When to quit!

[Cardcounter]

I think that there is a time to quit when playing blackjack even if you are good enough to get the edge. When I say quit all I really mean is to take a break for awhile! I think that you should quit if you are winning so much that you start attracting attention from the pit, so you will win less than the amount that gets you written up in the book of winners. From the pits point of view it is much more likely that you will be a winner for the day after 1 hour than after 10 hours of play if they findout that the opposite is true that you are more likely to win after 10 hours of play than 1 hour they don't let you play blackjack anymore. Which is why I prefer to keep my playing sessions to 2 hours or less. My game falls off a little bit when I get pit scruntiny because I get nervous. I also think that you should quit if you get into big a hole and lose to much money where you can't play at the level you started and don't have enough for doubles and splits. I also think you should quit if you are hungry or tired I have had some of my worst sessions playing while I was hungry and some of my best right after a meal!

[Rspeirsmlb]

Or when the cute female college dealer is trying to get to know you better and you can't focus!!! .....Actually my favorite is when the dealer is talking too much and unintentionally pays your push of $100.....or pays you when you should have lost on a $300 bet, all in one shoe!!! and the lousy "eye in the sky" doesn't even notice.

[The Stork]

It depends all upon the way you handle observations. Play well and losing can be fun too. Play bad and you are out of control losing or winning. I refuse to drink by example malibu on the rock. I did that once, but my complete mask of play became a horror story in the end. Stay honest with yourself. Period!

Stork

[Paradox]

When conditions deteriorate.

If you are playing, the conditions must be good, RIGHT?. If you are playing in bad conditions, you've already lost.

When you no longer have the advantage, you loose you ability to play perfectly or other game conditions change, quit.

I watched a table just a few nights ago. A redchipper did something I would call retarded. He'd been playing with a little camo, spreading $5-$30 at DD. He was a beginner and obviously nervous. He scanned the table while moving his head and asked the dealer to add up hand totals. The boss came over to watch, as it is their job to do, and the redchipper assumed heat. He left the table looking like a deer in the headlights. The retarded thing??? It was the last hand before the shuffle 67%pen and the TC=+13. If not for NME, I'd have played the table max for as many hands as they would let me!

I'm sure he had a story of a counter catcher watching and massive heat for the boss due to his max bet. In reality a spectator and the boss was counting the rack for a fill.

My point? Make sure conditions actually changed and not your perceptions.

Oh yea, Yes. Most PCs do know that a lifetime win should not happen. The longer you play the more you must "rat hole". If you rat hole twice your expectation, things should look more normal.

Cardcounter... I do have a couple of questions for you. If you knew a counter was at your table, how would you handle this? How many books and which ones have you read? It seems like you are trying really hard to discover information that is easily available.

Paradox

[oiam]

I have been counting for several years,,, using canfield's expert system.

I set my limits reasonable,, usually at $50 up,, to the tune of 4K per year playing part time.

The trouble i find is getting up and leaving a table when it gets negative right away,,,

Today, i dumped 120 because i was looking for the turn around,,,(not wanting to just find a new table)

when the count goes bad right away,,, i vow to get up and find a new game, too many times the recovery is slow and painful.

btw,,, I knwo there are a dozen or so counters in this casino and just keeping the winnings at a minimum keeps the doors open. the pit bosses will sit and watch me play on a regular basis, no hassles.

you can sheer a sheep forever but skin it only once.

[Paradox]

have novice ideas like "waiting for the turnaround". I've never read anything about a turnaround in any math book. Just sit and watch, don't play. Why pay rent when you don't have to?