I am going to put myself out there and ask what is in all likelihood an incredibly stupid question. There have probably been multiple discussions about this on different boards in the past but they would be difficult to sift through. So let me get right to it.
We know that the ploppies believe in things like "the flow," and other garbage. However, I can't help but notice that as a general rule, when I play, I am either really hot or really not. I am either cleaning up on all my max bets or they are cleaning me out. The gambler expression "when you're hot, you're hot, and when you're not, you're not" really applies to me. I will continue to play when the count justifies it as other players flee from a table where we are all getting killed. I want to leave too, but I convince myself that it's just variance and continue to chug away. I will continue to get killed regardless of count. So it seems that the table is just crap. Conversely, when I am hot, I seem to stay hot, even after a shuffle. Shouldn't each shuffle be new? I play as if it is.
My question is, do any of you experience this on a continual basis? Is there somehow any mathematical reason whatsoever to explain why shuffle after shuffle is good or bad during a visit? I know of none. It makes no sense to me that things will consistently keep trending in a certain direction. In fact, I even WANT for each shuffle to be different because I know that I cannot win all night without being noticed and I would hate to leave a table that seems to be paying so well each and every shuffle. Likewise, I do not want to continue losing by playing at a table where I am thoroughly getting killed.
My theory is that somehow I am just letting my own humanity get to me. Maybe it's selective memory. After all, big losses and big wins are easier to remember than "back-and-forth" nights. However, I consider myself to be a logical person and I can think of very few times when I have simply gone back and forth on big bets. I certainly want to hear that there is no such thing as the phenomenon that I think that I am seeing. I want each shuffle to be new so I can just play my game without worrying about some other mathematical concept that I do not understand getting in the way.