IN THE ZONE

BY KEN SMITH

Know When To Walk Away

IT’S BEEN ONE OF THOSE DAYS. You’ve done everything right. You’ve played like a true master of the game, making the right bet and the right play, time after time after time. Nonetheless, your results are more like those of Napoleon at Waterloo. It seems no matter what you do, the cards just won’t cooperate, and your losses just get bigger and bigger.

This scenario can happen at poker or blackjack, whether you are an expert or an amateur. Losses happen. They are unavoidable. You finally hit your straight on the river at a soft Hold ’Em table, but the other guy makes his flush. Or you push out a few max bets in blackjack, land a pair of 20s, only to have the dealer snap off a six-card 21. The bigger the hand, it seems, the larger—and more disheartening—the loss.

For a casual player, it’s easier to shrug off a few losing sessions. After all, if you view gambling as entertainment, you don’t necessarily expect to leave the casino with extra money in your wallet. But for a skilled player, losses can be harder to rationalize. When you know a lot about a particular game and are confident enough in your abilities to feel as if you have a big edge, it can be much tougher to book a loss.

Good poker players certainly are familiar with the threat that this poses. If there are holes in your psychological game, they will surface in just this kind of scenario. If you are at all susceptible to playing on tilt, you know you have to be vigilant against bad beats affecting your play. If losing a big pot or two changes the way you play, you are not doing your bankroll any favors by staying in the game if your head isn’t in the game.
Losing’s Losing!
The blackjack world is my area of expertise, but much like the world of poker, losing sessions in blackjack have their own unique risks, for both amateurs and professionals alike.

For the casual blackjack player, there are two main threats that come with losing. The first, and most insidious, is the temptation to alter your playing strategy. As an example, basic strategy says to hit your 12 against a dealer two. If you busted that hand three times in a row and are down $1,000, are you tempted to just stand instead? Don’t even think about it. If it really bothers you, it’s time for a break. Book the loss, and live to play another day. Blackjack is tough enough to beat without playing badly—and every time you break from the right way of playing, you’re playing badly.

A second threat for the casual player is the temptation to chase your losses with bigger and bigger bets. While you can sometimes luck out and erase all your losses with one big win, the downside is the larger possibility of really demolishing your bankroll. How are you going to feel if you turn that $1,000 loss into a $10,000 loss? If you are tempted to bet more than you should, it’s time again to just book the loss.

Tomorrow is a new day.

For the pro blackjack player, neither of the previous two concerns are much of a factor anymore. If they are, you’re not ready to be called a professional. If an expert blackjack player stands with that 12 against a dealer two, it’s because their card-counting system tells them that it’s the correct play. What happened in the same situation 10 hands ago is never part of the decision process. The math dictates the play, and that’s that.

A pro blackjack player is also acutely aware of his bankroll and the bet range it can safely support without running too high a risk of ruin. There is no temptation to chase losses, because that would require overbetting the bankroll. And a pro blackjack player knows that is the fastest way to go broke.

What’s Good For The Goose …
Still, skilled blackjack players run into some real risks in losing sessions, too. Many talented players hate to book a losing session, and will play for longer periods of time than usual in an attempt to get back to even. Even when playing perfectly, with right-sized bets, they run serious risks playing longer sessions.

Extra time at the table means the pit and surveillance crews have longer to evaluate your play, which increases the risk that they may accurately identify your play as a threat. In the long run, beating the game is the easier part of being a pro. Staying welcome to play is more challenging. One of the best ways to preserve your longevity is to restrict your session length to an hour or so. Developing a healthy “sixth sense” for casino heat has saved many a counter.

Remember—and this goes for amateurs and pros alike—you can win back your money at another casino down the road just as easily as you can in the seat you’re in right now. Don’t be so stubborn about it. If you’ve played a reasonable length session and you’re in the hole, just hit the door. If a player consistently books winning sessions, that alone can be enough to raise the suspicions of the pit. Sprinkling a few losses in there with the wins makes your lifetime record look a lot more like a typical gambler.
While a successful player should never become complacent about losses, he should always be aware that some losing sessions are inevitable. Use these losses as extra encouragement to continue your study and practice of the game. When you are confident that you are playing the best game you can, losses are nothing but a small bump in the road.

Ken Smith has appeared in all four seasons of WSOB on GSN and is a UBT champion. He can be found at his site BlackjackInfo.com, as well as at the tournament community he founded at BlackjackTournaments.com.