Another trip to Vegas, another set of barriers overcome, but another personal test to surmount...

Okay, redchipper here that just got back from Vegas, and have progressed from last trip about 6 months ago...can assess games for payability and avoid bad ones, can push out bets that fit 1-4/1-8/1-2x8 betting plan depending on decks in play, can keep count & vary strategy, chit chat some etc etc.

But, the question now concerns pyschology & playing scared...like anything, some awareness of what i am in for will help overcome fear...the question, if one anticipates playing just one hour in a one deck, two deck or six deck game, how much cash does one need to have before sitting to play? One does not want to run out of money, and as long as one has enough money to cover one's spread plan, the overall positive expectation ought to work...but playing for only 1 hour is the limit for a few of reasons...one-limit exposure to casino surviellance; two-a stop loss limit; and three, its personally unsafe to carry a lot of cash.

Blackjack i find is a game one has a few big winning hands mingled in with a few less big losers and the rest more losses than wins...the net is a slow net win with some scary drops...the trick is to have enough stake to withstand the downslide until the big win replenishes/creates a new high...

But sitting a table, and my money is going over to the dealer, the question becomes, how much longer will I have to wait? And if my loss goes beyond a certain amount in one hour, am I doing something wrong or am i just running real cold?...that is the scare---few things sicken me more than having to buy in for more...

So, how much is enough? If I know before sitting down what a reasonable experience would be, I could cope easier...the only thing i can find in my literature collection is in Blackjack Attack, the material on Risk of Ruin for a short trip (in this case a very short trip, 1 hour)...another reference is in the team handbook section of BJA, where 30 units is the session bank for a team player, with a backup bank of 30 units to be used to finish out a favorable shoe.

I fired up my spreadsheet, worked through the examples in BJA for short term risk of ruin. And worked out a tendative answer, 60 units...could you folks weigh in please?

Let say I play a 2 deck, H17,DAS game with hi-lo, 66 cards dealt before the shuffle card with two other players...i plan to spread 1 unit <1TC; 2 unit 1-2 TC; 4 unit 2-3 TC; 6 unit 3-4 TC; and 8 at TC>4...would 60 units be enough to reduce risk of ruin down to less than 5% for playing 100 hands? I think the ev, standard deviation, variance data can be obtained from Chapter 10 BJA for a game that is close to what i describe.

Anyone know of any other material (books, articles, papers) that touch on this topic?

It was my experience to have fluctuations that took 10 units in just one pass through the pack...all it took is a of couple of losses at 1 or 2 units, then a multi replit hand with a double down after split...then the choice--buy in or quit?...its a playable, not great, game, but what if i get a repeat of the same results?

With the 60 unit rule, it does guide one in which games one could sit in --that is: $5 min -> $300 stake; $10 min -> $600, $25 min -> $1500.

btw--this trip i had play experiences of going down +20 units then coming back, although those experiences were at low minimum games, thus the pychology (loss risk) was not a concern--i offer that as some proof that my play has some soundness.

Thanks in advance...(on another page at this site right now there is a series of posts from a bright young man that seems to have some of the same issues i have on risk (fear)...i admire his courage to discuss his concerns--your not alone brother.)