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Forex vs. Gambling

22.05.2025

Education

In the 2014 film The Gambler, the main character Jim Bennett, played by Mark Wahlberg, has a great dialogue with crime boss Frank, played by John Goodman. Jim wants to borrow money from Frank to bet on the outcome of a rigged basketball game.

Wahlberg's character says that he won $2.5 million in one night. But now he has a large debt. Frank tries to figure out whether to trust and says, "If you win $2.5 million, any fool knows what to do. Buy a house with a guarantee. Buy a cheap car. Put the rest in the bank at 3-5% per annum. And for the rest of your life, you end up at the level of - screw you."

Now, if someone asks you to do something you don't like, you say - "screw you." If your boss scolds you - "screw you." This is the base. Now it is called financial independence. In this episode, Frank shows the thinking of a businessman, investor, trader. And Jim - the thinking of a gambler.

Wahlberg's character gets money. He bets it on a match. He wins. But instead of paying off the loan and paying off most of the debt, he plays in an underground casino. Hollywood loves a happy ending. Jim wins. He pays off everyone. He says he's not a gambler anymore. And at the end of the film, he runs to meet freedom.

1. Different goals

Gamblers have a psychological peculiarity. Most often, it comes from childhood. For example, parents may not have paid attention to successes. But they scold you very much for failures. The child receives the attitude that the attention of loved ones comes with failure. The greater it is, the more attention.

An adult with such a cognitive distortion finds himself in a trap. If he comes across gambling, he experiences satisfaction from losing. The greater it is, the greater the satisfaction. It is very difficult to stop. Everyone wants attention. A psychologist will help to cope with this and other similar destructive attitudes.

A trader does not seek satisfaction. His goal is more banal. He wants to reach the level of "fuck you." He also has psychological vulnerabilities. They are common to all people. But the trader tries to overcome them with the help of a diary and a trading system. He is like a boxer, consciously going for a blow to reveal his distortions in perception. To correct them. And to build protection into the trading system.

Perhaps the difference is not so easy to see. But it is huge. The player gets satisfaction from the game, so he cannot stop. The trader works hard. But he is interested in a specific amount. If offered it, he will gladly refuse to trade. The player, most likely, will not be able to do this. He lives to play.

2. The exception emphasizes the rule

There are always exceptions to the rule. But they only emphasize the correctness of the idea. Edward Thorp is a professor of mathematics, a PhD and a gambler. It's not about playing cards with other people, they have their own idols. Thorp systematically beat the casino at blackjack and even roulette.

Before him, this was not possible. But Edward Thorp managed to create a winning system for playing blackjack. Publish it in the book "Beat the Dealer". Withstand the verification of the correctness of the calculations of the scientific community. And create a base for a large number of successful players in the future.

Thorp achieved recognition in the stock market. Thanks to his deep knowledge of probability theory, he became a pioneer in the field of options. Edward Thorp can hardly be called a player in the bad sense of the word. Rather, he is a businessman who accidentally ended up on the field of gambling.

Edward Thorp's path emphasizes the difference between a trader and a player. A trader first finds a way to win. Works it out. And only then risks money. Everything is different for a player. He is not very interested in winning. Therefore, he enters the game without a good chance of success.

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