So here we are again

gronbog

Well-Known Member
#21
Raven said:
I understand it. That is a coin. One coin I imagine. Being flipped consecutively. Which is where Blackjack is different because we change tables, shoes, entire casinos even. Each shoe (or shuffle rather) it's own event.
No, blackjack is the same. It doesn't matter whether it's the same coin/shoe/table/casino etc., or different ones. The universe has no memory of your previous play and you are never due for a win/loss/correction. Changing coins/shoes/tables/casinos etc. has no effect.

Only when counting cards within a shoe does your expectation for the rest of the shoe change as the cards are dealt.
 

Raven

Well-Known Member
#22
JohnCrover said:
ZenKinG said something about "going to a better place" and "going out in a blaze of glory."Then he mentioning the strip and Hollywood/Caeser properties.
I think he's going to go burn the strip then hit the road to play some better games.
I know a place.
 

Raven

Well-Known Member
#23
gronbog said:
The universe has no memory of your previous play and you are never due for a win/loss/correction. Changing coins/shoes/tables/casinos etc. has no effect.

Only when counting cards within a shoe does your expectation for the rest of the shoe change as the cards are dealt.
Exactly what I meant. But I worded it wrong I think. I always treat each shoe as if I'd never played a day in my life. I think of the long run as where I am at the moment that shoe ends, cumulatively. So in effect that shoe really didn't matter because it couldn't help or hurt me very much in the grand scheme. Each shoe is the first shoe in my mind. Then I just tally everything up as each month goes by etc. I honestly think that by believing in these mythical "corrections" it affected my tactical approach starting out, like @KewlJ said.

Listen to the GWAE interview with Yoshi where he was told because he had done so well he 'was due for a loss' (am paraphrasing). I used to believe that shit too.
 
#24
Raven said:
That's it? I been breakin' even for 6 years locally :D
For 6 years you are even?
How many hours do you play per year?
What type N0 games are you playing?
Are you sure you are a winning player?
You are playing in real casinos, and not a trainer like cvcx right?
From your other posts, I would be very concerned.
 

Raven

Well-Known Member
#25
No only in one casino. The one I mentioned in my other post. For some reason I just can't beat it. I say 6 years because I have played there intermittently over that time, 350 hours one year.. made $13 by midnight on NYE. Another year ended down $95 after 200 hours. And that was playing about 90% over true+2 hands (which sometimes only last 1 or 2 rounds). It's not a terrible game if it were in Biloxi, but it's not beatable here for me. It's a 6D DAS H17 Double any 2 cards resplit 4x 50 to 1 table max, with most of the time great pen. No heat at all (surprise surprise). Just can't pull it off so I don't play there anymore. After 2017 with it's true +20 counts I just gave up. I very rarely play locally unless I see all the cards, and they give me S17. None of these casinos are regulated so I just don't take that risk anymore. We are all even there. Some a little up, some way down. If you wanted to play just for fun or practice, this would be the place to do it. That being said it's a hole carding gold mine.
 
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Raven

Well-Known Member
#26
Counting_Is_Fun said:
Are you sure you are a winning player?
Yep.. everywhere except at that one store. I haven't won there since 2014. They said the game hasn't changed at all. I do much better backcounting the Hard Crock's 8D ironically.
 
#28
JohnCrover said:
I'm down 25% from my all-time high in total and I'm break even after 300 hours.
Remember, I forget the actual statistic maybe 97 or 98% of the time you will be below your ATH - so more than 95% of the time you play, you will feel like you are losing.

Finances are a funny thing psychologically; I remember times when 25k would seem like it was all the money in the world. And then other times when I had $1,000,000 and lost 200k (not in BJ of course) it just seemed like I was so close to going broke.

As a professional gambler, the important thing for you is that you stay in business, whether your BR is 30K or 300k, stay in business and do not become overly attached to the aggregate amount you hold on any given day or month.

Remember the words of the sainted Nick the Greek - "The next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing!
 
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#29
Raven said:
Yep.. everywhere except at that one store. I haven't won there since 2014. They said the game hasn't changed at all. I do much better backcounting the Hard Crock's 8D ironically.
Just keep playing the better game, that is where you are accumulating EV, as BigPlayer would say...
... But remember, in a quantum universe the observer affects that which is observed.
... There is no "out there", separate external universe ruled solely by randomity over which we have no control.
 

KewlJ

Well-Known Member
#32
Of course gronbog is correct as he usually is...you are never due (I'll repeat my personal exercise in learning this lesson in a minute), BUT, while you are never due, the math will work itself out in the long run. At least that has been my experience in my now 16 years run.

What I mean by that is while I have had 4 or 5 extended periods of losing, lasting 4-6 months, for each of these periods except 1, if you were to look at a slightly larger sample size of a year (including that 4-6 month period), the results are pretty close to expectation. And the one that is still off after a year is almost spot on expectation with an even larger extension of 2 years. As you get to the longterm (larger sample size) the math gets to where is "supposed" to be. Again, at least in my experience.

Now the problem is you can't predict or try to force anything. I feel like I have told this story recently, so my apologies for repeating, but one year early in my career, my year got off to a great start. I am not going to look up the exact numbers but I was way ahead after 6 weeks, 2 months. LIke 5 times expectation for that amount of play. I convinced myself that a "correction", losing period, negative variance period, what ever you want to call it, was coming. So I cut my bet spread and max bet in half figuring that I would only lose half as much.

Well that correction both did and didn't come. It didn't come how I envisioned it, a losing streak or period. What occurred was for the rest of the year, I continued to win, just at a rate a little below expectation (from that point). So by years end 2 things had occurred. I was able to look back and determine that had I not cut my wagers in half, I would have been shockingly close to expectation for the year. Actually I still was shockingly close to expectation the way I had done it, it is just that expectation was much lower. All I had managed to do by reducing my spread and top wager was reduce the amount I won over those last 10 months or so. I basically cut that in half. :( Lesson learned.
 
#33
Nice to see you alive and well KJ, you were not among the 20k to die this week, luck is on our side!
16 years gambling, you must have a massive bankroll saved up and can retire early no?
 

Playallin

Well-Known Member
#34
newcomer12345 said:
Nice to see you alive and well KJ, you were not among the 20k to die this week, luck is on our side!
16 years gambling, you must have a massive bankroll saved up and can retire early no?
Don't you know KJ is like a cat with 9 lives. He died once and Rose from the dead. 8 more to go.
 

KewlJ

Well-Known Member
#35
Playallin said:
Don't you know KJ is like a cat with 9 lives. He died once and Rose from the dead. 8 more to go.
I am not going to respond to such comments at this time.


newcomer12345 said:
Nice to see you alive and well KJ, you were not among the 20k to die this week, luck is on our side! 16 years gambling, you must have a massive bankroll saved up and can retire early no?
No I don't have enough to retire. Before this crisis, I was thinking another really good 5 years and I might. 10 years would be even better. I live a pretty modest life and could stretch a million plus to 2 million, a really long way. Or at the very least I could cut back to a part-time type supplemental thing. So I need to come through this like everyone else and hope to have another 5+ years.

I really think this crisis may change things for the casino industry. Things like moving away from chip games, and towards some sort of TITO (ticket in, ticket out) video table game stations, or towards the stadium blackjack set-ups which combine a live dealer with TITO. I think these moves were coming anyway, but fear this may hasten it.

But right now, for me, thoughts of blackjack and my casino life of just a couple weeks ago, seem a million miles away.
 
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