winning or losing it wouldn't matter.

You will realize that most times if you continue to gamble with your wins you will lose everything so why double your risk when you know the probable outcome so like I said I just use my budgeted amount to gamble and take my wins.