In Casino, the games of chance are also games of -EV. Now imagine that you could play a simple dice with the following payout table, but the play is limited to one round:
4-6: pay back 10:1
2-3: no effect
1: lose your bet.
How much would you bet?
How often can I play?Everything!
It is better to split cash (1/3..6) and do as much tries as possible.
If many tries are possible a gambler would probably do martingale. In the end that doesn't change much regarding odds, though,... mostly the time it takes to finish. That's why I said: bet it all on first go and be done with it. As long as one has a means of earning income and not much funds, this makes the most sense imo.
If you're old and already have enough money, why gamble at all?
In other words, whether you gamble all of your financial resources or none should be considered on a continuum, depending on the "gambler's" particular circumstances.
I find this all or NONE viewpoint that Molecular seem to be framing to be quite nerve racking for my own personal tastes. In this regard, out of my personal inclinations, I have to consider the various nuances, rather than thinking about it as all or none b/c in my thinking if gamblers are considering these various risks as all or nothing, then sooner or later the all or NONE gamblers are going to end up on the street living out of a cardboard box (even though they may have some years of considerable luck and opulence)... and that kind of yo-yo living is too much stress for me.
Personally, I would rather consider the amount in my investment pool and consider the amount that I have in the high risk, the medium risk and the low risk categories. Certainly, I may consider gambling 100% of the high risk allocated amount, and if I am feeling particularly confident about the odds of any particular bet, I might also dedicate some additional percentage of my medium risk funds towards the risky venture... but in the end, all or nothing investment (or gambling) practices remain too extreme for my personal risk tolerances and my own sense of financial security.