When I was using HiLo I was overbetting my tiny BR (about 2.5-3k) due to misreading certain books and not really getting anyone to run sims for me. I was a noob then but still, I should have known better. Must have been 2 straight months of 16 and 15 vs faces and aces, just god awful bad beats like doubling soft 18 vs a 6, pull a deuce for 20, dealer goes 16 and pulls a 5... at true 5... it hurts but I've learned to get used to this type of variance since I know it can always be worse. I once lost my whole session BR in 2 decks of a 4 deck shoe, which was only $500 (yep that's the noob days) and was also due to my masher overbetting. I had to walk away from a true 6 or 7 shoe since I had no cash left. It was so bad, lost every insurance bet plus my hands, kept getting bad totals vs 7's and 8's that I had to hit (14 and 13) while busting most of them. Once I finish building my new BR, I now know my limits on the 2 games I'll be playing, soon to be 3 hopefully. But 2 months of this crap was my longest, haven't played a whole lot though to be honest.