Trust me, I'm a professional

Although most people don't understand it, playing poker and gambling are totally different things.
I earn a consistent (if fluctuating) middle class income from playing poker. I don't do slots, I don't do blackjack, I don't bet on sports.
The risks taken at a poker table are no different than the ones taken every day on the stock market or in the business world. Whether it's buying stock in a certain company, opening a restaurant on a certain corner, or calling a $500 bet with a pair of nines, the good stockbrokers/restaurant owners/poker players have done the research to make the best possible decision. Sometimes they don't end up being the right decisions, but in the long term they make a good profit.
Having said all that, I did some straight up gambling the other day and it was pretty fun.
I had played all day and was down $290 when my game ended. I was pretty disappointed in myself because I felt like I didn't make good decisions in the important spots, so when the opportunity came to make another bad decision I of course jumped at it.
A few of my buddies had decided to put in $60 each and send one guy over to a poker table. His goal was to go all in as often as possible to screw up the other game and hopefully get lucky and make a little money. I've never done anything like this before but for some reason I tossed my $60 into the ring, giving the five of us a total of $300.
My friend Rychy took the seat and bought in for $200. He went all in on his first hand without looking and lost. So he put our other $100 on the table and went all in on the next hand.
The table probably thought he hadn't looked but this time he had, and he had pocket jacks. He won the pot to get up to $200. About a minute later he was all in again, this time with K-J. He made a full house with that and was up to $400. Then he called a raise with Q-T and flopped a straight. Some poor sap had pocket aces, and he busted those to double his stack again to $800.
By now the whole room is curious about what's going on, since four guys are standing behind a table and loudly cheering every time their man wins a pot. Soon Rychy had about 20 people in his cheering section.
Figuring he'd found his lucky hand, Rychy called yet another raise with QT and ended up making three of a kind when two tens hit the board. His opponent had absolutely nothing but tried to bluff Rychy all in, so he doubled up to $1600. After stealing a few small pots with big raises, Rychy cashed out $1800 half an hour after having just $100. Splitting our profits five ways, we each made $300. Suddenly my $290 loss turned into a $10 win.
It didn't take me long to realize how stupid it was for me to throw away $60, even though it ended up working out. I told my buddies that I would never be participating in that game again, and they made fun of me.
I pride myself on making a living because of my good decisions and avoiding the pitfalls of real gambling. As most of my friends would attest, it's just my luck that the one time I screw up and gamble, I get lucky and make $300 off it. All I can say is, good things happen to good people. :)