Do you keep a log?

[winr_winr_chicken_dinner!]

Ok, who keeps a log (little notebook or something) on their play? Who keeps it in their head?

I would think a log would be useful to track winning/losing rates, streaks, etc. over time, and to know exactly how the $$ are performing and where your $$ are really going. Of course using separate money for tipping/eating/miscellaneous is the way to go and only using your BR for the work is essential, but do you guys break it down by casino, time of day, etc? Or just figure up your BR wins or losses against your original BR and subtract any expenses incurred during play?

Just curious how everyone else does it, and their reasons for doing it that way.

 

[ChefJJ]

Definitely. I use two surveying field books (good size IMO), one for blackjack and one for craps.

For each session, I note basics like location, date, time, table, duration, etc. I also note buy-in, cash-out, perceived cash-out (if ratholing), approximate $ of tokes & drink tips, rules, etc. My craps notes can be a bit more detailed than the BJ ones because there are more physical aspects that matter.

For the overall trip, I note costs incurred such as gas/tolls, airfare, lodging, meals, etc. Of course, this may be less of importance when casino trips are coupled with vacation, visits with friends/family, etc.

My 2 cents...good luck

 

[EasyRhino]

I keep a quick and dirty log, it might help support me if I ever got audited, and that's it. locasion, session, time, game, cash in, cash out, any comps/coupons in play, and random notes... usually about whoever's backing me off.

 

[The Prince of PW]

I actually just started keeping a log tracking my play in Casino Verite. Although Casino Verite does it for you, I keep notes on how many hands I've played, my play rate, how much I've won (or lost), how long. I'm certain I'll add more stats to my log. Like how many times I made the correct or incorrect play on certain hands that should be split, hard or soft dd's. I'm looking at BJ as more of a profession and preparing and taking notes as such. I'll get better as times goes on.

 

[sagefr0g]

Ok, who keeps a log (little notebook or something) on their play? Who keeps it in their head?

I would think a log would be useful to track winning/losing rates, streaks, etc. over time, and to know exactly how the $$ are performing and where your $$ are really going. Of course using separate money for tipping/eating/miscellaneous is the way to go and only using your BR for the work is essential, but do you guys break it down by casino, time of day, etc? Or just figure up your BR wins or losses against your original BR and subtract any expenses incurred during play?

Just curious how everyone else does it, and their reasons for doing it that way.

.

good idea IMHO.
key of it all would be to put a number on the rounds you played against a given game with a given game plan. then you can use a 'yard stick' to measure your results against what should happen in terms of certain statistical standards. check table10.43.xls at bottom of page in this link:
http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showpost.php?p=122745&postcount=21

 

[HarryKuntz]

I can't imagine there's anybody serious about the game who doesn't keep a log, although some people's will be much detailed than others. Keeping records is absolutely essential, otherwise, how can you know what your making or if your even playing correctly, the variance of the game is far to volatile to keep records in your head.

 

[Mimosine]

i keep a fairly sparse log.

Date, times played, win/loss, conditions (pen / rules / packed), any other notes. Each entry is 1 line in a spreadsheet, about 5 cells. On a given outing to say 5 casinos over 1 day, each casino gets one line. This helps on a 3-4 trip when you might want to play a different shift on a different (or even on the same day). When I was in reno I played 32 shifts in 4-5 days at about 12 different casinos. On day 1 I accidentally played the same shift twice, on day 2 i made a careful plan to do a loop so that i never doubled up 2 houses on the same shift.....

I have all results charted and I also have a tally at the bottom where the money is kept:

Cash, ATM Savings, Money Market, CDs

this total is always reckoned with the results of all trips.

 

[Kasi]

key of it all would be to put a number on the rounds you played against a given game with a given game plan. then you can use a 'yard stick' to measure your results against what should happen in terms of certain statistical standards.

Spoken like a true Weekend Warrior lol.

Try to at least play a shoe consistently like you're supposed to.

Try to have a plan for what you are going to do - if you switch from 2D to 6D try to already know how much you will bet and when and record hands played when you bet that way or even whatever way. You can always run a sim later if you know the rules, pen and when you bet how much.

Even if over time you end up playing many different games many different ways, as you know doubt will, you can always combine everything into an "overall" EV vs liklihood of actual results.

Don't have the kind of log that 18 months later all you know is maybe how many hours you played and maybe how much money you won or lost while, no doubt, playing many different ways perhaps with various numbers of players along the way lol.

Ideally lol.

 

[JohnGalt1]

I'm mostly a horse race handicapper so I keep records of all my bets and results.

The first time I went to the track I wrote down all my bets even though I just made $2 place bets.

The first time I went to Vegas I wrote down every session's results for every game, including keno

I know how far ahead and behind I am lifetime for every type of gambling I do.

I do it mostly for myself but also for my friends and the IRS.

When MN first got the lottery I asked people how they were doing since the take out was 50%. Everybody said they "were about even." Obviously they weren't keeoping track of their results.