In general, I would say this is a matter of consciousness or self-control (which we as counters should have way more developed vs. "normal" players... gamblers) but often "something" happens and I tend to lose track of how much money I have on the table.
A couple of days ago I was playing a (loosing) session. Into the game for $500 in chips (1-12 spread, $10 unit) and down almost than $400. Then after several so-so shoes, it finally started to come back. After one more shoe I was down only $120. The very next Hand, TC was +2, I bet 4 red chips, get a 12, hit it to 18, the dealer turns a 17.
OK, some background here: This was after at least 2, maybe 3 hours and around 3am, at this point, i'm usually accepting it as a losing session and trying to quit before I feel tired and start making mistakes.
BACK TO THE STORY: So at this point i'm only down $100 or less... good time to make a couple minimum bets to cool off, color up and go home... BUT dealer makes a mistake and takes my 4 red chips instead of paying, I instantly call the PB attention, the floor is getting called, etc. The mistake was pretty evident but the PB isn't positive about how many chips I was betting, I had four but he's thinking 3 or 2... (maybe because until then I was flat betting $10 or not betting due to bad TC) Also, this was the second time a mistake occurred on the session (previous time dealer gave card to next player without me making any signal or saying anything... he wad 10 and it was an ace).
OK, THE IMPORTANT PART HERE: So the supervisor gives me the chance to continue playing or wait till the floor confirms with video, etc. At this point, the smartest thing would have been just to stop playing, altho the count was starting to go up the whole incident definitely got me off my game.... But I continued... long story short when the shoe was over I was down $425. Played for an hour and a half more with no major win, went home $440 down.
(sorry this is already way too long)
After this, I started thinking of different similar situations when I was loosing, made my money back after 2-3 hours and did NOT leave ending in a $100-150 loss... Is it just me? anyone with some advice? Situations similar to this tend to be making my winning sessions a smaller win (IE up 400, walk to other casino and end up down 100 so only up 300 total) and my losing sessions a bigger loss (like the one I just described).
A couple of days ago I was playing a (loosing) session. Into the game for $500 in chips (1-12 spread, $10 unit) and down almost than $400. Then after several so-so shoes, it finally started to come back. After one more shoe I was down only $120. The very next Hand, TC was +2, I bet 4 red chips, get a 12, hit it to 18, the dealer turns a 17.
OK, some background here: This was after at least 2, maybe 3 hours and around 3am, at this point, i'm usually accepting it as a losing session and trying to quit before I feel tired and start making mistakes.
BACK TO THE STORY: So at this point i'm only down $100 or less... good time to make a couple minimum bets to cool off, color up and go home... BUT dealer makes a mistake and takes my 4 red chips instead of paying, I instantly call the PB attention, the floor is getting called, etc. The mistake was pretty evident but the PB isn't positive about how many chips I was betting, I had four but he's thinking 3 or 2... (maybe because until then I was flat betting $10 or not betting due to bad TC) Also, this was the second time a mistake occurred on the session (previous time dealer gave card to next player without me making any signal or saying anything... he wad 10 and it was an ace).
OK, THE IMPORTANT PART HERE: So the supervisor gives me the chance to continue playing or wait till the floor confirms with video, etc. At this point, the smartest thing would have been just to stop playing, altho the count was starting to go up the whole incident definitely got me off my game.... But I continued... long story short when the shoe was over I was down $425. Played for an hour and a half more with no major win, went home $440 down.
(sorry this is already way too long)
After this, I started thinking of different similar situations when I was loosing, made my money back after 2-3 hours and did NOT leave ending in a $100-150 loss... Is it just me? anyone with some advice? Situations similar to this tend to be making my winning sessions a smaller win (IE up 400, walk to other casino and end up down 100 so only up 300 total) and my losing sessions a bigger loss (like the one I just described).