Austin Toll Party Poker

Everyone loves to walk away a winner. That’s the whole point, after all, of playing these games, right? So how can you set yourself up for success at the blackjack tables? There are a few things you can do here, either to walk away at the best or highest point as a winner, or to cut yourself off on the losing end before things get worse, as well.

The safest method for introducing a “cut-off” point is to set a benchmark number for yourself. You can do this in stages, actually. First, you can set a rule that once you go up $100 or down $100 (insert whatever dollar amount you prefer, of course), then you’re cut-off point would be another $50 in either direction. The danger there, though, is on the losing side, as it’s much easier for most to end up in the hole than in the positive, and the temptation to “keep trying to get back to even” is too great for some. Still, if you get yourself up $100 and are resolved to walk away if you lose half that back, you’re still leaving the table a winner. The other benchmark is simpler – and that’s just to set a “walk away” amount from the beginning. It puts less options in your hands, but sometimes fewer decisions can be good, as long as you stick to your plan.

The blackjack benchmark method of walking away on the winning side can also be a sliding scale. You don’t have to cut yourself off if you’re up $100 and win another $50. What you can do is continue to adjust up the amount available to lose and then walk away from the table. This way you can continue if you think you’re on a hot streak. For example, if you’ve made it to +$150, you can reset your stop point at $100, instead of the initial $50. Each time you win $50 or $100 more without dropping down to your stop point in the interim, you can continue to set yourself higher benchmarks for walking away. This is a disciplined and successful strategy for walking away a winner, and it’s highly recommended.

One final tip, always know how much you have (and how much you’re up or down) at quick glance. Don’t pile your chips. Separate them into small stacks, and keep your “break even” pile separate from your winnings. When it comes time to make a quick decision on playing another hand or walking away, you can tell where you stand in only a few seconds.

Every now and then you run into people who want to have online casino gambling discussions with you, which is great. You can share strategies, war stories and tips over a few cold drinks. The potential pitfall to this is the frustration that comes with a stubborn claim, one that someone will not let go of. Let’s look at a the biggest one – that something is “due” to happen, and debunk it.

“If the blackjack dealer’s won 10 times in a row, he’s due to bust.” This one, maybe, you could bring some validity to if you’re counting cards and are making a prediction based on probability and not a hunch. The truth is, though, that most people who make this statement wouldn’t know what the true count was if the dealer himself were calling it out to him. I can’t stress this enough: each hand is new. Each hand is unrelated to the last hand you just played. There is no carry over. It might be hard to let go of a big loss from the previous hand, but to make money at casino games, you have to bring your brain and check your heart at the door.

“If a roulette ball hits red 20 times in a row, it’s “due” to hit black, and you should bet your next few spins accordingly.” Wrong. Show me the mathematical reasoning behind something like this before it even escapes your lips. In fact, show me any study of any number of spins and I’ll show you a study that refutes your statement.

“I was “bound” to make my hand on the river.” Ah, the low-limit, ignorant, chain-smoking Hold ‘em player. Love these worthless comments. I just heard this phrase verbatim last weekend. Here’s the truth: if you were “bound” to get it, it was because statistically there was a greater than 50% chance of that card or suit or whatever coming up. Otherwise, you just got lucky. I’ve been lucky with the river a few times, and I didn’t feel like I was “due” to get the card. I felt like I escaped with some chips because I probably should’ve lost. If you’ve lost on the river 15 of your last 15 times, the 16th hand promises no leeway to the “down on their luck.” Again, a new hand, a new deal, a new set of odds.