A friend of mine told me he had been to the casino and he played Blackjack for 14 hours straight. I asked how he did and he told me he had been up and down but he had lost money in the end. I asked him why he played for so long and he said he just got caught up in the game.

This is easy to do when you visit the casino. I remember my very first trip to Las Vegas almost 20 years ago. I was there for five nights and I think I slept a total of 13 hours during that trip. I would go sightseeing during the day, see a show in the evening and then gamble the rest of the night.

Casinos are designed to get you caught up in the frenzy of the games and it is easy to lose control. The best way to avoid this is to plan a set amount of time to gamble and then have the discipline to walk away when you time is up. That brings us to this week's topic of discussion. What was your longest playing session? Post your reply in the forum.