You've no idea how scary it is watching a large investment go up and down like crazy on Just-Dice. I often divested when a whale was playing, only to miss out on their eventual big loss. If I had just closed my eyes and let it ride I would have done so much better.
Maybe that's what some of these people are doing - they don't want the emotional rollercoaster of wins and losses, and trust the math to work its magic long term.
The problem is that if you do the math, it doesn't prepare you. I think I got a good feeling from reading Double or Nothing. It almost ripped their friendship up. The one partner wanted to keep decreasing house edge and raising bet limits so that they would be considered hands down the best place for whales. The other partner was having a nervous breakdown.
There's always that nagging feeling that maybe it isn't a fair game. Even if you can't figure out how, you are lying awake at night wondering if they found a way.
It sounds like Deb had more trouble than you did with the potshots. At the risk of sounding sexist, men sometimes can simply look at the personal attacks as the price of being the point of the spear, but women have a harder time.
I saw an interviewer asked President Bush just after he left office if it was difficult to take the personal jabs. He just said it was to be expected, but Laura perked up and said it bothered the hell out of her.