If there is an industry that lends itself well to gambling, it would be sports. After all, how many people around the world wager on the latest sporting event or get in on football pools when their favourite team is going for the Cup? That being said, although athletes aren’t, by league rules, allowed to wager on their own games, there is nothing to stop them from visiting casinos or using online casino bonuses to have a bit of fun between games. In fact, many of today’s pro athletes prefer to bet online because they can have a bit of fun while getting the R&R they need before the next big game. Have you ever wondered, besides fun, just what it is they learn from playing live casino games?
Strategy Is Huge When Playing Certain Card Games
Although ‘counting’ the cards is highly frowned upon when playing Blackjack in casinos, as Ben Affleck can tell you, there is no one watching you at home in front of the screen as you try a hand or two of poker. Do you know which cards have been played and what your odds are if you play certain cards in your hand, laying the others aside for a hit? That’s really all about strategy and even though luck is important, it’s not as important in some casino games as strategy is, and for an athlete, that’s huge.
If You Don’t Play You Miss 100% of the Time
When it comes to the odds, or luck as some would call it, former Canadian pro ice hockey player, Wane Gretzky, sums it up nicely. He says that “If you don’t take the shot you miss 100% of the time.” So what are the odds if you ‘do’ take the shot? It’s at least 50/50 by many calculations. When gambling online, you don’t have tons of fans in the stadium watching every move you make, and this is where athletes learn to fine-tune their risk-taking plays. It’s a gut level feeling they get intuitively and being able to recognize and respond to that is what many pro athletes have going for them. According to Gretzky, if you don’t try it’s an automatic miss, so why not take the risks when no one is the wiser?
You Can’t Be Afraid to Fail
Along with that line of thinking, not only can you learn how important it is to take risks, athletes also learn not to be afraid of failure. According to Charles Barkley, former American basketball pro, you can’t afford to play scared. Too many games were lost in that final moment when the score was tied. That one player had a perfect opening for a 3-pointer from behind the line and that fear-based hesitation is all it took to send the game into overtime, in which the team lost to the opposition.
As the old saying goes, “If you snooze you lose.” When it comes to fine-tuning your strategies or your ability to play from a power position instead of fear, there is nothing quite like a night at the tables, virtual or physical. What can gambling teach them? That it’s better to try and fail than to never have tried at all.