What is "Chasing Losses"?

[xengrifter]

Where I was struggling to keep his enthusiasm grounded, Lady Luck (or Mother Variance) did. As the calendar turned to July and the second half of the year, the rollercoaster peaked and headed downhill. $13,000 losses in a few days. As we talked through his experience, we both learned he fell victim to some bad judgment in chasing losses, a hard lesson to learn....but one that must be learned.

Please elaborate a tad as to what this "lesson" is about "chasing losses."
What constitutes chasing losses and where/when does it become negEV?

 

[KewlJ]

What are you trying to start trouble? I think you know what "chasing losses" means.

In this specific case, he was raising his bet before he should have, before he really even had an advantage, and was over-betting pre-determined amounts for each TC or increment of advantage. In short over-betting in an attempt to recoup losses.

The "lesson" is about discipline and patience. The first major 'downturn' is a major experience for new counters. You begin to lose faith and question the math and if it lasts long enough, you question everything you thought you knew.

It wasn't that long ago that I shared my own experiences of this kind, right here on this very site. It takes a few of these downturns or losing periods AND eventually coming out the other side, before you realize (and become comfortable) that this is the nature of the beast that is blackjack card counting in the 21st century.

 

[Luis Veiga]

Yes! It happened to me sometimes. You lose a shoe and want to recover quickly. Hit once .... two .... believe that it will always work, until losing the whole bank. Discipline and patience are very important positions.

 

[Meistro]

chasing losses is when you try desperately to win back money you lost, perhaps upping the amount you bet per TC or playing really long sessions to try to get even

 

[Taff]

Happened to me on my 2nd session. Lost 3 max bets and continued max betting at +2 etc. Never repeated it.

 

[Fenix]

I can't say I've ever chased losses. The concept is foreign to my thought processing.

Once I made an expensive betting mistake. There was a very large slug of low cards that I knew existed. It was about 2decks long with about a +40 RC. For some reason I thought we were on the other shoe (ASM). By the time I realized we were on the one with the very large slug, we were about halfway through it and I had lost most of my session BR. I lowered my bet to try and eat through the slug so I could opposition bet the ride down, but my chips didn't survive. That was one nasty shoe.

 

[xengrifter]

What are you trying to start trouble? I think you know what "chasing losses" means.

In this specific case, he was raising his bet before he should have, before he really even had an advantage, and was over-betting pre-determined amounts for each TC or increment of advantage. In short over-betting in an attempt to recoup losses.

No, actually; To me overbetting and chasing losses have always been separate issues. Chasing losses means playing sessions run longer, more play hours per week, etc., but not necessarily overbetting.

chasing losses is when you try desperately to win back money you lost, perhaps upping the amount you bet per TC or playing really long sessions to try to get even

Exactly: "perhaps" being the operative word...
... and even then not necessarily implying classic overbetting.

 

[xengrifter]

Yes! It happened to me sometimes. You lose a shoe and want to recover quickly. Hit once .... two .... believe that it will always work, until losing the whole bank. Discipline and patience are very important positions.

Were you overbetting?

 

[xengrifter]

Happened to me on my 2nd session. Lost 3 max bets and continued max betting at +2 etc. Never repeated it.

Now THAT does sound like overbetting, but was it?

 

[xengrifter]

Once I made an expensive betting mistake. There was a very large slug of low cards that I knew existed. It was about 2decks long with about a +40 RC. For some reason I thought we were on the other shoe (ASM). By the time I realized we were on the one with the very large slug, we were about halfway through it and I had lost most of my session BR. I lowered my bet to try and eat through the slug so I could opposition bet the ride down, but my chips didn't survive. That was one nasty shoe.

You are saying that you were counting 2 shoes at once and bet big on the wrong one? please clarify.

 

[Fenix]

You are saying that you were counting 2 shoes at once and bet big on the wrong one? please clarify.

The table had an ASM. It has two decks, one in play and one being shuffled. The ASM they use hardly shuffles the cards (or so it seems). If there's a large slug of cards, it tends to stay together through many shuffles. I had played through the shoe with the large slug when I first sat at the table. Then we played through the other shoe which was mostly uninteresting. I had a blonde moment and forgot the first shoe had the large slug of low cards in it until after I played through most of it.

 

[KewlJ]

No, actually; To me overbetting and chasing losses have always been separate issues. Chasing losses means playing sessions run longer, more play hours per week, etc., but not necessarily overbetting.

To me, everything mentioned, playing longer sessions (trying to dig out), as well as overbetting or betting bigger than you should, earlier than you should (before you have an advantage)....all falls under "chasing losses". It's about emotions. Successful players learn to control their emotions when they are winning or losing. And in the specific case that I mentioned (my brother), he was not controlling his emotions as he went through his first significant losing period which led to a losing period that was more significant than it should have been.