Do you guys even have fun??

[ohbehave]

You just have to accept that you will get good hands when you have small bets out. Shouldn't have a problem with that, part of the game. Don't even feel lucky or unlucky at the table... say it to the plops or dealer or pit sure... but don't mean it.

[KJ]

At least at a job you're guaranteed payment in exchange for your time/talents. Pro athletes get paid regardless of the score/results. The only way to get paid here is to WIN! And that takes extreme patience and discipline..."perfect play" doesn't hurt either. Your luck or scoreboard is the number chips in your pocket vs dealers tray when you walk away from that session. Plain and simple.

This isn't exactly the way I look at it. I AM going to get paid for my efforts whether I win today or not. The question is when? This is why I use EV as my scoreboard. I will eventually get that money. Again, not sure exactly when, but I will get paid. In the meantime, it just takes a little long-term financial planning and understanding that your payday isn't every friday.

[KJ]

Actually, KJ. It was BJ players like you (and Rudy) that I had in mind with the words extreme patience, discipline, perfect play. Point being, BJ is far more difficult than a job. Teams win and lose games. With BJ players it's sessions. I was referring to the big picture of a season. Few teams go undefeated. The upper-echelon teams win 60% of their games are rarely get blownout. I've venture to guess the same criteria could be said for you.

Thank you for the kind words, moses. "BJ is far more difficult than a job". I don't know. It's just different...not necessarily more difficult. Just something you need to adjust and get used to. Kind of like a realtor...maybe?? Never know when you are going to hit that big payday.

My partner and I do some machine play, which is a 'supplemental' part of our AP, but there are a few guys that I know that rely much heavier, even exclusively on machine play for a living. Now these dudes have to deal with some huge variance. Might be in the hole for most of the year, down a few royal cycles, and then hit several in a row, which swings them back into the black where they should be. That is crazy variance, that you better be prepared for.

These things are just part of the chosen occupation, that you need to be prepared for and learn to deal with.

[muffdiver]

Thank you for the kind words, moses. "BJ is far more difficult than a job". I don't know. It's just different...not necessarily more difficult. Just something you need to adjust and get used to. Kind of like a realtor...maybe?? Never know when you are going to hit that big payday.

My partner and I do some machine play, which is a 'supplemental' part of our AP, but there are a few guys that I know that rely much heavier, even exclusively on machine play for a living. Now these dudes have to deal with some huge variance. Might be in the hole for most of the year, down a few royal cycles, and then hit several in a row, which swings them back into the black where they should be. That is crazy variance, that you better be prepared for.

These things are just part of the chosen occupation, that you need to be prepared for and learn to deal with.

The huge differences in volatility among the many variations of video poker make it difficult to make a general variance comparison with BJ but I would have thought overall variance would be somewhat similar.

[Three]

Do you guys ever raise your bet just cuz it happens to be your lucky day.

No. My advantage is based on the math. That would be giving my advantage away. Because I just got 4 BJ in a row makes another BJ far less likely . I just ate through 1 deck worth of aces and a 1/4 deck of face cards just in those 4 BJ's (8 cards).