| Stories And Myths About Winners And Losers |
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 Pablo Edronkin
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In life you either win or lose all the time; it is better to win, of course, but in order to do that you have to learn from defeat instead of ignoring those bitter moments. The history of adventure, be it exploration, extreme sports, warfare, gambling and betting, or whatever you want is filled with examples of great victories and defeats, successes and catastrophic failures. Even the great winners of world's history had to, at some point or another, endure tremendous wounds, and even those with the worst possible luck can be enlightened by the Dame of Fortune. Abraham Lincoln was a mediocre person almost all his life: He failed in almost every commercial venture that he conceived, his sentimental life was in shatters - reflected in his face, indeed - and as a politician lost almost every election in which he participated, until one day he won the presidential election and became the leader of the United States. He changed the history of his country by emancipating slaves once and for all and his bad luck followed him even in success, for he was assassinated shortly after the civil war ended; the true reasons for liberating those in slavery have become a matter of debate ever since it happened, but the fact is that he freed all slaves left in the United States back then.
Finding gold turns anyone in a winner?... Not always! He wasn't alone in such bizarre life dynamics: Napoleon Bonaparte filled his military and political career with historic victories, but he ended up dying as a prisoner in an African island, possibly poisoned. He indeed won all his important battles, but lost the decisive ones.This pattern of successes and defeats can be observed in all kinds of adventure-related or competitive activities. It is good to learn about curious and paradigmatic cases in order to learn from them. By following the links contained in this page you will read about an assortment of such exotic, true stories that hopefully will help you stay sober at all times, but alas, remember as well that only those who dare win in the end. And what we have seen about professional players and gamblers is that they are very systematic, cunning and methodical; they never bet abruptly and never let themselves be guided by temptations, but above all, they show no fear. Fear in gambling, like in the case of extreme sports, comes just from lack of experience: if you go as a passenger with an acrobatic pilot and he or she cuts the throttle suddenly, letting the plane fall down, you will probably feel sacred, especially if the aircraft falls into a steep dive or spin; but for the pilot, such a thing would only be routine. In fact, all pilots do that for training and to practice recovery from abnormal flying situations; it is just part of aerobatics or emergency training. But passengers certainly feel scared when such things suddenly happen, just because the do not know the mechanics between each action of the plane and in fact, they ironically feel safer under situations which are worrisome for pilots indeed: landing is the most difficult and dangerous thing to do with an aircraft. Passengers who are fearful of flying usually sight in relief as they feel the plane touching down in the runway, but for the pilots in the cockpit, the span of time between the first contact with the ground and deceleration to a full stop is the most critical of the whole flight, and when the plane is most difficult to control.
Having the best and most firepower will make you win?... Right? Thus, in order to win you simply have to learn, and that takes time and mistakes; in the realm of gambling that also usually costs money, except at places like virtual casino that allow you to play for free. So use the opportunity to learn and practice. Recently, the Congress of the United States passed legislation that makes it illegal to offer most forms of online gambling and betting to the U.S. public, a fact that has been opposed by about two thirds of the country's population, has put the legislators under the scrutiny of ridicule from outside the country and made a lot of people remember the times of the prohibition, when manufacturing and selling alcoholic beverages in that country was a crime. History demonstrates that the experience with prohibition in the United States was indeed a resounding failure that produced more trouble than good while not alleviating what it was intended to alleviate: however, almost everybody in the industry as well as independent observers were surprised by the actions of the U.S. Congress, repeating the same mistake made by their forefathers decades before. And it is very interesting to note that some of the biggest breweries in the world now are located in the U.S.; so much for prohibition. Attempting to tell people accustomed to free choice what they can and what they cannot do is a perilous business; just try to prohibit having sex, breathing through the mouth, using yellow shirts or eating hamburgers. Those things are simply beyond the reach of the law, and attempting to use legal instruments to change people's behaviour in this regard only ends in legal failures that ridicule the whole political system. Someone said sometime that you should not fight battles that are already lost from the beginning. The U.S. government should know that its might should be used in a wiser way other than trying to attack such castles in the air. Learn how to play the game you like, improve your techniques and if you want, gamble and win big; no need to leave your home or travel.
All depends on the decisions that we take. |
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