WinnerAndLoser

Thank you. Yes, this has nothing to do with Bitcoin, except to provide context.

I have not sought anything at this point. I don't have any money left, so I don't see how Gamblers Anonymous will help me right now.

EDIT: The main point of mentioning Bitcoin was to explain how I got from almost nothing to such a huge number. It was not just luck, but also the insane growth of Bitcoin since April 1. Second, I just wanted to paint the complete picture and provide proof, so that people understand and can believe the story. Finally, I imagine that gambling with Bitcoin is different to gambling on any other website. The immediacy of it makes it very dangerous. No deposite, no wire transfers. Literally, from having the funds on Mt.Gox to being completely bankrupt took less than 3 minutes. Withdrawals are instant and everything is irreversible. Definitely a feature of Bitcoin, but one that makes such situations much easier.

Thank you for your kind words.

If Mt. Gox had not lagged would this all have been avoided?

Absolutely yes. I had the market sell in there for hours. If it had gone through I would have cashed out after the crash and none of this would have happened. But of-course it's not Mt.Gox's fault, it's mine.

As a mathematician, I don't have any "system" that succeeds. No system can ever succeed in a negative EV game. But as a mathematician I have a good grasp of the probability of any event, including the combined probability of multiple events. That makes it kind of easier to justify gambling. Combine this knowledge with greed, and simply the fact that I am human, and you have a recipe for what happened to me.

You are absolutely correct, flipping a coin is a Markov proces. That is what I explained in several replies. It doesn't matter whether you make several small bets or one large bet. The overall probability of hitting a certain target, given a certain bankroll, is the same. However, understanding of the fundamentals behind each roll does not prevent the narratives that gamblers write for themselves. It is all psychological, and it's all an illusion. Understanding the maths behind it makes it worse in some ways.

Thank you for your comment. I don't regret losing the profits (easy come easy go), but the bad person part was gambling with money that is not mine. Although I had impaired impulse control, I was still fully aware of the consequences. The same can be said for thieves and murderers. So it may be on a smaller scale, but yes, I am a bad person.