Walter Mitty Types

The adjective 'authoritative' is a good one to be associated with, 'authoritarian' not so much. The former is defined as:

able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable

As I scrolled through my timeline on Twitter yesterday, the following appeared:

I thought the authoritative blog had somehow been missed from Spaam Berry's (possibly not his real name) tweet, before realising that the honour was actually being bestowed upon this humble offering.

Bot Trader had an entertaining comment on yesterday's sorry tale writing: 

Gambling forums will always be littered with Walter Mitty** types like Rstrach, thankfully they only ever lose winnings they've built up and not their original bank so no real harm done.

I'm sure Rstrach must have been overwhelmed the great and the good from the Bet Angel forum all came out to offer advice of how they'd overcome similar situations. One can only hope Rstrach uses his remaining bank to attend a training course, or at the very least pick up a few ebooks, and return triumphantly to such a supportive forum.

In financial terms, on the face of it, it's true that no real harm was done. Rstrach started with £1,000, ended with a £1,000. As Bot Trader makes clear, no one ever loses their original bank.  

On the plus side, we hope he learned a valuable lesson, but the psychological toll of taking one mad day to lose profits built up over a year is hard to measure.

The more serious damage is that caused by the ill-considered decision to pack in a well paying job, even more crazy considered the young man in question has a mortgage. 

I am now in a position where my safety bank is running low for necessities and my mortgage. My relationship has been affected and my morale and self confidence an all time low.

Bot Trader suggests Rstrach spend his remaining money on attending a training course and a few ebooks, actions he suggests are guaranteed to ensure a triumphant return to betting and the forum where no one ever loses. 

He's a funny one that Botty.

If anyone does lose money, it is of course, all their fault. Trading is easy if you follow the advice that's out there for a very modest fee. Clearly, in a zero-sum game, there's so much money to be made that everyone wins, commission is not worth worrying about, and you only need to work for a few hours a day to live a dream lifestyle. Seems legit. 

** Walter Mitty is defined as "an ordinary, often ineffectual, person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs"

There's a Jaguar in the driveway

A great big swimming pool

A suitcase full of cash 

A big fat smile when he's facing the sun

The man got class

Walter Mitty come home

Flash and the Pan - Lady Killer