Hello Mayor and all. Various projects have kept me away for a while and just thought I'd check in. I've been reading posts over the last few days and it's good to see some familiar names, as well as some new ones. Hope everyone's had a good year.
Me? Well, it looks like I'll have my first negative bj year in some time. I've gotten in about 300 hours of play with a total loss of 400 units or so. Yes, it does suck, but instead of wringing my hands and crying on my pillow, I chose to be proactive.
I decided to enlist the help of another to analyze my play. I chose "Ed", a dealer who I've been friends with for a couple of months. Ed isn't a counter, but he has several years experience watching real gamblers and the flow of the cards and I figured he could at least point out any glaring mistakes I was making. Little did I know that in 3 short weeks, Ed would become my blackjack guru.
In our very first session, Ed noticed that when I placed a max bet out, I was touching the chips with my RIGHT HAND. (I'm left handed.) Invariably, I would lose these hands. Just a couple of hands like these, he said, can result in a losing session. To combat this, he advised me to keep my right hand in my jacket pocket at all times. (For the record, my very first fully left-handed max bet resulted in a double down win!) Ed also asked me why I hadn't been wearing my lucky green pullover. I explained that both of the pockets had developed holes and that any filched chips would go directly to ground. I took a pretty good cursing from him on that one. If something is lucky, he said, you don't just bleepin' give it up. You use it until it's not lucky anymore. Boy, did I feel stupid. So, I convinced my wife to hold her breath (the pullover hadn't been washed in 6 years) and stitch up the holes. I swear I could feel the power returning.
In our second session, Ed inquired about my betting units. I explained that I had decreased my bet size to keep to my banroll unit requirements. He said that in all of his years, he had yet to see anyone WIN BIG without BETTING BIG! How could I possibly recoup my losses betting green? Hard to argue with that. I immediately went back to the black chips. Along the same line, Ed noticed that I never drank liquor while playing. He felt that I was a little gun shy from my losses and that a few drinks would help give me the confidence necessary to get those black (and occassional purple) chips out onto the felt. I will say that it is simply AMAZING how just 4 shots of Crown can overcome betting timidness. (I split tens against a ten the other day and drew 2 ACES!) Sweet!
After a couple of days boning up on my counting system, Ed began counting along with me and pointed out that I didn't seem to be betting appropriately. His theory was that I must be losing the count from time to time. This, he figured, was costing me a lot of money. He had a simple solution: a secret negative progression system that was shown to him several years ago by a professional gambler. Ed said that this guy never, ever lost. Guaranteed wins with little or no arithmetic? How could I pass that up? I won't give you the details of this incredibly powerful system until I have had a few more weeks on the tables to prove that it works, but so far, WOW!
The results of all of these changes? Well, in my last 6 hours of play using Ed's advice, I'm up almost 150 units (minus what I paid Ed in tips, of course.) If my playing time were not so limited during December, I could conceivably break even for the year. But even if I finish the year down, I must say that I feel revitalized. My advice to all of you who have experienced these negative fluctuations is to find someone to critique your play and rip off your blinders, so to speak. There are always new and better methods to win just around the corner. There was a time when, with my limited perspective, that I might have dismissed these cutting edge ideas as voodoo nonsense, but who can argue with a 150 unit win? I'm even thinking of quitting my day job to explore full-time professional blackjack with this arsenal of new weapons. It could be a GREAT 2004!
Have a wonderful holiday season everyone...
ZOD
Me? Well, it looks like I'll have my first negative bj year in some time. I've gotten in about 300 hours of play with a total loss of 400 units or so. Yes, it does suck, but instead of wringing my hands and crying on my pillow, I chose to be proactive.
I decided to enlist the help of another to analyze my play. I chose "Ed", a dealer who I've been friends with for a couple of months. Ed isn't a counter, but he has several years experience watching real gamblers and the flow of the cards and I figured he could at least point out any glaring mistakes I was making. Little did I know that in 3 short weeks, Ed would become my blackjack guru.
In our very first session, Ed noticed that when I placed a max bet out, I was touching the chips with my RIGHT HAND. (I'm left handed.) Invariably, I would lose these hands. Just a couple of hands like these, he said, can result in a losing session. To combat this, he advised me to keep my right hand in my jacket pocket at all times. (For the record, my very first fully left-handed max bet resulted in a double down win!) Ed also asked me why I hadn't been wearing my lucky green pullover. I explained that both of the pockets had developed holes and that any filched chips would go directly to ground. I took a pretty good cursing from him on that one. If something is lucky, he said, you don't just bleepin' give it up. You use it until it's not lucky anymore. Boy, did I feel stupid. So, I convinced my wife to hold her breath (the pullover hadn't been washed in 6 years) and stitch up the holes. I swear I could feel the power returning.
In our second session, Ed inquired about my betting units. I explained that I had decreased my bet size to keep to my banroll unit requirements. He said that in all of his years, he had yet to see anyone WIN BIG without BETTING BIG! How could I possibly recoup my losses betting green? Hard to argue with that. I immediately went back to the black chips. Along the same line, Ed noticed that I never drank liquor while playing. He felt that I was a little gun shy from my losses and that a few drinks would help give me the confidence necessary to get those black (and occassional purple) chips out onto the felt. I will say that it is simply AMAZING how just 4 shots of Crown can overcome betting timidness. (I split tens against a ten the other day and drew 2 ACES!) Sweet!
After a couple of days boning up on my counting system, Ed began counting along with me and pointed out that I didn't seem to be betting appropriately. His theory was that I must be losing the count from time to time. This, he figured, was costing me a lot of money. He had a simple solution: a secret negative progression system that was shown to him several years ago by a professional gambler. Ed said that this guy never, ever lost. Guaranteed wins with little or no arithmetic? How could I pass that up? I won't give you the details of this incredibly powerful system until I have had a few more weeks on the tables to prove that it works, but so far, WOW!
The results of all of these changes? Well, in my last 6 hours of play using Ed's advice, I'm up almost 150 units (minus what I paid Ed in tips, of course.) If my playing time were not so limited during December, I could conceivably break even for the year. But even if I finish the year down, I must say that I feel revitalized. My advice to all of you who have experienced these negative fluctuations is to find someone to critique your play and rip off your blinders, so to speak. There are always new and better methods to win just around the corner. There was a time when, with my limited perspective, that I might have dismissed these cutting edge ideas as voodoo nonsense, but who can argue with a 150 unit win? I'm even thinking of quitting my day job to explore full-time professional blackjack with this arsenal of new weapons. It could be a GREAT 2004!
Have a wonderful holiday season everyone...
ZOD