Greetings fellow counters. I've been reading this forum for several months now as a guest and decided to finally register. I was in Vegas last week for a 4-day trip where I spent quite a bit of time at the BJ tables, so I'll start my first post with an interesting experience and then edit my post later and tell you guys a little about myself.
I was at the casino in Vegas which has all of the exterior of its glass windows stained a bright gold color. Game was 6D H17 $10 minimum with 1 1/2 decks cut off. I had been playing for about an hour with one other player and the count was neutral or close to neutral almost the entire time (BOORRRINGGGG).
The gambler playing with me finally gambles all his money away and right as he leaves, a group of 4 young players like myself (early-mid 20's) walk over and sit down. They seem unusally excited about playing, as if they have been planning this outing for quite some time. I exchange pleasantries with them and make friends with the chatty asian guy to my left sitting at second base.
I watch their play casually, and they all seem to be playing 90% correct BS or so. After about 20 minutes, the girl with them at the table catches a bad run and she loses 3-4 hands in a row. I notice that after each loss, her bet becomes progressively larger, almost exponentially. First $10, then $40, then $150, then $200. I use my best ploppy interested 'Tell me your secret' voice and ask the asian about this phenomenon and he simply replies, "we have a system we use," and he smiles as if this is a proven strategy. The girl finally wins a hand with a $250 or so bet out after a bunch of losses and reduces her bet back to her starting point at the table minimum.
After another 15 minutes of observation, I realize that all 4 of these people are betting exponentially more after each loss. Each of them bought in for $300, so I am genuinely worried that they will all crash and burn. I convey my concern to the asian, using my personal experiences of 'endless' runs of losing hands. He doesn't take me seriously and they continue playing as before. We go through a couple shoes and two of them wipe out their buy-in and get up from the table to watch from a standing position. The girl colors up with $100 or so in profit. Now it's just me and the chatty asian dude.
Shortly after my warning to the asian, he catches a run of losing 4-5 hands. His bet is out now at $500. As dumb luck would have it, he wins his $500. He is beaming with satisfaction, completely unaware that he was betting progressively higher into an AWFUL count (I don't recall what it was exactly but I know it was not even close to the pivot point). By then, I had been playing for a couple hours with no gains to show for it, so I was quite annoyed that this guy had sat down and won a single hand for $500 in less than half that time. I was considering wonging out, but I decided to stay just to see how the rest of the shoe played out for him.
Several hands before the end of the same shoe, he catches another bad run. That $500 bet comes out again and he busts. I can see his anxiety mounting as he reaches into his wallet for another set of benjamins. Almost visually sweating at this point, he quickly throws down another ~$500 bet and loses. His table chips are all gone and his wallet is empty. I am happy as a clam to witness this firsthand. He gets up in a huff and leaves with his friends.
The progressive loss betting strategy.
I was at the casino in Vegas which has all of the exterior of its glass windows stained a bright gold color. Game was 6D H17 $10 minimum with 1 1/2 decks cut off. I had been playing for about an hour with one other player and the count was neutral or close to neutral almost the entire time (BOORRRINGGGG).
The gambler playing with me finally gambles all his money away and right as he leaves, a group of 4 young players like myself (early-mid 20's) walk over and sit down. They seem unusally excited about playing, as if they have been planning this outing for quite some time. I exchange pleasantries with them and make friends with the chatty asian guy to my left sitting at second base.
I watch their play casually, and they all seem to be playing 90% correct BS or so. After about 20 minutes, the girl with them at the table catches a bad run and she loses 3-4 hands in a row. I notice that after each loss, her bet becomes progressively larger, almost exponentially. First $10, then $40, then $150, then $200. I use my best ploppy interested 'Tell me your secret' voice and ask the asian about this phenomenon and he simply replies, "we have a system we use," and he smiles as if this is a proven strategy. The girl finally wins a hand with a $250 or so bet out after a bunch of losses and reduces her bet back to her starting point at the table minimum.
After another 15 minutes of observation, I realize that all 4 of these people are betting exponentially more after each loss. Each of them bought in for $300, so I am genuinely worried that they will all crash and burn. I convey my concern to the asian, using my personal experiences of 'endless' runs of losing hands. He doesn't take me seriously and they continue playing as before. We go through a couple shoes and two of them wipe out their buy-in and get up from the table to watch from a standing position. The girl colors up with $100 or so in profit. Now it's just me and the chatty asian dude.
Shortly after my warning to the asian, he catches a run of losing 4-5 hands. His bet is out now at $500. As dumb luck would have it, he wins his $500. He is beaming with satisfaction, completely unaware that he was betting progressively higher into an AWFUL count (I don't recall what it was exactly but I know it was not even close to the pivot point). By then, I had been playing for a couple hours with no gains to show for it, so I was quite annoyed that this guy had sat down and won a single hand for $500 in less than half that time. I was considering wonging out, but I decided to stay just to see how the rest of the shoe played out for him.
Several hands before the end of the same shoe, he catches another bad run. That $500 bet comes out again and he busts. I can see his anxiety mounting as he reaches into his wallet for another set of benjamins. Almost visually sweating at this point, he quickly throws down another ~$500 bet and loses. His table chips are all gone and his wallet is empty. I am happy as a clam to witness this firsthand. He gets up in a huff and leaves with his friends.
The progressive loss betting strategy.
