A Lamentation

[b]

Last Thursday at MS I experienced a real-life Standard deviation melt-down at the BJ tables using Hi-Low. It was a case of simply bad cards at the wrong time. I even got tired of going to the bathroom during negative counts and just played through and actually had my highest winning times during the neg counts.
Everything was backwards and so it has me questioning all the books, math, practice etc. I wonder how many others have been at the point of throwing it all in the ocean and just playing BS with a few drinks?
I did play for about 2+ hours at a table and eventually got ground down.
What do other people do in terms of stop loss or time limits from a practical standpoint. The books give lots of advice but I like to hear real life application.
A funny thing did happen to me. There was a loud guy next to me making lots of bad plays and winning and he started watching me. I guess I am pretty focused and quiet during the count with my eyes tracking and he says out loud "This guy is counting cards!" I could only blush as I got snagged by a player but just ignored him since I was getting clobbered anyways. Guess I better work on my style abit.
Anyways, this is my therapy for feeling better after a loss other than switching to video poker.
Thanks for listening to my lament.

 

[ihate17]

learn to look unfocused even when you are

b
Guessing you are new to this. Eventually, you should get to a point where you can glance at a table full of cards, talk to the pit, order a drink and keep the count at the same time.

As far as the ploppy you fingered you goes. Since you were losing and he was winning, an easy reply would be, "counting, hey you are the one raking in the chips!" Quick and with no embarrased look and throw it back at him.

ihate17

 

[Sonny]

Everything was backwards and so it has me questioning all the books, math, practice etc. I wonder how many others have been at the point of throwing it all in the ocean and just playing BS with a few drinks?

I think we’ve all been there at one point or another. Some days the cards just don’t cooperate. Sometimes it takes all the self-control you can muster just to stick to your betting scheme and play a solid game. This forum is filled with similar stories:

http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=6089
http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=2643

The more you play and the more you learn about card counting the more confidence you will have in yourself and the system. When you start to see it work and start to understand the math behind it you will feel more in control of the game.

-Sonny-

 

[Kaiser]

Yeah, that's not such a bad one to sluff off. I notice lots of people at the table who are definitely not counting, but watch every card coming out of the shoe pretty carefully. Maybe they're watching the "flow of the cards", or they just want to make sure everyone is using what they think is proper basic strategy.

Some of these people spend more time looking at the cards than I do. Quite often I'll watch the TV up on the far wall for a while or take a big drink and look behind me while the cards are coming out, and then like ihate17 says, a 2-3 second glance of the table before the players start taking hits, and the count is mine. Sometimes I just glance for a second, look away, and count the cards from the snapshot of the felt that's in my head, depending on how many players there are.

 

[21forme]

It happens. Some of you may remember my post a few months ago about having only 2 losing sessions over the last year, playing weekly. Well, the last 4 sessions have been losers (actually, 3 losers and one break even.) Gotta keep on truckin!

 

[EasyRhino]

If you don't like the feeling of getting ground into dust, I don't recommend video poker.

 

[b]

Thanks

Sometimes it just feels good to "share" like at a good AA or GA meeting on this site.
Also it feels like I have many "sponsors" helping me navigate the ups and downs and understanding of all this stuff.
Thanks for all your input and advice.