Continued losing- Having trouble coping with the losses

#1
Hello, I am still losing. I'm having trouble coping with the losses at this point. I started at $9,100, and now I'm down to my last $2,900. I dumped my first $4000 ish playing a high risk game (17% RoR) Since then I have started playing high-quality games with low N0, and have had my game evaluated by a professional but I continue to lose.
My life seems to consist of sleep deprivation, food, and blackjack, but even less food now that I am sick all the time.
I'm about 100 hours in at this point. I am going to keep playing until everything's gone. I will hold on to my last couple hundred dollars so I can get a plane ticket home.
Anyone have any advice on how to cope with this? I'm having a really hard time watching my hopes and dreams get crushed before my eyes. Knowing I'm going to have to work a low skilled, low paying retail job soon, and knowing it's probably going to take me a year to recover what I have lost.
 

Hell'nBack

Well-Known Member
#2
JohnCrover said:
Hello, I am still losing. I'm having trouble coping with the losses at this point. I started at $9,100, and now I'm down to my last $2,900. I dumped my first $4000 ish playing a high risk game (17% RoR) Since then I have started playing high-quality games with low N0, and have had my game evaluated by a professional but I continue to lose.
My life seems to consist of sleep deprivation, food, and blackjack, but even less food now that I am sick all the time.
I'm about 100 hours in at this point. I am going to keep playing until everything's gone. I will hold on to my last couple hundred dollars so I can get a plane ticket home.
Anyone have any advice on how to cope with this? I'm having a really hard time watching my hopes and dreams get crushed before my eyes. Knowing I'm going to have to work a low skilled, low paying retail job soon, and knowing it's probably going to take me a year to recover what I have lost.

If you were playing at a 17% risk of ruin, it doesn't surprise me that your bankroll was decimated. I wouldn't wait to tap out. Start working pronto.
 
#5
Midwest Player said:
Come home now and take a break. When starting again play only $5 and $10 min tables Don't lose it all,.
bro I'm playing 5 dollar games that are the best in the country and I am still losing
 
#6
Better off rebuilding your BR through a job then making sure you have 100 max bets before you start again .... adjust your max bets and Kelly bets as your BR swings up and down. Wong.
 
#7
Get a job for a while and play on the side till you build up before trying again would be my advice, you should really not play with what could be living expenses for a few months.

FWIW this same thing pretty much happened to me the first time I tried to play full time almost eight years ago.

Moved to Vegas almost 8 years ago with like 12k when my job had significantly hours reduced to the point it didn’t really cover my modest lifestyle, and I had already been backed off everywhere locally so finances had just been draining for half a year by the time I moved. I figured it likely I would have to get a job but decided to take a shot first. Had a bad run almost immediately after losing and between playing vp to generate mail and blackjack got down to a little over 3k, then stopped used a few hundred dollars of that for dealer school as I thought that would be a better temporary option than the sort of jobs available in 2011 economy LV with no post secondary degree (there really weren’t many except service, where I had no experience and again this is 2011 economy) . Got a job at some dump after five weeks of dealer school, dealt at three different crappy casinos in about 9 months employed at two simultaneously for a few months, tried again a year later with 17k, and took till having a big year in ‘15 to reach a “safe” bankroll. I ran much better early after quitting the second time and this was sped up also by some of it being other advantage play plays or team play.
 

KewlJ

Well-Known Member
#9
JohnCrover said:
Hello, I am still losing. I'm having trouble coping with the losses at this point. I started at $9,100, and now I'm down to my last $2,900. I dumped my first $4000 ish playing a high risk game (17% RoR) Since then I have started playing high-quality games with low N0, and have had my game evaluated by a professional but I continue to lose.
My life seems to consist of sleep deprivation, food, and blackjack, but even less food now that I am sick all the time.
I'm about 100 hours in at this point. I am going to keep playing until everything's gone. I will hold on to my last couple hundred dollars so I can get a plane ticket home.
Anyone have any advice on how to cope with this? I'm having a really hard time watching my hopes and dreams get crushed before my eyes. Knowing I'm going to have to work a low skilled, low paying retail job soon, and knowing it's probably going to take me a year to recover what I have lost.
First thing that sticks out to me is 'sleep deprivation' and blackjack play are not a very good combination. That is when players make mistakes, lose discipline etc. Even experienced players.

Second thing is "plane ticket home"? :oops: Where are you Vegas? somewhere else that you relocated to to pursue blackjack? If that is the case, I didn't realize that was your situation and would have never suggested to "continue on as I did". I thought you had just set a side XX of $$ to attempt to play blackjack at a profit and this BR of XX amount of $$ was separate from your living expenses. I would never had suggested you continue on. I guess that is on me for not completely understanding your situation before I advised of anything. But also on you for not making your situation clear.
 

stopgambling

Well-Known Member
#10
100 hours is not enough .I hope you are not making mistakes while playing tired . 100 max bets is the minimum requirement . Anyway 1 year is nothing if you really want to win . i had a great game and i lost to a crappy game that was close by with a high risk cause it was very low expenses and convenient . i dropped everything but the last $1300 . i started all over from this tiny casino. It is possible but you need discipline and keep grinding .
 

stopgambling

Well-Known Member
#11
As everyone said get a job and come back after a year. it is to a sometimes a necessity to fail and get " toughen" up . Come back stronger next year . 10k is nothing in you whole life.
 
#12
No worries. I'm so stubborn I would have gone off anyway.
I still have a little bit of life left in me.
Thanks for the advice and kind words too. I'm not sweating it too much. Even if I lose everything's going to be fine.
 
#13
no lucky larry responding? no suprise he only shows up when trolls show up or bjgenius.

what we have here is a classic case of https://www.blackjackinfo.com/community/threads/desperate.14888/#post-142907
or of https://www.blackjackinfo.com/community/threads/still-entertainment-after-all-these-years.4210/

i personally do not need to go to a casino with 4 grand or 8 grand or 12 grand to know my fate would be the same as Johns
with that said id rather play poker and i did which paid my rent for past 5 months, everyone gets drawn in by the media, the books, the software, the authors like Don and the casinos offer 21 with a smile on there faces and you hear how Yoshi or Ben and Colin or Zenking (im suprised he didnt weigh in yet on this) just go in like a regular job and make that 40$ an hour as
Ben recommends

god this site would be boring without anyone point out the obvious sorry man you were suckered into this game come back next year work a job you hate set aside your savings again and donate it to the casino hows it feel your measly 7 grand went to some hookers boobs for the casinos owners pent house? think what you could have done with that 7 grand OMG but i feel bad for anyone who gets it in this game

what really ticks me off all the replies were get a job. 100 max bets is barely enough and 5% ruin may as well read 100%
its stupidity combined with madness
 
#14
did you win back all your money Yet John? did you drop to your last max bet and boom sky rocket back to 9100$ and never looked back? is that how your story going to end? everyone keeps saying to quit playing, work a crap job for a few years and try again and for wut? lose it all over again?
if i told my co workers about gambling they would look at me like im stupid or have gambling problems even tho poker has won me a great deal of cash, im sure all of us would love to be the next Kenny uston, Bobby Dancer or Chris money maker hell id take Barty hanson any day hehe
but no we live in a real world and average bank accounts with average incomes you said yourself your not a big earner not a doctor lawyer or banker so im sure a 1,000$ to you actually has alot more meaning to someone who makes 90 grand a year with that being said id recommend you quit that blackjack game save money time and stress and buy up poker books off amazon they might work its a better shot than BJ21 could ever offer unless your name is ZK or Colin or Michael shackleford then you can do whatever you want

i feel like most members on here arent pros or even gamble if they do its 1 day out of a year i have a feeling ZK is real since he rants like they stole his money others seem like a fictional character and theres one line i read in a gambling book i do believe is true 90% of gamblers are lifetime losers and then theres that 10% ZK maybe that 10% Choose your game Wisely John blackjack may not be your friend
 

stopgambling

Well-Known Member
#15
sorry to to tell you tis . You don't know jack ! . i have met a few winning players /members that count cards. i also bumped into 1 that wrote a book. Besides the authors of a book ,i know them all personally or at an aquiantance level. i watched and played with them . They are al winning players period. AGAIN, YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT!
 
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stopgambling

Well-Known Member
#16
Maybe poker is better with a lower variance than bj but the fish is very limited . bj is much easier to play than poker . it is th longevtiy a nd bankroll ( for some) that makes it not so desirable.
 
#17
i know enough to stay away from blackjack so i don't end up like John or the others but if i knew as much as you do or ZK or Shackleford maybe i would be a winning player, my simulations and emulations do not lie, my experiment was a failed experiment in atlantic city and further more if i am remotely successful the casino would pull the plug on me seeing how im not mobile id get whacked off and flyered within weeks

im recommending poker to John since blackjack cant seem to get along with him. theres plenty of books and youtube video on to become a winner or a long term winner on the game and with lower stakes he doesn't need 10 grand to kick start

Didn't the MIT team go poker after blackjack?
 
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#18
Well, since I have been losing so much and posting about it I should post about my winnings as well to keep things balanced, even though I'm hesitant to do so since I know I can easily dump it back. I have won about everything back so far since my huge dump. I'm only down $300 or so on the good game I have been playing, and expect to win it back in a day or two with the EV I'm generating.
In the spirit of transparency, I should also note that if it wasn't for the support of some great friends I would have given up at my lowest point.
Edit: I'm still down something around $4,700. That was lost playing the poorer quality game.
 
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MrFatCat

Well-Known Member
#19
jupitor88 said:
i know enough to stay away from blackjack so i don't end up like John or the others but if i knew as much as you do or ZK or Shackleford maybe i would be a winning player, my simulations and emulations do not lie, my experiment was a failed experiment in atlantic city and further more if i am remotely successful the casino would pull the plug on me seeing how im not mobile id get whacked off and flyered within weeks

im recommending poker to John since blackjack cant seem to get along with him. theres plenty of books and youtube video on to become a winner or a long term winner on the game and with lower stakes he doesn't need 10 grand to kick start

Didn't the MIT team go poker after blackjack?
The conditions in AC suck these days, so while I'm not sure when your experiment was run, it's tough to fight against 8-deck H17 period the end so I mean, that could doom your experiment to begin with. Losing at 0.6% off the top vs. 0.3% off the top is no joke.
 

MrFatCat

Well-Known Member
#20
JohnCrover said:
Well, since I have been losing so much and posting about it I should post about my winnings as well to keep things balanced, even though I'm hesitant to do so since I know I can easily dump it back. I have won about everything back so far since my huge dump. I'm only down $300 or so on the good game I have been playing, and expect to win it back in a day or two with the EV I'm generating.
In the spirit of transparency, I should also note that if it wasn't for the support of some great friends I would have given up at my lowest point.
Edit: I'm still down something around $4,700. That was lost playing the poorer quality game.
Good variance in gambling never hurt. You should seriously consider finding a more stable source of income while giving this a shot, though -- if this is your only income, the chunk your living expenses will take out of your BR means your ROR is sky-high, even if you're living on free hotel rooms, the resort fees or whatever are still $30/night.

Also, you don't have to name the store or anything, but just curious how good the good quality game is -- are we talking single deck with favorable pen, or just 5/6, S17?
 
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