WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

So, I felt froggy and took the $1823 I had set aside for my mortgage this month to the blackjack table. I bought in for $1823. My plan was to make enough money to pay for dinner for my family. I just needed to win say $50, then I'd leave.

First hand I plop 2 green chips on the table. I get 10/J, dealer has a 6. Of course I stay. Dealer flips a 5, then a face. 21. I lose.

So, next hand, $100 bet, I get 8/8. Dealer has a face. I plop another $100 down to split the 8's. First one I get a 2, hit and draw 6, hit face. BUST. Second hand gets a 7, hit, face, BUST!

Now Im down $300. So I bet $400 on the next hand. I get face, face and dealer has an A. I decline insurance and of course she has BJ.

So I say screw it and go all in for my remaining $1,173. I get 3/8 dealer has a 6 showing. I don't have enough money to double, so I decide to just hit. I hit and get a 9! 20, baby! I'm already counting my money! Dealer flips her down card and its a 2. So now she has 8. Draws another 2 so now she's at 10. Takes another card, its a 2, now she's at 12. "Heck YEAH! I'm gonna do it I say to myself". She draws another card, A! Now shes at 13. Draws again 2, now shes at 15. Draws again...6! 21! I lose! 7 card 21!

I can't believe it! 4 loses in a row! The good hands I had? How does this happen. So of course I start crying at the table. I just lost my mortgage. I don't know what I'm going to do. A guy that I was playing with, asked me why I was betting like that if I didn't have the money. I told him I read on the internet using the martingale system at blackjack and playing basic strategy would work and I was just trying to feed my family. He explained to me that no betting systems work and that I couldn't win money playing a negative expectation game. He said in the long run, the house edge would eat me up. He said, while losing 4 in a row isn't likely, it's also not impossible and said the odds were close to 7% of that actually happening. I was confused because everything I read on the internet told me that this would work! He told me, I probbaly should not believe everything I read on the internet and to not gamble with more than my entertainment budget. He gave me a card to take home with a Gambler's Anonymous # on it and said while he couldn't recoup my lost mortgage money, he would buy my family dinner at the casino food court on his Player's Card. So, I follow the gentleman over and get 8 hot dogs, 4 fries and 4 sodas to take home to the family.

Not sure where we are going to live soon, but the dogs were delicious!

I read you whole story.

Excellent experience there big guy!

But, and seriously a big big but. You didn’t put chili or a meat sauce on the dogs. Onions, pickles, mustard, cheese….nothing?

I live in West Virginia. We put hot chili and slaw on our dogs.

The kids only wanted ketchup.

Quote: mwalz9

So, I felt froggy and took the $1823 I had set aside for my mortgage this month to the blackjack table. I bought in for $1823. My plan was to make enough money to pay for dinner for my family. I just needed to win say $50, then I'd leave.

First hand I plop 2 green chips on the table. I get 10/J, dealer has a 6. Of course I stay. Dealer flips a 5, then a face. 21. I lose.

So, next hand, $100 bet, I get 8/8. Dealer has a face. I plop another $100 down to split the 8's. First one I get a 2, hit and draw 6, hit face. BUST. Second hand gets a 7, hit, face, BUST!

Now Im down $300. So I bet $400 on the next hand. I get face, face and dealer has an A. I decline insurance and of course she has BJ.

So I say screw it and go all in for my remaining $1,173. I get 3/8 dealer has a 6 showing. I don't have enough money to double, so I decide to just hit. I hit and get a 9! 20, baby! I'm already counting my money! Dealer flips her down card and its a 2. So now she has 8. Draws another 2 so now she's at 10. Takes another card, its a 2, now she's at 12. "Heck YEAH! I'm gonna do it I say to myself". She draws another card, A! Now shes at 13. Draws again 2, now shes at 15. Draws again...6! 21! I lose! 7 card 21!

I can't believe it! 4 loses in a row! The good hands I had? How does this happen. So of course I start crying at the table. I just lost my mortgage. I don't know what I'm going to do. A guy that I was playing with, asked me why I was betting like that if I didn't have the money. I told him I read on the internet using the martingale system at blackjack and playing basic strategy would work and I was just trying to feed my family. He explained to me that no betting systems work and that I couldn't win money playing a negative expectation game. He said in the long run, the house edge would eat me up. He said, while losing 4 in a row isn't likely, it's also not impossible and said the odds were close to 7% of that actually happening. I was confused because everything I read on the internet told me that this would work! He told me, I probbaly should not believe everything I read on the internet and to not gamble with more than my entertainment budget. He gave me a card to take home with a Gambler's Anonymous # on it and said while he couldn't recoup my lost mortgage money, he would buy my family dinner at the casino food court on his Player's Card. So, I follow the gentleman over and get 8 hot dogs, 4 fries and 4 sodas to take home to the family.

Not sure where we are going to live soon, but the dogs were delicious!
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Fantastic story. You are on the right path. Remember the key is quitting when you are ahead, not when you are behind. The good news is you own a home, so tapping into the equity should be simple. Don't let a few minor setbacks get in the way of you providing for your family.
I'd forget blackjack and take up roulette. Google "Swami Pastrami's sure fire roulette method"( not a system)., as told to Arnold Snyder.

Quote: mwalz9

So, I felt froggy and took the $1823 I had set aside for my mortgage this month to the blackjack table. I bought in for $1823. My plan was to make enough money to pay for dinner for my family. I just needed to win say $50, then I'd leave.

First hand I plop 2 green chips on the table. I get 10/J, dealer has a 6. Of course I stay. Dealer flips a 5, then a face. 21. I lose.

So, next hand, $100 bet, I get 8/8. Dealer has a face. I plop another $100 down to split the 8's. First one I get a 2, hit and draw 6, hit face. BUST. Second hand gets a 7, hit, face, BUST!

Now Im down $300. So I bet $400 on the next hand. I get face, face and dealer has an A. I decline insurance and of course she has BJ.

So I say screw it and go all in for my remaining $1,173. I get 3/8 dealer has a 6 showing. I don't have enough money to double, so I decide to just hit. I hit and get a 9! 20, baby! I'm already counting my money! Dealer flips her down card and its a 2. So now she has 8. Draws another 2 so now she's at 10. Takes another card, its a 2, now she's at 12. "Heck YEAH! I'm gonna do it I say to myself". She draws another card, A! Now shes at 13. Draws again 2, now shes at 15. Draws again...6! 21! I lose! 7 card 21!

I can't believe it! 4 loses in a row! The good hands I had? How does this happen.
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You idiot!* have you learned nothing on this forum? You were betting increasing amounts on losing hands. Everyone knows that you avoid betting on losing hands and bet more: As much as you can, on the winning hands!

Also, you numpty*, you reported your losses here. How do you expect to maintain any sort of credibility doing that?

Credit where it is due. Your report was totally credible..


*Jovial terms of endearment. Absolutely no insult intended.

Somebody forgot to read Rule #1

Also note that this sort of thing is how the Arizona State Point Shaving scandal started.

And except for raising the bet each time (I stuck to a fixed $15), you pretty much just described my trip to Cache Creek last November.

Snarky replies aside...

Quote:

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

1 - You were betting with money you couldn't afford to lose.

2 - You were playing the martingale, not believing that a mere 4 hand loss could happen. Not only is it possible, it's not all that unlikely.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Snarky replies aside...

Quote:

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

1 - You were betting with money you couldn't afford to lose.

2 - You were playing the martingale, not believing that a mere 4 hand loss could happen. Not only is it possible, it's not all that unlikely.
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Of course, he can afford to lose it. It is only a temporary setback. Have you learned nothing from your time here? If at first, you don't succeed, double down and drive on. You are only one crooked bow tie away from unimaginable riches.

I am sorry to hear that that happened. At the tables it is difficult to know who is playing at the edge and who isn't, but this sort of thing happens even to the biggest high rollers. For example, the former Canadian mattress millionaire, now a broke Uber driver. There is a player right now at the casinos who I am told lost double digit millions a year ago, paid it all off towards the end of last year, and is in the hole at least that and more again, chasing losses. Credit player. The prediction from the powers that be at other casinos (that have refused to extend credit this time around) is that it will not end well.

I was actually staying at a casino when two young players who lost a lot jumped off the casino parking garage to their deaths.

No matter how much money you have if you play hard (and badly) enough, you could lose it all.
The Gambler Who Blew $127 Million
I actually understand that Watanabe lost over $127M, more like $204M, more than he had, until he was forced into criminal court for failure to pay markers. Watanabe did manage to sue the casinos somewhat successfully for supposedly plying him with alcohol and drugs to keep him playing (and losing), in order to settle the balances that he owed.

Tell the dealers...take it all.

Your goal was to win $50 to pay for your family’s dinner.

McDonald’s I assume?

Quote: Ace2

Your goal was to win $50 to pay for your family’s dinner.

McDonald’s I assume?
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Groupon.

Quote: Ace2

Your goal was to win $50 to pay for your family’s dinner.

McDonald’s I assume?
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Not at McDonald's in NY!

More likely bread, juice, cold cuts and condiments from the supermarket

With my luck I'll get stuck at the tables for 16 hours just trying to win that first $50.

Quote: mwalz9

So of course I start crying at the table. I just lost my mortgage. I don't know what I'm going to do.
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Quote: MDawg

I am sorry to hear that that happened. At the tables it is difficult to know who is playing at the edge and who isn't, but this sort of thing happens even to the biggest high rollers. For example, the former Canadian mattress millionaire, now a broke Uber driver. There is a player right now at the casinos who I am told lost double digit millions a year ago, paid it all off towards the end of last year, and is in the hole at least that and more again, chasing losses. Credit player. The prediction from the powers that be at other casinos (that have refused to extend credit this time around) is that it will not end well.

I was actually staying at a casino when two young players who lost a lot jumped off the casino parking garage to their deaths.

No matter how much money you have if you play hard (and badly) enough, you could lose it all.
The Gambler Who Blew $127 Million
I actually understand that Watanabe lost over $127M, more like $204M, more than he had, until he was forced into criminal court for failure to pay markers. Watanabe did manage to sue the casinos somewhat successfully for supposedly plying him with alcohol and drugs to keep him playing (and losing), in order to settle the balances that he owed.

Tell the dealers...take it all.
link to original post

Over the years I have come across many players who are on the verge of giving up, but then win something or other (little more than a bowl of cold porridge in the wake of massive prior losses), that gives them HOPE that they might recoup their losses.

In such a situation, is it better that they were given hope, or if they had lost yet again and reaffirmed their inability to win, so as to give up gambling entirely?


Hope is a dangerous thing. Drive a man insane. It's got no place here. Better get used to the idea.

Quote: mwalz9

So, next hand, $100 bet, I get 8/8. Dealer has a face. I plop another $100 down to split the 8's. First one I get a 2, hit and draw 6, hit face. BUST. Second hand gets a 7, hit, face, BUST!

Interesting story.

I know splitting is the best option here, but it's not that much better than surrendering, to justify risking 11% of my bankroll on it.

Spanish 21, years ago. Player next to me. "I can't go home. I lost $16,000. That was our savings."