I'm with you on this one Mr V.. Can't beat the buzz of "what's behind door number three?"
To Punt: Noun. A Bet, A Risk, A Gamble. Chiefly, in to take or to have a Punt.
Best way to get over a bad Punt is to get under a new one..
Thinking about it, since moving out into the boonies where the punting scene is shit, I have become much more risk averse. Punting for me now involves a long journey each way, and usually an overnight stay in a hotel. If I put all that time and effort in, only to have a shit punt, I have wasted far more than just a few quid. The feeling then is "why didn't I just stick with xx who I know would have given me a good time?".
To get back to the OP, what I haven't done, however, is to give up punting. On those awaydays when I do decide to try out someone new, I also have a punt lined up with a regular. That way, if the newbie falls flat, I can still go back with something positive to look back on. The important thing is to make sure that, despite the odd bad punt, overall you enjoy punting. If you aren't, then you are going about it in the wrong way.