took a hit last night? How normal is this?

Well i took my first direct blow last night in a casino. I've been playing now for about 2 yrs and have a small BR 2G's i've built up and have done well since i started more or less (beginners luck?) Anyway i've always just backcounted and done okay (Im not trying to make the mortgage payment, just extra cash and fun) Well last night while playing in Grand Vic Casino in Indiana near Cincy, i cound't get any cards to land my way! I was playing 6d h17 das rsa surr %70 pen, they had another game the only difference was s17 but no mid shoe entry. So i jump in my first hand with a rc of 13 and tc of 3 expecting some high cards and i lost my 1st 4 hands, then i played another shoe couple of games later with a tc of 2 and dealer gets a bj or i get a 15 or 16? It went like that all night! The high cards came to some of the other players, but i never landed any:( Serously i won about %10 of my hands and i was only playing when i had an advantage? My questions are 1. i know this happens but is it really common and can i expect it to happen often?2. I've noticed the cards come out but sometimes not to me, should i play more hands if space is open, hoping to land the high cards, rather than stack my one bet high? Any help will be appreciated, thanks.......ps that casino doesnt have good enough games for a reccomendation if you ask me, even if i had been profitable. sorry for the spelling in a hurry

Happens all the time. You get killed in monster counts.

TC +5 $250 bet 4 times split nines (vs. dealer 4)19, 19, 20, 16 player behinds me doubles his hand (correctly) and gets a second 7.
Dealer turns over a 10 for 14 and you tell me what his next card was.

Were you expecting the results of your play chart to look like the steady climg up the side of a mountain? Unforetuneately it doesn't work that way. There's got to be some dips in the road. The chart will look more like the stockmarkets ups and down, hopefully with a slow longterm incline.

Sometimes thats just the way it goes.I try to limit the amount of time I play at a session,because you are going to have losing sessions thats just the game.I feel that this keeps me from losing to much of my bank on one of the dips in the road,which does and will happen.If you are catching the stiff hands and not the dealer in a high TC at the end of the game,its a bad situation to have to play in.It took quite some time before I realized that I took my worst beats when playing in long games,especially if they went into the early morning hours.When you are tired,aggravated,fustrated,chasing your loses or whatever you want to call it,your game will be effected.I try to play short sessions,usually about an hour win or lose.The casinos money will always be there for us to take.Try not to let your bank take to serious of a hit in one session.Knowing when not to play is just as important as knowig how to play.Just my 2 cents.

We don't limit our session length because of bankroll considerations but mainly to avoid heat.
It's true that longer sessions will increase the daily variance but it's also true that it will result in FEWER losing sessions.
Being behind is actually a reason to prolong your session because you can do so without raising eyebrows. May be you even get comped.
On the other hand, you should stop playing when you have been winning a lot.
Playing short session has a big drawback: your expenses will increase in relation to your winnings.That's why you should play longer sessions in remote casinos.

Francis Salmon

HHmmmmmm maybe BJ isn't as profitable as i thought, ya i know everybody says it it u don't always win. It seems like everyone talks about the negative side of card counting and BJ and you never here the positives? Oh well thanks for the replies...later

You can win long term at BJ but it's not as essy as the movie "21" made it look. There are great swings and it takes skill, money management, discipline, nerves of steel (to survive the swings), and yes, even some luck. Other things too. Also, you have to not get detected. It's not for the faint-hearted.

How many hands did you think you had bet when you had the advantage? Then I am curious on how many you lost. You mentioned 10%.

I looked up some charts when you have a positive count that the ratios are about 49% win when you have a positive count.

In answer to 2) = I would play more hands. I think it decreases your variance, and, for example if you are heads up, intuitively to me it seems to make sense to play 2 hands against the dealer, rather than just one.

gcgang