The OP I responded to was advocating for employee options substantial enough to start thinking of them as more than just small lottery tickets (though I agree many startup equity offers amount to just that today).

In truth, I think there are evaluation strategies that can make for a truly differentiated expected value on the part of savvy employees. E.g. looking for companies with an actual potential for healthy future cashflows (and weighing the probability of those cashflows based on your expertise in the companies core offerings/technologies). Like a tech-savvy Warren Buffett.

Almost any strategy aside from that, though, is certainly just gambling.