I’ve been running okay in a single deck game I found on a boat! Have been counting and have been doing well; haven’t run into any trouble just yet, which is great.
I’m up $9400 in about two weeks, taking a break now to make sure I can keep playing the boat in the future… 
My blackjack results for the first few days of July are resembling those of the rest of June – steady in the plus thanks to finding a new 4-deck shoe-game which allows me to count much easier than the 6-deck game I had at my local casino. Also – I’ve been doing great on the addiction side of my gambling hobby. I’ve put myself on a tough schedule not playing for 5 days in a row at some points during a work week and getting just a set amount of hours during weekend play… Not only does it work for now but it also means I can’t keep track of my win/losses during a session that much as I am supposed to leave the blackjack table at a specific hour anyway…
I have allowed ONE exception — I’m allowed to keep playing if the deck is hot, but quit when it drops below my collercount. 
Wish me luck everyone!
I’ve climbed from my negative downfall at the start of 2008 and turned it into a marginal plus for the year.
I realize it’s minimal, but at least we’re not $5000 behind… 
Wish me luck for May!
I haven’t been a good boy. Really — I haven’t. I was going to really cut back, yet this week I ended up in a casino twice playing blackjack. The good thing is I won twice, but that really doesn’t matter too much to me at the moment. I felt ok coming out, but once I stepped into my car I kinda felt sick and both times — realizing these wins are worth absolutely nothing when my real goal is seriously cutting back on my gambling.
Anyway, bankroll got helped out a little which puts me close to even for ‘08 — but I’m sticking to my plan to tune down the gambling… Bare with me… 
I’ve been doing pretty ok in March, but I did have a little slip-up at the casino when I flipped a coin about whether to take a trip to city A without a casino or city B with a casino. Faith landed on city B which to me was a green light to sit down at a blackjack table.
I did good until at a certain point I lost 13 hands in a row which obviously cripled me. I felt bad but as I’m doing great in the business side of my life the impact on my finances was close to none which is good considering some of the losses I sustained before…
Anyway, trying to get my act together, hickups along the way…
I’ve decided to set short term goals, and for now I’m doing okay. I haven’t entered a casino since my last post here, and I haven’t played any online blackjack either… I feel good. I’m working hard, I’m doing good at work, and I’m focussed on the important stuff in life…
I also talked to a friend about my problem. She knew about my gambling, but was quite surprised to hear me say I had a problem. I’m a strong person in the real world, people think I’m not prone to these kind of things. Heck, I thought I wasn’t prone to these kind of things…
Admitting to myself that I am is an important step. I’m glad I made it.
I’ve been playing online, FOR FREE. I feel like the smallest little donkey idiot ever. I downloaded this trainer game, and have been hooked trying to make prime decisions only.
I’ve had moment in which I disagreed with the software consistently. Guess my game WASN’T perfect. I mean — BASIC STRATEGY SHOULD BE SIMPLE, no? :p
Meh — I need a hobby.
I’ve been doing anything but gambling for over two weeks now, and I’m still ok. Been holding out quite a lot, and actually even drove past a casino and NOT WENT IN. It’s always tough for me to drive past one and just keep driving — it’s almost like my body wants me to move into the direction of the shiny lights…
Anyway, still doing ok. Playing some low-stakes poker home games amongst friends as the only form of gambling — and seeing as that’s in a game I pretty much beat on a 75% win-session basis I feel pretty confident that’s not gambling.
Oh well — wish me luck, hope not to gamble in March at all — we’ll see how long I hang in there.
Being a semi-professional gambler it’s always hard going through periods of cold play. My first week of 2008 was a cold one — and it pretty much started with a hand I never expected to lose…. I’ll run you through it:
3 players at the table, I’m playing 3 boxes — all in front. Two other playes both play a single box — one is behind me on one of the boxes.
Cards come out — I’ve got:
- A/A
- 7/3
- 6/6
Dealer’s upcard is a 6.
Yay — that’s excellent news! I split the aces — and in the casino I’m playing that means ONE card extra only — no blackjacks. I get a 7 (18) and a 9 (20). Not awesome — but good enough against a six.
Second box is an obvious double down. I get a ten. 20.
Last box isn’t too tricky — i split my sixes. First card: 5. I double down on 11 and get a 3. 14. Second split six gets a 4. I double down on ten and get a 10. 20.
At this point, there’s a good deal of money on the table due to all the double downs and the splits.
Dealer goes:
6-10-5.
I’ve seen this happen before (it still hurts but oh well), but that seemed to be the start of a cold run for me. I went on to lose more than I wanted to that night — and have decided to take the second week of January off from playing blackjack and play some low-stakes poker… Let’s turn the tide!