Why does it seem dead-drunk palyers can't lose?

Consider this a rant if you like as I know the math answer is "it doesn't matter" but if you have played poker against one you have had it happen to you, seems to happen in other games as well. But why on earth does it seem that a drunk cannot lose when the are gambling no matter how bad their strategy seems to be?

Here is the story. Working a party, mother and daughter at my table all night. Some other transient players, but they were there start to finish. About 2 hours into the 3 hour night just the two would be left the rest of the way. They know the game of blackjack but do not know the BS card. I give the daughter one about 20 minutes in, get the usual inquiry of how good it works and give my standard spiel of that the guy who invented it is a billionare so he must know something. Takes daughter about an hour to start to believe it, but she eventually believes and is playing it correctly.

Mother, OTOH, doesn't so much. And by hour three the drinks start hitting her. Daughter looks at mother and asks if she is OK (I know she is not near OK and know how it is going to end up, seen it too many times.) Nothing I can much do but dummy up and deal at this point. So mother is down to her last few chips. She is at maybe 50% correct on BS. BUT SHE KEEPS WINNING! I am hoping the table gods give her stiffs, but when they do I bust. I want her to lose so she gets up and gets some water, goes to the restroom, anything. But she has a run anyone on this board would dream for. She gets 16 against my 10 and stands, I bust. She draws to 20. When she ups from 1 unit to 2 she gets a BJ (which we pay 2:1) and I groan because that is 2-4 more hands and she is just on this streak.

By know I imagine one of the real dealers reading this is saying, "welcome to my life." So for you guys or gals I will tell how real-casino it got. Woman eventually collapses off her chair, which her daughter saw coming and called for a barf-bag. My concern is she doesn't vomit on my layout (she was being taken care of physically so not like I would let her lie there.) My bosses concern is for the layout, the woman's husband had to be dragged from our craps table-daughter literally yelling for him to get away and come over.

10 minutes later they get her up, I have stripped the table by now. She gets on her table and says, "WHERE DID THE DEALER GO?!"

Is there some kind of table-god that makes all this happen?

I was just talking about this last night at my cousins husbands wake. There is a guy I have known since high school. (He is a relative of the deceased) He owns a bar. He gets drunk, loud and obnoxious and wins! I have seen him do this in home poker games as well as playing blackjack and craps in Atlantic City and Biloxi, MS. He tried AA for a while but it didn't take, I don't know if he won as much while he was sober. He comes from a long family line of gamblers. It's just one of those hooks lady luck uses to get you to lose your head and go on tilt because in your world view this should not happen and things should even out.

Good story.

I was reading Daniel Negreanu's blog for a while and he relates how he developed a drinking problem after he first got some fame. He related how he came out of a slump while playing poker by drinking more [later the drinking probably caused a slump]. Anyway, in the case of poker, since so much of it is interaction with other players, it can help to be erratic, unpredictable, etc. He did have to knock off the drinking he says, btw. [edits]

As for casino gambling, don't ask me!

Drinking makes you not care about losing. Therefore, there will always be the drunks going balls-out putting all their chips on the table and making stupid decisions. By the nature of short-term variance, sometimes they will win, and win big. More often they will lose. Heck, maybe it is a good thing to get wasted and act crazy if you only do it a couple times a year. As for me, well, I've tried it and while it's fun, I'm not going there again. It's what the casinos count on you doing when they offer you free drinks. They want your decision-making power to erode.

Quote: odiousgambit

Good story.

I was reading Daniel Negreanu's blog for a while and he relates how he developed a drinking problem after he first got some fame. He related how he came out of a slump while playing poker by drinking more [later the drinking probably caused a slump]. Anyway, in the case of poker, since so much of it is interaction with other players, it can help to be erratic, unpredictable, etc. He did have to knock off the drinking he says, btw. [edits]

As for casino gambling, don't ask me!

In poker, I love having a drunk guy who is winning at my table. If you have the ability to avoid tilt when the expected loss hits, this guy is your bread and butter. I've won many a large pot waiting for monster hands to push against an aggressive drunk guy. Yes, you'll get the one card out that hits against you, but most of the time, you're such a favorite it works out in the long run.