WIN & LOOSING SESSIONS

#1
can any of my fellow blackjack players help me i am very interested to know what is the longest winning and lossing sessions thay have had a session must be min 1 hour,( and ending even for this purpose counts as a win )
thanks for your help iceman
 

BAMA21

Well-Known Member
#2
My longest winning session was in the neighborhood of four hours. I've done that at least a couple of times. I rarely have a losing session of longer than an hour, as I don't normally play with a large enough session bankroll to last very long on a losing marathon. On the other hand, my long winning sessions are usually ended by needing to meet someone for dinner, etc. I'd keep playing as long as I am winning if it weren't for those other factors. But I also must say that four hours at a stretch is pretty much my absolute limit of mental alertness anyway.
 

BAMA21

Well-Known Member
#4
I see. Sorry about that. Here is a rough record of my last year or so of play:

May 2004 - Mohegan Sun
First Session - 1 Hour - Lost $200
Second Session - 1 Hour - Won $200

October 2004 - Las Vegas

First Session - Paris - 1 Hour - Lost $400
Sedcond Session - Stratosphere - 1 Hour - Won $150
Third Session - Binion's Horseshoe - 2 Hours - Won $350
Fourth Session - Sam's Town - 4 Hours - Won $4500
Fifth Session - Sam's Town - 2 Hours - Lost $1000

Novemeber 2004 - Harrah's New Orleans
Only Session - 1 Hour - Lost $400

March 2005 - Las Vegas
First Session - Stratosphere - 1/2 Hour - Won $50
Second Session - El Cortez - 1/2 Hour - Won $50
Third Session - Sam's Town - 2 Hours - Won $600
Fourth Session - Aladdin - 1 Hour - Won $60 (Lost $90 in three hands, then won $150 at another table.)
Fifth Session - Arizona Charlie's Boulder - 3 Hours - Even (Won $1000 at one table, then lost it all at another.)
Sixth Session - Sam's Town - 1 Hour - Even
Seventh Session - Sam's Town - 1/2 Hour - Lost $600
Eighth Session Sam's Town - 2 Hours - Won $650

May 2005 - Cruise Ship Casino
Several short sessions over a week at sea netting a $500 total win. Other than poor sessions in the on-board tournament, winning sessions outpaced losing sessions about 3:1. The biggest win was $300. The biggest loss was $300.

July 2005 - Mohegan Sun
Only Session - 4 Hours - Won $1700

This play was almost all done at $5 tables. The play at Sam's Town and the losing session at Arizona Charlie's were SuperFun21; and the play at the Stratosphere was Double Exposure. Mohegan Sun was standard blackjack with late surrender and DAS. Most of the rest of the play was regular blackjack without surrender, but with DAS. Mohegan Sun was the only S17 in the lot.

I was backed off at the El Cortez for counting, even though I don't count.

That is about it for me.
 

lagavulin62

Well-Known Member
#5
bama,

interesting log, enjoyed that. just curious and hope it's not rude to ask, but do you mind sharing what you use as an average session bankroll?

mike
 

BAMA21

Well-Known Member
#6
Mike, Just in terms of an average, I'd say about $400 per session. But that was really variable throughout the sessions in that log. It isn't uncommon for me to buy-in on the installment plan. So I may start out with $200 and add another $200 or $300 later on. I try not to play more on a session than I had intended; but I don't always buy all I intend to play right off the bat.

I just fiond sometimes that it is easier for me to manage my money at the table if I don't start with a huge stack. And I understand that the pits like to see guys reaching in for more, and don't like seeing guys buying in for $500 and then betting nickles to start.

Sometimes, however, I may go the other way. Depending on how long I am laying, whether I know the place, the overall atmosphere, etc, I may decide to buy-in for $500 to $800 right off the bat. The biggest buy-in I ever did was $1000; but I don't think I ever did less than $100 either.

At almost all of those cruise ship sessions, the bankroll was $100 for the session; and I was, in the beginning, risking my trip bankroll in its entirety with each session. We (read: "My Wife") had decided we (read: "I") wouldn't play on this trip at all; but at the last minute before dropping us at the pier, her Father gave us each $100 to gamble on the trip. So my wife agreed that we could each gamble that, and only that. So I started with that $100, buying all of it in chips to start each session and cashing out each time I left the casino. That $100 grew to as much as $800 at one point; but I would still buy-in for $100 each time I started play. A couple of times I would re-buy though, once I got up a little.

The recent trip to Mohegan Sun was with an $800 bankroll. I bought in for $300, won a couple of hundred, cashed in my original $300 while on a restroom break, played on with the $200 in winnings, and at one point, re-bought the original $300 when I needed it to split aces with a big bet on the table. So you can say that I had a session bankroll for that win that was $300.

That is what I like to do: start with less than I am willing to play, get up early, and continue to play on the winnings. All of my wins at Sam's Town ($4500, $600, and $650) came on $300 session bankrolls that just went up from the beginning.

On the other side, I find it more difficult to lose all I have if I have to reach into the pocket multiple times than I do if it is all converted to chips in front of me. The biggest losing sessions I've had ($1000 and $600 at Sam's Town, $400 in New Orleans, and the $300 on the ship) were all cases where I basically wagered everything in front of me right down to the napkin my drink was sitting on.

I have a seperate "Casino Wallet" that I take with me on trips where I'll be gambling. It has pockets for all of my Players' Club cards, which is where they all stay between trips. I normally either keep my full trip bankroll in that wallet; and all transactions to buy-in or cash out are done with that wallet only, not my "regular" wallet. If the trip is a long one, I'll carry my daily bankroll in the casino wallet and leave the rest of the trip bankroll in my room safe. Either way, I try to keep my gambling money seperate from my "regular" money. That helps me in accounting for wins and losses each day and on the trip as a whole.

I don't normally play a lot of short sessions. I don't do a lot of table hopping. So it is fairly easy for me to keep up with each table I play, as far as wins and losses. During the game I will stack my red chips in stacks of ten ($50) and I change up my green stacking depending on how many I have. I normally stack them in tens as well ($250); but if it starts to spread out too much, I'll go to 12s. Usually by that point, I have a small stack of reds anyway, so I stack them in 12s too. THis makes it pretty easy for me to always know where I stand up to the minute. A glance down shows me if I am up $200 or down $50, etc.

I have recently started pocketing some of my chips if I get up in the game. I will especially do that if I have black or pink. More than anything else, I do it for security. S single pink chip is much easier for a sneak-thief to swipe than would be two stacks of green. So even if I'm "playing" with $1500, you may only see $500 in front of me at a given point.

I know I took the long way around to answer you. But I do change up quite a bit to suit the circumstances. I am a lot more consistant now, snce I have an established long-term bankroll that dictates trip bankrolls, daily bankrolls, and session bankrolls. When that log started, I would just fly by the seat of my pants, playing whatever I had whenever I got the chance. Now I am more comfortable saying that I like to buy-in for $300. But as an average over that log, I'd say it was about $400.
 

lagavulin62

Well-Known Member
#7
bama,

hey thanks for the answer, very thorough and helpful. thats an interesting point about the pits seeing a guy constantly dig into his pockets, didn't think of that. the round figure of 3-400 was what I was hoping you would say, I'll keep in mind only taking it in portions as I need it.

thanks again,

mike
 
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