Playing 2 Win...

Last week I posted a little about my current coffee addiction...


In case you missed it, I have been cafe crawling lately....


Internet cafe crawling, that is....


Where they offer coffee and internet services....


I pay them $20 and they allow me to spend time using their Internet connection...


Browsing the web and checking my email...


And updating my blog...


And chatting with my Facebook friends...


And checking my OKCupid profile...


And playing sweepstakes games....


And hopefully winning my $20 back before I leave...


I discovered these little cafes in mid-February...


By mid-April I had paid out $300 that I did not win back...


$300 for services I can get at home for free...


At first I looked at it as entertainment/grocery money....


Most places offer free dinners...


Pretty good dinners, too...


But still...


I do not normally budget $150 a month for my own groceries/entertainment....


Just because I do not have it to budget...


But I really like cafe crawling and gaming...


It IS addicting....


And I AM addicted....


I am not ashamed to admit it....


There are worse addictions....


 So I figured I needed a way to control this addiction...


I have devised a plan....


And believe it or not, it is actually working...


It is quite simple....


I realized that I was losing so much money because I would alway play down my winnings hoping to win even bigger....


And then when I lost all my winnings, I would put a few dollars more in the machine...


Odds are I am going to hit paydirt sometime....


Well I cannot afford to wait for the odds to bend my way...


So I decided I would not allow myself to lose more than $20 week...


I gave myself $40 to start...


And I started cafe crawling....


I take only my ID and $20 into each cafe...


I play my $20 and cash out my winnings...


I do not play my winnings...


At least not all of them....


I sometimes leave the cafe with my $20, sometimes less, sometimes more....


When I no longer have $20 left of my $40 (that is, when I have lost the whole $20) I am done for the week....


That has happened only once since I started this strategy 4 weeks ago....


And I did not lose that week, because I start over with only $40 each day....


Daily winnings are put aside and do not count toward the next day's winnings...

I call this my Play to Win strategy...

You can call me Charlie...


Yes, I am winning...


Because that is the only way I can afford to feed my addiction...


Admittedly, I do not win big...


Not like my cafe buddy who seems to have the winning touch wherever we go...


But I do ok...


In fact, as of earlier this week, I have made back the $300 I lost before I started my P2W strategy...


Right now, I am averaging about $75 per week in winnings...


If this keeps up, I may actually be able to afford to feed G-Man while he is home this summer...