LOSING

I Have a dumb question. How do most people handle losses? Everybody has them. Please be honest and to the point. Thankyou.

The more you play-the easier it gets.I figure another 15 years and I'll be able to behave like a gentelman.I've played many sports in my day,always high intensity but with honesty,fair play and lost vey gracefully.Never taking a loss personally,but THIS BLACKJACK DRIVES ME #$%*ING NUTS.Willi.

is never fun but some losses are more devastating than others. If the cards are coming out in a mix that falls in a fairly standard deviation, most players can pretty much accept the consequences. Of course if the cards are allowing you to win, that's real fun and profitable. However, when the cards come out in a mix that falls below standard deviation - and especially far below, these losses can be devastating. I feel the best thing to do after a devastating loss is to promise yourself not to lose that much again. I had slowly (over months) built up my bankroll only to lose it all back in one day. I did not change the conservative way (or the increse my minimum wage) I played before the loss - I just hit that terrible run of cards on every table that day. Believe me ... "I could do no right !" But I figured that the next shoe or the next table would turn things around it worked in the past. This day it didn't work and now I'm licking my wounds. Eventhough there's no math to support me, I will feel better if I limit my losses for each day I play. I never want to give back more than half my remaining bankroll on any given day.

Everybody has losses--anyone who says they don't is lying, mentally defective, or trying to sell you something.

My personal approach? Take a break, get a breath of fresh air, get something to eat, get a massage, do something else for awhile. Then, back to the tables for another session with renewed energy, having forgotten about the last session--it's part of the game. Finally, I think one must continue to play aggressively in the session subsequent to a losing one. I've seen some players, after a loss, bet and/or play timidly because they are afraid of a repeat performance. I think that is the _biggest_ mistake made by some players.

In short, forget about your loss. If you are confident in your playing ability, stick to your guns and go get 'em.

Losing is a big part of Blackjack, we lose probably more hands than we win, the idea of course, is to have those bigger bets out on the winning hands. Sometime it goes all to Hell. Losing should never be seen as a challenge. We all grew up with movies of the underdog hero getting a beating and then, just as you thought he was finished, he'd rise from defeat to vanquish his enemies. This is a very bad paradigm to bring to the Blackjack tables. You are up against an infinite enemy and they control the battlefield. Retreat or strategic withdrawals should be the rule, not the exception- you want to be a survivor, not a dead hero.
Losing could be a reminder that you may have been playing to long, maybe you should quit. Take a break and re-evaluate the quality of the game you are playing, the depth of the deal, how crowded the table is. Has something about conditions worsened, or is it you? Re-evaluate your quality- are you hungry, tired, or emotionally unfit to play? If something is wrong, get out of there!
It could just be a bad run of cards, it happens and it can last a long time. That bad run of cards may disappear in a short while, but if you have lost a chunk of money waiting to outlive it, then your head and heart might not allow you to play properly when things improve

For the most part you have to turn your emotions off, while leaving your brain on. There is an old saying: Revenge is a dish best served cold. That is how you should play Blackjack to win.

Sentry

Anyone who spends a lot of time perfecting his ability to be successful at any endeavor is really, really irritated when the plan doesn't work...
Even though we know that blackjack is an "up and down" game (regardless of the betting system employed), losing is a bitch!
I NEVER think that I will have a losing session. I ALWAYS expect to win, and any player who plans on losing sessions shouldn't play this game. Just my opinion.

one time i went on a winning streak where i won about 9000 in a 3 week time span.i thought i was going to be up for good.i was wrong-i lost 8500 the next week.how did i handle it you ask-i took 100 of the 500 i profited and went look at girls dance naked.

"Session results are meaningless. The cards have no memory. It is all one long session."

I sit crosslegged in my hotel room and repeat this until it is ingrained into my subconscious.

Then I hit the tables again.

Although it is fitting that the mantra of, 'It is all one long session, individual results are meaningless," offers a certain cold comfort, let's be real here. Obviously the huge loss you have just sustained has hurt. Since everyone here believes they are an advantage player, no one gets out the shotgun and ends it all. We all believe it is a question of normal fluctuation and go back to the game with new resources, licking our wounds. We all believe that it is a beatable game for the long haul. It is not karma, it is the second or third generation of standard deviation rising up in a universe that is, after all, infinitely variable.

Having said that financial ruin is hardly ever the issue I would propose that the emotional bankroll is what is most severely depleted. I have found that gambling is an ever more demanding mistress.. all you really need is more hands and bigger bankroll to get back to the warming hearth of variance instead of being consumed by the flames. Play more aggressively and ramp up your spread, some say. Pretend it is just another session. Keep plugging and the cards will turn because you know the indices and they will eventually triumph.

Bulls*** When you lose your emotional bankroll is wounded and the best thing you can do is step away. Spend more time with the kids, write that letter to your old fraternity brother, take in a movie with the girlfriend, re-dedicate yourself to something with a high rate of return and do not even think about this foolish game that has such a small margin of success. Go for a swim... read that novel that is gathering dust on your nightstand... wax the SUV. Write another screenplay... anything but head immediately back to the casino to get back your losses. Jeez, I know there are a lot of BJ evangelistas here who believe that all life is casino-linked and subject to standards of 'normal fluctuation.' but there is another world out there. get some experiences outside the 1 1/2% advantage we yearn for. Find something that has a 100% EV. Question the entire activity of an intelligent adult spending time in such an ultimately meaningless pursuit.

After some period of time... days,months, maybe years in some cases, you will want to play and feel confident. Sit down with a pen and paper and thorougly analyze that losing session and your play, casino conditions, things you could have changed, when you might have left earlier, signs that told you this wasn't the day to be caught next to the tidal wave of this normal fluctuation. Re-visit those emotions as they flowed from that session and think about other ways you could have experienced the same rush.... racing a train to the crossing... gone to a new ethnic neighborhood on a full moon... told the wife some dark secret that would forever change her opinion of you...

Go play at half the level you were before at the casino and table that offers the greatest EV. take a small win. go watch the naked girls with the profits you have booked. Remember that the 'long term gain' that is driving you to play this game with some positive expectation is in no hurry to pay you back. Heal first... Then the next time, HAMMER THE BASTARDS!!

Just last night, I was playing a game of SD with three players against the dealer. After about the 4th time the dealer hit a 21 on a + count, I whipped the card across the room in frustration. This game drives me f***ing nuts! All you can do is continue to believe in the basic strategy and the long-term odds of walking away a winner. MQ

I come to this site and post (under a different name) about
dealer cheating.

Try this go on a losing streak all day then go home and play with your chips with a friend dealing. You win like a virgin giving it away on prom night. You cant do a thing wrong. Everything works like the book says. It makes you wonder????????????? Voodoo or what????

I don't think you believe that at all.

I have a BJ setup at home with a 6-deck shoe. In dealing to myself,
I have seen it all, including all of those miracle dealer 21s discussed above. Sometimes the player wins and sometimes the dealer
does. It is the nature of the beast.

In general the casinos DON'T cheat because they DON'T have to...

Best of luck

Shoe

you'll have amazing win streaks and just horrific
losing stretches. Then there will be runs where
you win one, lose one; win one, lose one.

If, as your handle suggests, you're just starting
and you can't accept this, then I would strongly
suggest that you find another game.

I started playing seriously in '86. If it were easy
(e.g. single deck played to the bottom and run by
Bozos who had not clue) we'd all be living in the
lap of luxury. For me that would be 6 months in
Manly Beach (suburb of Sydney), Australia, and
Southern California the other 6.

I know. It just is strange how every time I play on computer or on my table I do really great. When your in the casino sometimes the play in weird. I love bj21 and I am starting to really understand indices and thier corelation to the indices. The math in the game is starting to make sense to me it is kind of like nervana when your on course and your ability to make the correct plays and almsot predict the out comes. Just a newbie working through the down times.