(Poll) Longest Losing/Break Even Streak (in hours played)?

**DSchles** · 02-01-2021, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by discostu

You have had such a long and illustrious bj career... What's your longest one? What's the longest one you've heard of? (from a pro whose game you know is solid).

I really don't know my own. But, surely, I've had back-to-back losing trips to Las Vegas of 50 hours, so it has to be over 100 hours. I'm sure I know plenty of pros who've had losing years of multiple hundreds of hours.

Don

**dalmatian** · 02-01-2021, 07:58 PM

Has anyone had a 1000+ hour losing streak? My longest losing streak was around 300 hours.

**DSchles** · 02-02-2021, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by dalmatian

Has anyone had a 1000+ hour losing streak? My longest losing streak was around 300 hours.

Still very plausible. Suppose you're playing a mediocre game, where hourly s.d. is 20 times hourly e.v. (SCORE = 25). For 1,000 hours, e.v. is 1,000 and s.d. is 20 x (sqrt1,000) = 20 x 31.6 = 632. So the z-statistic is 1,000/632 =1.58, which happens with probability 5.71%, or 1 in 17.5. Surely not a rarity.

Don

**aceside** · 02-03-2021, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by DSchles

Still very plausible. Suppose you're playing a mediocre game, where hourly s.d. is 20 times hourly e.v. (SCORE = 25). For 1,000 hours, e.v. is 1,000 and s.d. is 20 x (sqrt1,000) = 20 x 31.6 = 632. So the z-statistic is 1,000/632 =1.58, which happens with probability 5.71%, or 1 in 17.5. Surely not a rarity.

Don

I read that the hourly s.d. for a blackjack game is 20 times the hourly ev. Can you compare this to Texas Hold’em poker? What is the hourly s.d. for poker?

**DSchles** · 02-03-2021, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by aceside

I read that the hourly s.d. for a blackjack game is 20 times the hourly ev. Can you compare this to Texas Hold’em poker? What is the hourly s.d. for poker?

The hourly s.d. for BJ depends on myriad factors. A SCORE of 25 has hourly s.d. 20 times hourly e.v. A SCORE of 100 has hourly s.d. only 10 times hourly e.v. Most games lie somewhere in between.

I'm not a poker player and don't know the answer. I suppose it also depends on myriad factors.

Don

**DSchles** · 02-03-2021, 01:46 PM

Readers may find this instructive:

https://www.thepokerbank.com/article...ard-deviation/

Don

**ZeeBabar** · 02-04-2021, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by DSchles

Readers may find this instructive:

https://www.thepokerbank.com/article...ard-deviation/

Don

Excellent, took me back 52 years to my college freshman year. Great stuff.

**aceside** · 02-04-2021, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by ZeeBabar

Excellent, took me back 52 years to my college freshman year. Great stuff.

If you were 18 when in college fresh year, adding 52 makes you 70 years old today. That doesn’t sound right, because your son is in elementary school now. This is confusing.

**ZeeBabar** · 02-04-2021, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by aceside

If you were 18 when in college fresh year, adding 52 makes you 70 years old today. That doesn’t sound right, because your son is in elementary school now. This is confusing.

I am 72, my daughter is 27, my son is 18 and a freshman in college. I had him when I was 54. I was 20 in my freshman year in college. I had felt it safer to be here than in my own country and when I did, I lost a year plus.