Every gambler knows the feeling. You’re down $150. Your brain starts whispering: “Just one more bet to get even. You can’t leave down money. The next hand will turn it around.”
That voice used to control me completely. I’d chase losses until small setbacks became disasters. A $50 loss would become $300. A bad night would become a terrible week.
Then I discovered a mental trick so simple it sounds stupid. But it completely rewired how my brain responds to losses. I haven’t chased a loss in eight months.
Here’s the mental shift that changed everything.
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The Problem with “Getting Even”
The chase always starts with the same logic: “I need to get back to even.” This feels reasonable. You’re not trying to win money—just recover what you lost.
But “even” is an arbitrary number. When you’re down $100, even feels important. When you’re down $500, getting back to $400 down suddenly feels like a victory.
The goal keeps moving. Even becomes a mirage that stays just out of reach.
I realized this during a blackjack session where I chased a $80 loss for three hours. At some point, I was down $340 and felt thrilled to “only” lose $160. My definition of success had completely shifted.
The trap: Chasing losses changes your reference point. You stop thinking about winning and start thinking about losing less.
The Mental Trick: Fresh Session Thinking
Here’s the trick that stopped my chasing: I force myself to think like I’m starting fresh.
When I lose money, instead of asking “How do I get it back?”, I ask “Would I deposit this same amount right now to start playing?”
If I’m down $100 and considering chasing, I ask myself: “If I had never gambled today, would I deposit $100 right now to start a session?”
Most of the time, the answer is no. I wouldn’t start a fresh session with that amount, so why should I chase losses with it?
How This Changes Everything
This reframes chasing from “recovery” to “new decision.” Every potential chase bet becomes a question about starting over, not fixing the past.
Instead of thinking “I need to win back that $100,” I think “Do I want to risk another $100 right now as if this is my first bet of the day?”
This turns emotional decisions into logical ones.
The shift: From “How do I get even?” to “Is this a smart bet if I’m starting fresh?”
Testing the Trick
The first time I used this approach, I was down $120 on slots. My usual reaction would be to switch to blackjack and try to grind back.
Instead, I asked myself: “If I just sat down at this casino right now with no prior losses, would I deposit $120 to play blackjack?”
The answer was absolutely not. I’d never start a session risking that much on a game I wasn’t even planning to play.
I closed the casino and went for a walk. First time I’d ever walked away from a loss without trying to fix it.
Why This Works
Chasing feels different from starting fresh, but mathematically, they’re identical. Whether you’re “getting back” $100 or “risking” $100, you’re making the same bet with the same odds.
The “fresh session” question strips away the emotional baggage and forces you to evaluate the bet objectively.
Most chase bets fail this test. You’re usually considering larger bets, riskier games, or longer sessions than you’d choose when starting fresh.
This approach creates clean breaks between decisions. Each potential bet gets evaluated independently.
Handling the Emotional Side
The hardest part isn’t logical—it’s emotional. Losing money feels like failure. Walking away while down feels like giving up.
I had to separate my self-worth from my gambling results. Losing a session doesn’t make me a loser. It makes me someone who risked money and lost, which is normal.
The goal shifted from never losing to losing without making it worse.
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The Surprising Benefits
This trick didn’t just stop me from chasing losses. It improved my overall gambling.
Sessions became cleaner. I either had good sessions or short bad ones. No more marathons where small losses became disasters.
I started enjoying gambling more because I wasn’t constantly trying to fix previous mistakes.
My bankroll became more predictable. I knew my maximum loss per session because I stopped extending sessions to chase.