You won't blame him though. It's clearly a typical human like desire to limit our risks due to uncertainty and fear, but hope to get a massive reward at the end. If I where in his shoes, I might have felt the same, considering how much would have been made if he actually staked $15-20 like you stated. That's just the tricky thing about gambling. You don't know when you're going to win, so playing safe has been the tactics of so many, thereby limiting the amount they stake in every game. This makes us different from the big players who stake massively at all times, neglecting the risks involved.