After the March class I was at my casino in the woods having a blast wining a lot and being fat and happy I seriously couldn't lose rolls into the 20's to 30's consistently and a ton of hard ways. I remember reading about a trip Frank Scoblete took to Vegas one year and he always owned Vegas always. He said after that trip he wanted to curl up into the fetal position and never move. The bad and ugly happened to me. I was playing 4-5x a week long sessions 10hrs at a time. Then the 7's started coming more than the 20-30's rolls. I blew through my 401g account in a week. Couldn't figure out what happened to me. I then remember what Dom preached in AC. Rest and concentrate. I was burnt out always tired dice weren't on axis and playing too much because I was in a zone. I had a guy yell at me I should never pick up the dice again all I throw is 7's. I was pissed off and told him a few choice words about laying in a dumpster. He was right I took me blowing through all my money to realize I was playing too much. I took two weeks off didn't touch dice. I'm throwing well again (mind you I don't have my practice table yet) but I'm getting the groove back. Playing 1-2x a week resting and stopping when tired. I'm building back my 401g and have had rolls into the high 20's and 30's again just not consistent because the tables are packed and wait times as are long as Disney! I'm readjusting and playing off hours. Please learn from my mistakes folks and listen to your mind and body!!! Play well my friends

Replies:

Posted by: Skinny on April 30, 2014, 7:01 pm

Kaz,

You are not the first to experience this reality awakening. Unfortunately I expect you will not be the last either.

We do our best to warn folks in advance about the downsides of playing too long, going on tilt when things go wrong, trying too hard to make up for losses instead of accepting the loss and coming back another day, etc. We tell folks this is a physical endeavor. One needs to be at ones best to perform with optimal proficiency.

We like to impress upon students that this is a journey not a destination. That means once you make a commitment to become a controlled shooter and want to develop into an advantage player, you realize you are playing for the long run, not just what is happening today or at a given session. Every thing you do is with that goal in mind. You want to optimize your wins when things are going well. But more importantly is to minimize your losses when things are not going your way.

I am sorry you had to learn the hard way by losing your entire 401G. But if you look upon this as a learning experience and do not make the same mistakes again in the future, it may have been worth the pain.

Posted by: Matt I on April 30, 2014, 11:04 pm

Hi Kaz,

Slow and steady wins the race. I know it's hard to pull back when you seem to have one good roll after another, but any professional player (you pick the sport) needs to pace themselves otherwise, they'll burn out. The good news is you caught yourself and you went back to what was discussed at the class .

Now, let's take the small steps. Practice for a while before you go back to the casino and when you do, your session should be for a short period of time (personally, I never play more than 1-2 hours at a time and it's only that long since it probably takes a while for the dice to get back). If I do play a second session in the day, it's usually shorter than the first session. For me, standing for long periods and throwing puts stress on my back which makes it harder to play. Your body and mind needs to be well rested.

Take is slow my friend. Like Skinny said, this is a journey and it will take time. Consider your lucky you caught yourself earlier but more importantly, you remember to go back to what was learned in class.

We're here if you want to talk and you can call if you prefer to speak offline.
Matt / Sandman

Posted by: Eagle Eye on May 1, 2014, 12:54 am

Kaz, wish you well. Stay on top of your game.

Posted by: Scooter on May 1, 2014, 2:56 am

Kaz,
Another point that needs repeating - set your limits and stick to them. What ever your buy-in, when you lose a portion of it, walk away. Don't say to yourself - "The next roll I will be back on track and have a winning roll". An Advantaged player is also a DISCIPLINED player.

One of the comments you made in your previous post was playing off hours because the tables are crowed. The Team I'm shooting with of late gets going early to get our positions and before the crowds start to flock to the slaughter house. Having to wait for the dice to come back around the table to throw again, most of the time 60 to 75 minutes is insane.

There is an old saying that is appropriate here. "It's great to learn from your mistakes, but it's less painful to learn from other peoples mistakes". Dom has stressed in his classes most of the DON'T's, yet we have to live through it to really understand and comprehend those words of wisdom.

Stay the course.
Scooter

Posted by: Pit Boss on May 1, 2014, 2:33 pm

At some point or another, every advantage player has lost their bankroll.

But AP's can come back from those deficits and learn from their mistakes. I'm certain that you learned your lesson and you will come back from this a better player.