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Mark Bowden on the guy who took Atlantic City for $15M in blackjack

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Mar 23, 2012.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Maybe that's why Vegas can't get an NBA team -- it's the only place that considers it a game of skill!
     
  2. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    A few years back, I got the harebrained idea that I could supplement my meager sportswriter income by playing blackjack at the local casinos. I wasn't trying to win thousands at a time, just $50 here or $100 there playing $5 (or even $3) per hand blackjack. Figured if I could do that once or twice a week, I'd be in good shape.
    It didn't end well.
    Lost way more than I won over the course of a year or so. There was just too much variance in the sessions. Sometimes I'd lose $100 in 15 minutes, other times I'd win $100 in 15 minutes, sometimes I'd play for several hours on the same $40 I bought in for, never getting more than $20 up or down either way.
    It really is a strange game.
    I did learn a couple important things in that social experiment, though.

    1) I'm probably a degenerate gambler at heart and need to be VERY careful when I play, and stay away completely most of the time. I'm too competitive. When I get cleaned out, I get pissed off and want to try again. That works OK in pickup hoops. Not so much when money is on the line.

    2) If you want to play for anything more than fun, set a limit -- win or lose. The old "don't gamble more than you can afford to lose" also works in reverse. Don't get greedy. All things being equal, you won't win in the long run, so treat it like a sprint. Get in, win a little, get out, even if you're only there for five minutes.

    3) There are hands and, worse, entire shoes and sessions where no matter what you do you you cannot possibly win. You get 20, dealer hits on 15 and pulls the 5 or 6 every time. You hit on 16, pull the 5, the dealer flips over 11 and nails the face card. It's just the way the cards fall, and no idiot at the table hitting 14 against a 5 can help or hurt you.

    4) On the flip side of that, there are shoes where you can't possibly lose. No matter what you do, the cards land in the deck just right, so that whatever move you make it'll work out. I called it "the magic shoe." If you sit at a table long enough, it'll happen about once an hour or two hours, and it'll only happen that one time for another hour or two.
    The hard part is, you never really know when it's coming if you're not counting cards or something like that. Eventually, my instincts got to where I could pick up on it after a few hands and start pressing my bets. I'd have single shoes where I won several hundred dollars playing anywhere from $5 to $25 per hand.
    Of course, I was rarely smart enough to walk away after that and often gave some or most of it back :p
     
  3. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Your story about the $40 you came in with I can back up...as a former dealer.

    I couldn't tell you the number of times college kids would come in with $50 or $75. I'd usually clean them out in twenty minutes.

    Yet I also remember the times a guy comes in with $500, get down to $250 but doesn't play scared. Eventually, he hits his "run" and gets back to $500, often pushing past "break even" to be up to $750 ($250 profit).

    Money management, to me, is far more important than counting cards or basic strategy. Never bet more than 5% of your bankroll on a single hand ($50 max if you have $1,000 in your roll) UNLESS you are playing with house money on THAT session.

    Then be as reckless as you want -- it's kinda fun then.
     
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