When you drop 60 bucks in less than 3 minutes playing Blackjack, it's time for a strategic withdrawal and a re-evaluation of your personal risk-reward paradigm. So I cashed in and decided to write it off with a blog post, thus making it a tax-deductible learning opportunity. Don't you wish you could write off your gambling losses like that?
I stopped at the tables at the Bonanza, in North Reno, just after lunch, and got fleeced. I'm not saying I got cheated or anything, the dealer was just hot that's all. No big deal, this kind of thing sometimes happens.
Some of you might think that I walked away too early, that only spending three minutes (six hands) at the table is not enough to determine how things are going to go. To that I call bullshit. I have a hard and fast rule that if at any point during your session you lose 5 Hands in a row, you should move to another table or quit. Since there was only one table open I opted for quitting. Losing six hands in a row is quite enough for me, especially when on the last one the dealer had a five-card draw to a 21 and I lost with 20. Grrrrr.
And I have some experience with long losing streaks. I once lost 19 hands in a row, not including pushes, playing Blackjack back in the 80s. I know this because I bought in with a hundred at a $5 minimum table and did not win a hand until I was down to my last red chip. Can you imagine if I'd have been doubling up after each loss, like the Martingale system? I'd still be broke 30 years later.
And that brings up another thing! Because I've never discussed it by name, some of you might not know what the Martingale system is. It's a betting system (duh) made popular by a man named Martingale (again duh), that involves doubling up after each loss.
The actual nature of the system wants you to double up plus one unit after each loss. (That way when you finally do win you'll be up one unit.) The problem is, if you lose enough hands in a row you either bump up against the table limit or the limit of your bankroll.
It's a really bad system. Just do the math. If you start losing with $5 and keep doubling it, by the time you lose 10 hands you're over $2500. Now if you want to double up after a loss one or two times, that's okay. It's actually a good way to mask your play and make anyone who might be watching, like surveillance or the Pit Boss, think that you are just a losing progression player instead of a card counter. And that's a good thing. But don't go nuts.
By the way, there are a lot of losing progression players out there. Dealers have a technical name for them. Dumbshits.
Remember, money management and exit strategy are the keys to winning at blackjack. Know when to walk away. See you next time and good luck everybody.
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