If you follow my advice you�ll learn how to discipline yourself to be in chips all the time and walk away a winner.
I see many times someone being ahead a lot and instead of pocketing at least half of the profits, continue to play while losing and losing until has nothing left. It amazes me that casinos depend upon this playing mentality to keep them in business.
So why the vast majority of blackjack players do it? One reason is their objective. They play blackjack for the fun of it and winning or losing is secondary. They came for the action. And when they inevitable lose it all back including their initial bankroll, they chalk up their losses to bad luck of standard deviation. To make the matters worse, they honestly believe that losing is the price you have to pay for a evening of fun and action. Further more, some do believe that losing is part of the standard deviation that you got to take it in stride. In fact they enjoyed themselves so much, they�ll come back and do it all over again. Here is an example what an addicted card player had to say about this subject:
�I'll leave when losing if there is a good reason to. If the game has gotten worse, if I get kicked out, if I'm using an alias and approaching reporting requirements, if I have an appointment elsewhere, etc. I don't leave simply because I'm losing. I once lost $60,000 in one long day without leaving the casino. It was a great opportunity.�
I can't swallow that anyone that is losing $60.000 in one day is capable of making a living at blackjack tables on a regular basis. You practically can�t slide by with such gruesome fluctuations. He, obviously is not qualified to even talk about winning blackjack when he is saying that is OK to lose $60,000 because gives you plenty hustle free time to play again, or worse, having an appointment is more important then cutting your losses to the minimum for the session. Not to mention that he makes arsine and laughable misrepresentations.
If you ever expect to be a winning blackjack player, you must set a goal to never give back all your hard earned profits. You got to have a strategy of protecting your bankroll. When you play blackjack at this level you absolutely cannot afford to lose in one session more then you are capable to make on average in a session unless you are an addicted gambler. You�ve got to always take some of the profit out from the game. Always!
Your first objective when you sit down and but-in at a blackjack table is to set a exit strategy. If I buy-in for 100 units, my first exit point is at 120 units. This simply means I am trying to grow my 100 units into 120 units (i.e. 20 units profit). If I�m successful, I then set a new exit point at 140 units. As long a I keep winning and achieving a goal, I keep increasing it by 20 units. Now here is the key of walking away with profits. If at any point during play your session bankroll drops below the last established exit point, that�s your signal to end the session and take money out from the game.
Let�s go over with an example. You play at $100 units. Again, suppose your total bankroll is $100,000 and buy-in for $10,000 and set $12,000 your first exit point. As soon as you reach or exceeds $12,000, you have to set your next exit point at $14,000. As long as your session bank keep growing you must keep setting exit escapes in $2,000 increments at this betting level. Suppose your session bank has grown to $14,500 and after losing a few hands, your session bank drops below the last exit at $14,000 and is now at $13,600. This is the time to get up and leave regardless of the count or the game conditions. In fact, at any time your session bank drops below your last exit point you end that session right there. Period!
Think about it, this puts no limit on the amount that you can win per session. It also forces you to walk away with profits. You have to follow this if you�re serious about winning money.
The difficulty in applying this will come when your count is positive, you lost a large bet, and even thought the count is still positive your session bank has dropped under the last exit point. From a purely mathematical standpoint you still have the edge on the next hand and should bet. Let�s say you still have 1.5 decks left with a TC +5 and about 10 rounds to go. Even if you would be able to bet $500 per hand for the next 10 rounds at TC+5 that is 2%EV: How much you would lose from the long run EV? 10*500*2% = $100. Why bother? You have a sure thing in your hand right now! You are at $13,600 (i.e. $3,600 profit) over the starting $$ session. You can easily lose 5 or more MAX bets on positive counts. However, my goal is to play for money an at this point I HAVE TO take the chips and end the session right there. Period! This supercedes everything else.
I enjoy the drive home or to go up in my room with money. Even if the amount won is relatively small. After all this was my objective in the first place when I sat down to play BJ � to win money.
Well, you�re probably asking, what happens when you sit down and rather than start wining you start losing. Here again, I have my rules about being in a losing situation. First, if I lose a maximum of 3 or 4 hands in a row, I�m gone from the table. I don�t care if the count is plus one million. Second, if I find myself gradually losing from the beginning, I�ll generally pick up and leave if I�ve lost 25% of my session bank. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you lose hand after hand and table after table. Here�s where the discipline really counts. In times like these I never ever lose more than half of my original buy-in session bank without taking a brake.
Puiu
