Why Don't We Have A "that's Enough" Switch?

[slash 0]

So, this is a pretty crazy story, and first, let me say that I acknowledge that blackjack generally, especially online blackjack, is super -EV. I know that. I was just f--king around, got super hot, then got super cold, and in the end, didn't actually lose anything. For the record, I don't consider blackjack to be a leak in my game - this was truly an exceptional circumstance and I almost never play it at all. Regardless, you don't need to tell me that it is a leak or that I'm stupid. That's not the point here.Party gave me $75 free to come back after a long, long break from there. (I haven't been playing much the last 9 months in general due to serious time constraints, but it has been even longer since I played regularly at PP, and I used to run a fairly large amount of money through there each month. $75 was a "peanut," but it was a free one just the same.)I played a few $10 and $20 SNGs, and was rocking them pretty hard. I would win a couple and be up a hundred or two, then head right over to blackjack and bleed the winnings away - sometimes going on a run, but almost always losing it all back. But the $75 hadn't been cleared yet, so I still had money to play poker with.Today was about the same. Won a couple SNGs and took $165 to blackjack. Got a little hot, then pretty cold, and was down to about $60. Then I got hot again and up to about $375, playing $5 and $10 bets. I thought "I'll play 1 hand at $25. If I win, I'm at an even $400 and if I lose, no biggie, I'm still up almost 2 bills." First $25 hand, Blackjack. Then I got super hot, and ran it up to around $800.Hovered around $800 for a while, and then got hot again - up to $1300 or so - a huge win. After back to back blackjacks I'm up over $1400. "Why not try a $100 hand, the max bet, just to say I've done it." First $100 hand, blackjack. I proceed to get hot again and I'm up around $2700 in no time. All from a $75 freeroll.Did I stop? Hell no. Lost a couple, came back a bit, lost a bit, and pretty soon I'm down to $1200 or so again. "OK, one more $100 hand and then it is quitting time." Nope. Lost, try again, lost, try again, and soon we're back in the $500 range, which seems so dinky compared to where I was. "If I can just get back...."Pretty soon, I'm down to $60 again, playing $5 bets again, and lost it all.I'm kicking myself and laughing at myself at the same time. I didn't lose anything and shouldn't be playing with my workload right now anyway. No harm, no foul, or whatever.But it raised an interesting question in my head. Why don't we, those of us who have a little gamble in us, have a "that's enough" switch when we're winning? You can never definitively stop playing at your highest point, because you never know what is going to happen on the next bet. Why would I not stop when I've got over $2500 in free money!?!?!?!?!?!It isn't because I'm a degenerate gambler, or a problem gambler, or anything like that. I don't play with what I can't afford to lose. Sometimes I cut it close, but never to the point that I get myself in any kind of trouble. I just think it is curious that I didn't think to myself, "Wow, I just beat a totally unbeatable game for $2500, overcoming a huge, huge, huge house edge. I think it would be a good idea to take my winnings and run!"That, and I'm a retard. Oh well.

[bombsaway 0]

So, this is a pretty crazy story, and first, let me say that I acknowledge that blackjack in generally, especially online blackjack, is super -EV. I know that. I was just f--king around, got super hot, then got super cold, and in the end, didn't actually lose anything. For the record, I don't consider blackjack to be a leak in my game - this was truly an exceptional circumstance and I almost never play it at all. Regardless, you don't need to tell me that it is a leak or that I'm stupid. That's not the point here.Party gave me $75 free to come back after a long, long break from there. (I haven't been playing much the last 9 months in general due to serious time constraints, but it has been even longer since I played regularly at PP, and I used to run a fairly large amount of money through there each month. $75 was a "peanut," but it was a free one just the same.)I played a few $10 and $20 SNGs, and was rocking them pretty hard. I would win a couple and be up a hundred or two, then head right over to blackjack and bleed the winnings away - sometimes going on a run, but almost always losing it all back. But the $75 hadn't been cleared yet, so I still had money to play poker with.Today was about the same. Won a couple SNGs and took $165 to blackjack. Got a little hot, then pretty cold, and was down to about $60. Then I got hot again and up to about $375, playing $5 and $10 bets. I thought "I'll play 1 hand at $25. If I win, I'm at an even $400 and if I lose, no biggie, I'm still up almost 2 bills." First $25 hand, Blackjack. Then I got super hot, and ran it up to around $800.Hovered around $800 for a while, and then got hot again - up to $1300 or so - a huge win. After back to back blackjacks I'm up over $1400. "Why not try a $100 hand, the max bet, just to say I've done it." First $100 hand, blackjack. I proceed to get hot again and I'm up around $2700 in no time. All from a $75 freeroll.Did I stop? Hell no. Lost a couple, came back a bit, lost a bit, and pretty soon I'm down to $1200 or so again. "OK, one more $100 hand and then it is quitting time." Nope. Lost, try again, lost, try again, and soon we're back in the $500 range, which seems so dinky compared to where I was. "If I can just get back...."Pretty soon, I'm down to $60 again, playing $5 bets again, and lost it all.I'm kicking myself and laughing at myself at the same time. I didn't lose anything and shouldn't be playing with my workload right now anyway. No harm, no foul, or whatever.But it raised an interesting question in my head. Why don't we, those of us who have a little gamble in us, have a "that's enough" switch when we're winning? You can never definitively stop playing at your highest point, because you never know what is going to happen on the next bet. Why would I not stop when I've got over $2500 in free money!?!?!?!?!?!It isn't because I'm a degenerate gambler, or a problem gambler, or anything like that. I don't play with what I can't afford to lose. Sometimes I cut it close, but never to the point that I get myself in any kind of trouble. I just think it is curious that I didn't think to myself, "Wow, I just beat a totally unbeatable game for $2500, overcoming a huge, huge, huge house edge. I think it would be a good idea to take my winnings and run!"That, and I'm a retard. Oh well.

BBFISATCTough break, though.

[EStormOk 0]

What do they say about denial? Hmmm, something about the first stage....no, I remember. It is a river in Egypt.

[GoCryWolfe 0]

I'm pretty sure on Party you can't use that money to play Blackjack...

[ColeSLaw 0]

It is because I'm a degenerate gambler.

FYP

[KowboyKoop 0]

Just retarded................how can you sit there and look at 2500 dollars like that and keep going.......wow. Unreal.Oh...and als......I DON'T BELIEVE THIS STORY!~~OWNED!!!!!

[slash 0]

I'm pretty sure on Party you can't use that money to play Blackjack...

Initially, you can't use the free $75 for blackjack. You can play with any profit you make on it, though, which is what I was doing at first. Then, I'd played enough poker that I cleared the $75 requirement, so all of the money was freed up.I'm totally not joking about this, BTW, and yes, Koop, I'm retarded. However, like I said, the biggest loss I took through the whole thing was about 5 hours of my time....being that I was freerolling the whole way.Of course, looking at it the other way, I lost $2500 that I could have just cashed out.It's also amazing to me that I managed to beat a game so badly against an edge that is so harsh against the player. PP BJ is 8 decks, dealer hits on soft 17, early surrender, and double after split allowed. But, they reshuffle the 8 decks after 10% has been dealt. So, approximately every 6-8 hands. I can't even figure what their edge may be, but it is without a doubt huge.Also, I think there is a conspiracy going on. I think PP or one of the other gaming sites, maybe several of them, have set up fake "basic strategy guide" webpages. I have no data to back it up, but I did google "basic strategy" and found some nifty little guides on how to play. It wouldn't be hard at all for one of those sites to set up a guide that looks legit, but actually increases the house edge if you play according to that guide. That's what I'd do if I owned an online casino, anyway.

[kevin2536 0]

And the max bet on party blackjack is $200 donk. trust me i kno

[slash 0]

Right you are about the max bet. I didn't even look, I just had it in my head that it was a hundo. Maybe that was what made me lose it all, that I didn't bet the $200 max when I was running hot! Maybe I would have stopped if I'd have made $5k instead of $2500.Yeah.

[jayboogie 0]

You felt like you were on a freeroll and had nothing to lose, which you actually were. As to why you couldn't get up and leave? Well probably because you wanted to win more or you went on tilt when you started losing a few hands and decided you were going to play till you busted.

[slash 0]

You felt like you were on a freeroll and had nothing to lose, which you actually were. As to why you couldn't get up and leave? Well probably because you wanted to win more or you went on tilt when you started losing a few hands and decided you were going to play till you busted.

The freeroll part is right. As for the "tilt" part, I wouldn't exactly call it that. There were a few hands that were sick dealer suckouts, but that's to be expected. I think it was more being desensitized to the amount of money I'd won. Once you've cracked $2500, "only" winning $2000 seems paltry. Same for $1500, so you try a couple more $100 bets to get it back, and the deck kicks you in the teeth a couple more times. And on it goes. But it isn't exactly "tilt," because I didn't start playing poorly or anything.

BBFISATCTough break, though.

Bad Beat Forum Is__________? I'm no good at these. I don't even know what FYP means. I've always assumed it was F--k Your Post.

[jayboogie 0]

The freeroll part is right. As for the "tilt" part, I wouldn't exactly call it that. There were a few hands that were sick dealer suckouts, but that's to be expected. I think it was more being desensitized to the amount of money I'd won. Once you've cracked $2500, "only" winning $2000 seems paltry. Same for $1500, so you try a couple more $100 bets to get it back, and the deck kicks you in the teeth a couple more times. And on it goes. But it isn't exactly "tilt," because I didn't start playing poorly or anything.Well you can't really play poorly playing blackjack unless you're really terrible at it. In a game where you're -EV, you're expected to lose, you'll just have stretches where you have good run of luck and win. The tilt part is not getting up and leaving and being able to say to yourself my luck is going bad, it's time to quit.

[ivegottadollar13 0]

they gave me 25 bucks a few days ago and i was allowed to use that at the blackjack table and i ran it up to 350 in like 15 minutes but lost it all its ok i made 1600 the next day on blackjack at the casino even made the dealer 400 bucks in about 10 minutes at 3 card poker

[Kantian 0]

It's also amazing to me that I managed to beat a game so badly against an edge that is so harsh against the player.

You beat the game? Funny, I was under the impression you donked off $2000 dollars you could have used playing poker by playing a -ev game.Sounds like they got every dime back.

[slash 0]

You beat the game? Funny, I was under the impression you donked off $2000 dollars you could have used playing poker by playing a -ev game.Sounds like they got every dime back.

Dur dur dur.Smart*ss.

[Wizard_The_Alphabet_Elephant 0]

ODKMAKIRITH

[TheCinciKid 0]

As far as the on/off switch is concerned, I both know where you're coming from and don't. I personally, like to gamble a little more than is probably healthy. I've managed to find a game (poker) where I have an edge. Yet, I still make dumbass bets a lot and lose a good chunk of them. In my limited experience with hugely -EV games like blackjack though, I've actually been pretty good about quitting ahead. I've played BJ in casinos a couple of times and basically, if I go on a run and get ahead by 2 or 3 times what I bought in for, then lose a couple of hands I get up. I also had the same experience with 3-card poker this weekend. I hit trips and managed to turn 80 bucks into $500 or more, but gave a decent chunk before walking away still with $400 and up $80. In other words, I did find that switch where I said, I've won money, it's time to quit while I'm ahead. I really think though that that could have a lot to do with the money meaning something to me. I'm not exactly rolling in cash right now, so even a few hundred feels like a lot. If a few hundred or a couple thousand didn't mean anything to me, I can certainly see donking it back like it was 20 bucks.