I hate the term "grind"

[Fireman]

It has been a roller coaster month for me where I have posted multiple session highs and lows. In fact, nearly every session (including the short hit-and-run sessions) has had huge swings. I have a large enough bankroll and follow less than 1/2 Kelly, so ROR is not in question. After this crazy roller coaster month, I am exactly even (less travel and misc. expenses).

As an AP, I believe that if I stay the course and remain disciplined in my play, I will come out on top in the long run. I have been through these periods before and I am sure that most experienced APs have also. I started this post (in addition to feeling the need to vent about this) to let less experienced APs know what they could expect. The word "grind" implies that the road will be routine and monotonous with small wins after every three or four sessions. My experience has been anything but this.

I thank this forum for giving me the opportunity to share this, as certainly no civilians would be able to relate to this.

[stopgambling]

In fact, nearly every session (including the short hit-and-run sessions) has had huge swings

Your large bets is your real bet,Your small bets are just there to keep you in the game. Let me assume you have 400 max bets . You barely have enough bets to keep you relatively safe from ROR. Everyday is a gamble and your certainty comes from the many sessions (LONG Run) you played .Your perspective seemed incorrect.

[stopgambling]

In fact, nearly every session (including the short hit-and-run sessions) has had huge swings

Your large bets is your real bet,Your small bets are just there to keep you in the game. Let me assume you have 400 max bets .Therefore You only have 400 bets .You barely have enough bets to keep you relatively safe from ROR. Everyday is a gamble and your certainty comes from the many sessions (LONG Run) you played .Your perspective seemed incorrect.

[stopgambling]

I often feel bore from putting waiting out for sometimes 3-5 or more shoes with minimum waiting bets . i only get excited from having the opportuniy to put a real bet where i have a 2-3 % advantage .So how is it not a grind?

[Freightman]

I often feel bore from putting waiting out for sometimes 3-5 or more shoes with minimum waiting bets . i only get excited from having the opportuniy to put a real bet where i have a 2-3 % advantage .So how is it not a grind?

Interestingly enough, I think to many people ignore the moderate counts vs the Big Bang max bet. There's money in those moderate counts. Also, this is where I think, without trying to start a turf war, that good level 2 and 3 counts show their true worth. To be able to accurately identify a moderate advantage, or for that matter, a disadvantage, vs the potential error of a level 1.

Any system will tell you to blast away in a monster count, so the need for a higher level (subject to debate) is really not there. But to properly identify a marginal edge where a level 1 may show a marginal disadvantage, and vice versa, is pretty darned valuable - IMHO.

[stopgambling]

True that, FM.i am stating in the most simplistic that i know. i think very simple .i just want to get the money in a simple way without spending too much effort .i would rather spend my time to look for ,learn better ways to get a higher advantage .

[Freightman]

True that, FM.i am stating in the most simplistic that i know. i think very simple .i just want to get the money in a simple way without spending too much effort .i would rather spend my time to look for ,learn better ways to get a higher advantage .

Hi Lo does that, and reasonably well. This is where I would be quite interested in KJ's take on those moderate counts.

[SiMi]

Hi, FM!
VENT AWAY!!
I can relate! I've been a pilot for 40 years and I've often heard it said that flying is hours and hours of sheer boredom followed by moments of sheer panic. CC is a lot like that for me. It feels like a grind during the boring parts and then all hell breaks loose for a few hands. I'm in a long, slow downer period right now with very few swings at all and tons and tons of nothing but small losses happening. Right now, it feels like a grind.
The reality is that the overall advantage is so small (roughly 1%), CC only makes money on volume. A newbie should know that it takes a helluva long time before he can amass enough action to have a meaningful edge in terms of dollars. The swings are just noise in the Long Run but it's hard to keep that in mind while the left engine is on fire and the cabin just depressurized!

Best!
SiMi

[Freightman]

Simi said.
The reality is that the overall advantage is so small (roughly 1%), CC only makes money on volume.

Volume translates to volume of hands.
I was out of town last week, playing heads up in the same store against 2 very different dealers. Dealer 1 drove me nuts, cutting off 2.5/6, dealing slow, shuffling slow, paying slow, playing what seemed like 60 hph- finally went to the lower bowl for some half decent speed. Returned to hi limit playing heads up with another dealer cutting 1.25-1.5/6, talking non stop, still dealing at supersonic speed, shuffling super fast at a pace where would have twiddled our thumbs waiting for an ASM to complete its shuffling cycle. That - was heaven. A scenario like that, counts will be all over the place. Easy to make money at that speed, and counts don't have to go through the roof.

[Freightman]

Simi said.
The reality is that the overall advantage is so small (roughly 1%), CC only makes money on volume.

Volume translates to volume of hands.
I was out of town last week, playing heads up in the same store against 2 very different dealers. Dealer 1 drove me nuts, cutting off 2.5/6, dealing slow, shuffling slow, paying slow, playing what seemed like 60 hph- finally went to the lower bowl for some half decent speed. Returned to hi limit playing heads up with another dealer cutting 1.25-1.5/6, talking non stop, still dealing at supersonic speed, shuffling super fast at a pace where would have twiddled our thumbs waiting for an ASM to complete its shuffling cycle. That - was heaven. A scenario like that, counts will be all over the place. Easy to make money at that speed, and counts don't have to go through the roof.

And by the way, keeping perfect count with halves keeping pace with the non stop chatty dealer, does not translate, at least for me, to fatigue and mental tiredness. It does negate any side count though, and occasional slower decisions on close insurance calls, especially with crappy hands.

[Three]

and occasional slower decisions on close insurance calls,

For close calls just go with BS. Not much there if it is a close index play. Insurance and splitting TT are probably the only ones that gain EV quick enough after the index is exceeded to make close calculations worth it and you don't want to look like you are thinking about those decisions hard. Why waste your time or look like you are thinking to hard for next to nothing. The quick way for me is to multiply the index by decks remaining for a greater than or equal to running count index play barrier for the current situation. Division just takes more thought for me. I just know the answer to the multiplication problems associated with table decisions without thinking about it. I just assume most people find multiplication a quicker way to solve the decision than division. Multiply index for the play times the number of decks left to play and compare the product to the current RC in a simple greater than or equal to relationship.

[Freightman]

For close calls just go with BS. Not much there if it is a close index play. Insurance and splitting TT are probably the only ones that gain EV quick enough after the index is exceeded to make close calculations worth it and you don't want to look like you are thinking about those decisions hard. Why waste your time or look like you are thinking to hard for next to nothing. The quick way for me is to multiply the index by decks remaining for a greater than or equal to running count index play barrier for the current situation. Division just takes more thought for me. I just know the answer to the multiplication problems associated with table decisions without thinking about it. I just assume most people find multiplication a quicker way to solve the decision than division. Multiply index for the play times the number of decks left to play and compare the product to the current RC in a simple greater than or equal to relationship.

Fair enough! For me, insurance index is TC +3.2 on 6d shoe, which I'm willing to relax on a good hand, but not a crappy one. However, with index exceeded, I'm going to insure a crappy one as well. Further, this is an area where knowledge of intermediate density would easily sway the decision between taking insurance and not. In other words, I think it would be fair to say that knowledge of intermediates would make full indices for some, basic strategy, and for those individuals, deviation of this "basic" would be based on density of those intermediates.

[Bigdaddy]

Your large bets is your real bet,Your small bets are just there to keep you in the game. Let me assume you have 400 max bets . You barely have enough bets to keep you relatively safe from ROR.

From what I've read, it's my understanding that 400 max bets is quite sufficient as a bankroll. In fact, it's off-the-charts conservative. Maybe some other forum members can weigh in on this.