Staying Focused After A Loss

**Three** · 08-12-2014, 05:09 AM

First off you should never lose discipline and leave your game plan. If you do you aren't ready for casino play. If you can't handle talking to people then don't. If you lose count it is time to find another table or if you are near the end of the shoe play min bet until the shoe is over or you can ask for some lammers and take a bathroom break. You should never be expecting a certain card. Even the most likely card to show, a T, is more likely not to show. You do your action and react to the result with another action. Emotion should never come in other than maybe a show of emotion. You must realize some days you are just going to get killed. Time and time again the most unlikely things will occur to make you lose. If you can't handle it you aren't ready. If you can't trust the math that says its all about getting the bets down at the appropriate time. Anything can happen in the short run but you get enough hands in at a particular advantage and the results for that bet will approach expectation. That is unless of course you deviate from the plan as you have described.

**Ouchez** · 08-12-2014, 06:37 AM

Tom, so you are playing 6d and side counting aces?,, and you are losing the count often, hmmm,,,,I would say to you to switch to Hi-Lo, a simpler count that for sure gets the job done. There is also something called, Zoning, great athletes, golfers, and AP's often use this mental technique to become "One" with the game, I suggest you look into both these suggestions to stabilize your game.

Also forget about 2 spots when you go on black out, take a P break or drop to min and play basic as suggested above.

My Best,
O

**ZeeBabar** · 08-12-2014, 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by Ouchez

Tom, so you are playing 6d and side counting aces?,, and you are losing the count often, hmmm,,,,I would say to you to switch to Hi-Lo, a simpler count that for sure gets the job done. There is also something called, Zoning, great athletes, golfers, and AP's often use this mental technique to become "One" with the game, I suggest you look into both these suggestions to stabilize your game.

Also forget about 2 spots when you go on black out, take a P break or drop to min and play basic as suggested above.

My Best,
O

This is exactly right. Sometimes it also helps confuse the pit when you suddenly switch to minimum bets and BS when you have lost the count and are now playing minimum bets. I lose count sometimes when pit or ploppies start a conversation. I take a bathroom break and go down to minimum.

**Dieter** · 08-12-2014, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by ZeeBabar

suddenly switch to minimum bets and BS when you have lost the count and are now playing minimum bets. I lose count sometimes when pit or ploppies start a conversation.

Sounds like it exactly mimics what a basic strategy / betting progression player would do - Start over at a low bet after losing a big bet. If they were getting cocky and going "off book", revert to doing it "right".

**MidwestTom** · 08-12-2014, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by Ouchez

Tom, so you are playing 6d and side counting aces?,, and you are losing the count often, hmmm,,,,I would say to you to switch to Hi-Lo, a simpler count that for sure gets the job done. There is also something called, Zoning, great athletes, golfers, and AP's often use this mental technique to become "One" with the game, I suggest you look into both these suggestions to stabilize your game.

Done with the two spot crap after facing the facts of what you guys wrote and chewed me up for all day.. Also very good point about simple hi-lo opposed to trying to side counting ace's.. I should have been reverted back to focusing solely on hi-lo

**winnawinna** · 08-12-2014, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Tthree

First off you should never lose discipline and leave your game plan. If you do you aren't ready for casino play. If you can't handle talking to people then don't. If you lose count it is time to find another table or if you are near the end of the shoe play min bet until the shoe is over or you can ask for some lammers and take a bathroom break. You should never be expecting a certain card. Even the most likely card to show, a T, is more likely not to show. You do your action and react to the result with another action. Emotion should never come in other than maybe a show of emotion. You must realize some days you are just going to get killed. Time and time again the most unlikely things will occur to make you lose. If you can't handle it you aren't ready. If you can't trust the math that says its all about getting the bets down at the appropriate time. Anything can happen in the short run but you get enough hands in at a particular advantage and the results for that bet will approach expectation. That is unless of course you deviate from the plan as you have described.

Tthree is right on with this. If you are getting emotional and losing the count, you are not ready for casino play. I play like a robot at the tables...hitting when Im supposed to hit, raising my bets when the count gets high etc. We have the exact same chance of getting the high cards as the dealer during the high counts. Also with many shoe games, there are a lot of cards left during those high counts. With the pen the way it is these days, there is no guarantee that 75% of the remaining cards will be high cards. The high cards may be locked up behind the cut card that we will never get to during a shoe. You also need to be very fluent in keeping the count. That means having open conversations with other people. Also assign words to yourself that correlate to the count because if you have to speak about numbers like "I cant believe the dealer got 3 sevens in a row" etc, that cannot throw you off with remembering the count.

**winnawinna** · 08-12-2014, 12:32 PM

Tom you say that you will be playing later today and really concentrating "with no table talk" Well in my opinion you need to be having conversations with other people even if they are just a few seconds long while the dealer shuffles. One of my biggest advantages is being able to "take of picture" of the cards on the table and out it into my short term memory. This way I can still be distracted and keep the count.

**Three** · 08-12-2014, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by winnawinna

One of my biggest advantages is being able to "take of picture" of the cards on the table and out it into my short term memory. This way I can still be distracted and keep the count.

I do this. Sometimes it comes in real handy if the cards are swept away before you finish counting but I mostly do it so I am not staring at the cards while I am counting. Just get that image in your head and turn away and count the cards that are in the mental image. You can act like you are doing anything else like counting chips or watching TV. You just don't look like you are counting.