Losing sterak thread - PART THREE

[mickeymouse]

Thanks Simi. I plugged in my data and as of today I am about 55% of the way to N0 in terms of hands played. I am well below EV expectations now, though I remain ahead for now. I read Arnold Snyder (who I was lucky enough to correspond with in the past) 's articles on losing.

As for everyone else, thank you for your wise advice. I think I should add that in my country the conditions that I am getting are probably the best I will ever get. I do make an effort to avoid crowded tables and play heads-up or with one other player. And eventually, barring being banned, I will get back all my losses. All my losses are due to negative variation only. Eventually, over my lifetime, I will approach EV times hands played. The underlying process has never been known to fail.

In the meantime, I will do a moderate amount of practice on Blackjack Verite. It's a great way of spending the time while you wait for your bus to take you home, and at the airport lounge. I'm very lucky* that in doing so, I don't get bored.

*sarcastic aside

[mofungoo]

The one quality I have seen in successful counters is persistence. When I first began to count in the late '70s I lost my first bankroll, $600, as per the advice in Playing Blackjack As A Business by Lawrence Revere. I spoke to Revere over the phone and he recommended I buy his Advanced +/- strategy and then take lessons on my next trip to Vegas before I played again. Several months later when I got to Vegas, I called to schedule lessons and was saddened to learn he had passed away a month earlier, but lessons were still being offered by some local pro players. I took the lessons that were taught by two gentlemen - one who specialized in hand held games and the other who specialized in shoe games. They evaluated my play, corrected some mistakes I was making, gave me tips and techniques that I still use today, and gave me better bankroll and betting advice. A few years later, while reading Uston's Million Dollar Blackjack, I saw them mentioned as members of Uston's team and the Czech team that were operating in Vegas at the time I took the lessons.

On their advice I went to the Gambler's Bookstore and got a copy of Stanford Wong's Professional Blackjack and switched my count to Hilo so that it would be easier to play both handheld games and shoes, which I wanted to do.

Subsequent trips to Nevada were all winning trips, so I have to say the lessons were worth every penny of the $100 they cost me. And when casino gambling began to open up around the country I was good to go.

So, my advice to you would be to relax, take a break, and check your game for leaks. Try to improve your counting speed, memorize more indices, and if at all possible, find someone to evaluate your play to make sure you are "doing it right" before you return to the casino.

[stopgambling]

Anybody that claims they can take beat without affecting their emotion is BS. We are all human and are affected by neg. situations . The ones that try to show that they are strong may only want to appear strong.

[Blitzkrieg]

Anybody that claims they can take beat without affecting their emotion is BS. We are all human and are affected by neg. situations . The ones that try to show that they are strong may only want to appear strong.

What a name. I think it's great to hear peoples crying and whining after a loss. Especially at poker. One persons negative on the poker tables is another persons positive, thus everything is balanced out... weighed and measured in the end. After all it's only paper. I guess some people tend to dwell on losses longer than others.

I feed off of the energy while watching people lose. When you smell blood on the poker tables and you know someone is weak and their chasing every pot you go after them. Trying to drive that stake into them, to send them to their wife broke, to where they reach into their pocket and the only thing they feel is their leg. The last time I was playing poker me and another player were making fun of this one particular guy at the opposite end of the table who was losing until he finally got busted out of the game. It was a sad site especially when you can sense that the guy is on tilt and his wife is waiting on him to finish playing by sitting right behind him at an empty table, only to leave broke. I make it a habit to never play poker on a time limit with someone waiting on me, because if forces the player to make costly errors as if their playing rushed. I never carry a device that tells time when I play poker, I never take a phone to the table (stays in the car) when I play poker because the only thing that matters is the game. I thought it was wonderful watching the losers on the poker table on my last outing and it made me happy to watch them lose. If people were not losers there would be no winners. I am grateful for losers.

As it pertains to blackjack losses people lose in different ways. Not every loss is the same shared experience between blackjack players but a loss is a loss. Blackjack players can lose in a multitude of ways and they can fail in different phases of the game so it seems to me.

As crazy as this must seem, I like watching people lose on the blackjack tables, that is the other players and the house. Losing gets people off of the BJ table and when you can see their blatant strategy mistakes, you can understand why some people are losing like they are. While I'm playing blackjack I try to identify and study the ways in which people lose at BJ. I cannot help it!

[ZenKinG]

OP you're better off devising a plan to screw over the casino. Think of a plan. Find a place which doesnt know the law that greatly when it comes to card counters. Let them do a false arrest on you, and then take action. Make sure you get the right angle of the camera when they take you to the back room. Also have a listening device on you that they cant see or find. Again you're going to have to scout around and make a judgement that the management doesn't know what they're doing and hope they mess up badly when you get to the back room. You can tilt the side in your favor of a false arrest from the police by provoking them and confusing them with whatever you can think of. Hopefully casino management get involved with some physical abuse that you can get on camera, maybe on the way to the backroom, etc. Most of the police don't know anything about the law around card counters. Again, that's why you have to plan this out. A cops ego is your best friend. Try to attack their ego, and hope for the best.

Cops and casinos are worthless scum and deserve the worst in my opinion, so not only are you getting money off of them, it's for a good cause and hopefully they all lose their jobs.

[marriedputter]

Don't know if this will help, but I'll try.

Right now, I am going through the opposite problem. I have been at an all time high for a few weeks now. I just keep on winning. I went to 4 casinos yesterday and crushed them all. Looking at my records lately, I have decided that the next time that I play, I am going to purposely leave when I am down so that they can record a loss. My longevity needs it.

I say this because I feel extremely confident that in some point in the future, I will be making mention of an incredible losing streak while you are talking about incredible wins. Your threads will be named "Winning Streak Thread, Part THREE." Meanwhile, I will be wondering where it all went.

Like I said, don't know if this helps, but enough people have given their anecdotes along the "I've been there" theme.

[SiMi]

Hey, MP

Are you familiar with rat holing? Do you do it? If not, you might find it helps A LOT with the "problem" you have right now. With a little thought and some practice, you can make almost any session look like a loser.

Keep it up!
SiMi

[marriedputter]

Hey, MP

Are you familiar with rat holing? Do you do it? If not, you might find it helps A LOT with the "problem" you have right now. With a little thought and some practice, you can make almost any session look like a loser.

Keep it up!
SiMi

Yes. I rathole like crazy. I play rated and play at the same places due to geographical challenges so ratholing is vital.

I usually only rathole my hourly EV, but if the place is super busy and the pit is running around erratically, I rathole more.

[ZenKinG]

Anybody that claims they can take beat without affecting their emotion is BS. We are all human and are affected by neg. situations . The ones that try to show that they are strong may only want to appear strong.

I disagree. If I had a monster bankroll, I could care less about the swings. Only reason I get mad is because Im trying to get some positive short term variance to feed my stock investment and when i lose its a set back. If I had a healthy bankroll where I can just dedicate it to blackjack and have a worthwhile EV, losing would be nothing more than losing plastic to the dealer.

[VeryGood]

Wait, losing streaks happens in this game? Lol

Fugget about it!

If you're on tilt, you get a chance to punch a table that don't punch back.... Feels sooo good when I do that... So you max bet, you got your 20... Chaching! Dealer shows 6... Money! Money! Dealer flips 5... Gaddammit! ... Dealer pulls another a 3... Wooo hooo! .... Dealer pulls a 7 ... Punch punch punch cuss cuss cuss lol

So go ahead and punch that table lol