Ever have a place where you just couldn't win?

I didn't know where else to post this but it seems like this is the appropriate section because this one store has me a little spooked. I am halfway through a short Reno jaunt till the end of the week. So far up 49 units, a little above my EV, so I have no room to complain But the aforementioned store has taken me for 252 units so far . . . no I am not kidding.

Since I've arrived I have been "wiped out" (loss of session bankroll; for me 40 units unless I am in the middle of a shuffle in which I still have an "advantage" haha) in all six sessions, sometimes as quickly as 20 minutes but no longer than 45 minutes. The most I have ever been up in any session at this place has been three units. This is a SD D10/11 H17 game which deals Ro7, even Ro8 with some dealers. As anyone who is familiar with Reno knows, this is the most common game in town and I have been doing quite well at similar venues. SCORE for this game in "Blackjack Attack" is, like my namesake, not too shabby. My girl has witnessed three of these sessions and calls the place my Amityville Horror.

I have been looking through my records and have found that I have not had a winning session there since August 2008, exactly a year ago (this is my sixth trip to Reno since that time). I remember I couldn't win at Borgata in A.C. for the longest time but have had good success there for a while now. Is this common, for you guys to have one particular store where you just couldn't get it done no matter what? Should I keep playing there, or just bow out gracefully and keep pounding the other joints?

I went through a very similar experience 3 years ago in AC. I was playing a rotation of 4 store on a regular weekly basis. The games were all very similar, the typical AC crap game, although all 4 of these locations were giving better than average penetration for AC.

Sometime in the fall I noticed that although my total wins for the year were pretty close to EV, the individual results for the 4 stores varied greatly. 3 were above EV, with 1 being significantly above and of course 1 store was way in the red.

At this point all kinds of thoughts pass through your head. Is this particular store cheating? Well certainly not that I could determine and in all likelyhood, NO. But that doesn't stop you from considering it. Next, you try to figure out what to do with this information. Should you concentrate on the locations were you have had the greatest success? Or are you due to start losing there? Should you stop playing the store that you can't seem to win at? Or should should you play more as your results are due to turnaround?

In the end, I decided these were crazy voodoo type thoughts. The individual results were due to short term flucution at each location. (something I knew all along) I continued to play my regular rotation. I did win some at the one store during the remaining months but still ended up significantly in the red for the year. When the new year began, I decided to ammend my record keeping. I no longer keep track of where the sessions are played. This eliminates the potential for me to over analyze.

Now a similar senario can happen with dealers. You have a particular dealer that you don't seem to win with. Once you identify this situation, do you stop playing with this dealer? I don't. Assuming I am convinced that there is no cheating going on, however if two identical tables were available, I would probably opt away from them.

i have a place like this in calif. where i play, my only winning trip there (besides free slot play for birthday/anniversary) was a $10 win at a table buying time while a friend used some free slot play.

also i can count the entire state of nevada as a place i cant win, never left with a winning trip

ccl

As long as you have no reason to suspect the store of cheating - and if they were cheating you, you'd never know it anyway - you are only harming yourself if you stop playing. It's one less venue and hence you would concentrate your play that bit more intensly at the other venues. Increased playing time increases heat.

RJT.