Deamonbane said
What... what is my bottom dollar, anyways?
Have you ever been to Vegas?
Wait, no, Vegas is a bad example, I don't know that I could go down to bottom in Vegas, too legit.
Okay, have you ever been to Puerto Rico? Not just San Juan, your Dad wants you to see all the good shit.
So you're going all over Puerto Rico and it's great, nature is beautiful, weather is ideal, some perf. relaxation time.
So one night, your father say, "let's go gambling!" and sure, he's had a little too much rum, but you're pretty lucky, maybe you'll make a few dollars. It'll be fun either way.
But it's not. It's totally not fun either way.
You're familia is full of these colorful criminals and assholes, you know that, but you love them anyway. You're very aware you're grandfather used to be kind of famous in the cock fighting rings in old-school PR, it's kind of in your family. SURE. But you'd except a heads up before your father takes you to Cocaine alley's seedy underbelly to cock fighting big time, right?
Well you don't get one of those.
You aren't sure how to feel about it at first, you're a vegetarian, and it's senseless violence on one hand, but on the other it IS a distinct cultural tradition, and your family is a testament to there being some positivity derived from cock fighting. Anyway, maybe you've had a little to drink, maybe more than a little-- maybe some drugs fuzz up your judgement-- maybe your fucking father pulls you to the side and threatens to not get you a ticket home if you bitch. One way or another, eventually you get into it, so naturally you start betting on the fights.
When you find yourself here, this far into it, betting very clearly isn't your 'first mistake,' there was a very clear point where you should have stopped, but you said fuck it, let's keep going and see what happens. It's just another box car in a long train of mistakes.
There are no breaks on the mistake train.
Okay, so you bet, you have very little money, but you get everything out of your account bank account because it's not even $100, so fuck it, all or nothing. Baby needs a new semester in school! You say. mentally.
You start winning! It isn't enough money for YOUR school, but it could be a semester at community-- or hell, it'd just be nice to have that much money!
So do you stop, while very clearly ahead?
Of course you don't.
You keep going, and keep going, up and down your money goes, until it's almost morning, and you're left with BARELY $20, a reasonable minimum for these kinds of betting... things.
'That isn't that much of a loss', you should think and then leave. But you don't, OF COURSE YOU DON'T, you bet it all, because maybe, MAYBE, I can make it all back and then some.
Maybe.
That, Bane, is a bottom dollar.