Help: How to convince my gf NOT to play to get her money back

[Orpheus]

I think the above post is excellent, and it certainly made me think.

However, I also believe that you might have gotten different responses all around if you'd opened an anonymous account (with explanations) asking "How do I get my BOYfriend to..." and distinctly different sets of responses with "How do I get my FRIEND...", "...my husband..." or "my son/daughter". I'm not criticizing anyone. We're social beings and relationships are not irrelevant, they are crucial.

I presumed that this was a last-ditch effort before you gave up on the issue. I may well have been wrong. I replied as someone grateful for the great fortune of having learned a many life lessons from my GFs, but life isn't always geneder-symmetric. We may hope it will be (or not) but reality trumps wishes.

I assume your GF reads the great poker books and 2+2 (if not -- why not?), and that you do, too. Therefore, you know that essentially every 2+2 author (probably incl. her favorite) has devoted at least one directly to-the-point line saying not to do this. Find the ones that she might listen to. Note them. BUT do NOT highlight them, harp on them, or make this an issue of who's right. Choose one time to say "you know Sklansky (or whoever) says..." and then drop it.

Freedom --no, make that "basic personal autonomy"-- can't exist unless we can choose our solutions and mistakes. She deserves that much. Everyone does.

Though your most recent post makes it sounds as if she is somewhat less successful in "making it back" that your OP did (and brings it more in line with the experiences of my own friends), but it also doesn't sound like it an issue that is seriously damaging her revenue stream, or impacting her ability to mmet her obligations.

For get "optimal". This may be more an issue of rhetoric than results. Don't fixate on whether her rationale meets your inspection, and accept that she may simply need to do it --for now-- as an issue of personal satisfaction. Many many of us drop down to lower levels to blow off steam with decidedly -EV play or (on a larger scale of life decisions) work in the places/jobs that we find most rewarding vs. most remunerative. In fact, I hope we all would.