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[alrelax]

1)   There is a tendency to confuse the unfamiliar with the improbable.  And that my friend is a huge block for many bac players.  The contingency that we have chosen not to, or refuse to, seriously looks strange to us.  And, what looks strange to us, we will generally classify as improbable.  Then subconsciously you will figure, what is an improbable needs not to be considered seriously.

2)   Next, when a possibility is unfamiliar to us, we generally do not even think about it or give it much consideration.  Again a huge mistake to make in bac.  Instead, you will just develop a sort of mind-blindness to those types of things.  My reasoning behind that is the following.  You will not admit to what you do not know.  Simple.  AKA:  Not having or refusing to have an open mind.

3)   A known or an Unknown?  Donald Rumsfeld summed it up best.  Here is what I am talking about.  There are known knowns; there are things that we know we know.  We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things that we do not know.  But there are also unknown unknowns-there are things we do not know we do not know.

4)   Few things fall squarely into the categories of totally predictable or totally unpredictable in baccarat.  Even if you do not know to predict something with 100% certainty, you might be able to come up with an estimate or a forecast of type, to at least visual the threat, which is if you are in the right frame-of-mind.   But at least you will give yourself an edge and get a little further and become a little better than sitting there oblivious to what can happen.  If you fail to make a forecast at all, you will see everything important as an unknown and those very things will remain as an unknown.  Thus, you doom yourself.

5)   Be careful against giving yourself, or allowing yourself to remain with a mental block.  The problem of the mental block will develop out of frustration that your knowledge of baccarat is imperfect and/or weak, thus failing to make any forecast or give yourself an edge.  And what is worse yet, after you repeatedly lose playing baccarat, you justify the continuance without any sort of rationalization into a forecast by telling yourself that there is no way to forecast anything because nothing exists to forecast. 

[Johno-Egalite]

Indeed things to consider.

If I may, this post would have said so much more, had you posted examples.

1)   There is a tendency to confuse the unfamiliar with the improbable.  And that my friend is a huge block for many bac players.  The contingency that we have chosen not to, or refuse to, seriously looks strange to us.  And, what looks strange to us, we will generally classify as improbable.  Then subconsciously you will figure, what is an improbable needs not to be considered seriously.

Unusual repeating patterns, will not continue, why when cards have no prior knowledge or are not influenced by previous hands, I don't know. Few weeks ago, I encountered this.

BB
PPPP
BB
PPPP
BB
PPPP   already you have a symmetrical pattern consisting of 18 hands, which is not going to continue to 24 hands.  Why? I can't give a definitive answer, other than it just won't given my table experience.

Yet most players become super confident and bet big on the Bank for the next hand, which did win, Bank did win the next hand, but did not repeat. IMO it is like Barstows theory, the longer it exists, the less likely it's continuance.

Random seems to have limits, an oxymoron it may seem, but again based on 15 years and well over 20,000 shoes played, it is based on hindsight. Over a decade ago, I played a shoe which I'll never forget for a few reasons.  Not only have I never seen any like it since, but I also lost my composure and bankroll to the sequence.

B
PPPP
B
PPPP
B
PPPP
B
PPPP 
B
PPPP

After the forth set of 4 players and a perfect repeating pattern of 20 hands, I deviated and started betting against its continuance, bigger and bigger bets, ended up getting cleaned out. 99 times out of 100, when you make a move like this, you will be successful.  I guess karma just wasn't with me that night.

It is worth pointing out a couple of things here. My golden rule nowadays is, if you are not losing doing what you are currently doing, THEN DON'T CHANGE.  For example, if one of your strategies is to bet against a streak of 4, but for some reason you won against a streak of 4, in other words you were on it, then don't jump off it.  Nobody knows if it will become a dragon,  have already won "say" 3 bets, why deviate just to win a single bet, you have already won 3.

Secondly, with both examples, there is a lot to be said for "the basics", as in "OLD, DBL and FTL".  The last two would bring home the bacon given both scenarios. 

3)   A known or an Unknown?  But there are also unknown unknowns-there are things we do not know we do not know.

Which is why MM is paramount. Because we don't know, don't risk your entire BR on something and if the abnormal does happen, apply the brakes.  Another example, hammering a double Bank after 10 single banks, or hammering a double Bank after a long run of single banks which as just ended. Still prone to do it, for a factor of reasons, time at the table, whittling down your composure. 

4)   Few things fall squarely into the categories of totally predictable or totally unpredictable in baccarat.  Even if you do not know to predict something with 100% certainty, you might be able to come up with an estimate or a forecast of type

Nothing is ever a dead cert, all we have is likelihood.  Unfortunately it is not 'probability', because every hand remains a 50-50 proposition.

5)   Be careful against giving yourself, or allowing yourself to remain with a mental block.  The problem of the mental block will develop out of frustration that your knowledge of baccarat is imperfect and/or weak, thus failing to make any forecast or give yourself an edge.  And what is worse yet, after you repeatedly lose playing baccarat, you justify the continuance without any sort of rationalization into a forecast by telling yourself that there is no way to forecast anything because nothing exists to forecast.

If it was possible to forecast just a single wiinner, then you would "go all in", of course this is not possible, which is why we don't risk it.

My belief and approach to the game is that we cannot forecast anything, therefore, don't even go there, don't think about, don't even consider it, remove such notions, ideals out of your gameplay. The basic bet selections handle everything a shoe can produce, are you using the correct one for the current state of play, that is the gotcha.  Avoiding getting caught in making a switch!!!

Then you can take it to another level, by using Templates, which then remove, "is the shoe choppy, streaky, what is it doing now", totally from your game. A complete waste of mental energy, as shoes can change in a instant. 

It really doesn't matter what kind of shoe it is, you will win against it the majority of the time. Yet a nemesis still has to exist, due to basic Maths. So you are left with MM which is the be all and end all.  we don't venture to a casino to win or guess right, we go with the aim to leave with more money than we arrrived with.  Make your nemesis as unlikely as you possibly can, as well as it being a minority occurrence.  Then you can solely focus on your priority which is, to use the money that you have got, to accumulate more.   

[alrelax]

"Random seems to have limits, an oxymoron it may seem, but again based on 15 years and well over 20,000 shoes played, it is based on hindsight. Over a decade ago, I played a shoe which I'll never forget for a few reasons.  Not only have I never seen any like it since, but I also lost my composure and bankroll to the sequence."

I guess what I personally found, learned and experienced, has been a continuance will of course doom the player, and while that very thing is so easy to say here in a forum outside of a casino, when you already profited by such decisions, the continuance is not easy to avoid---especially while the shoe is still presenting additional ones.  Then when you do continue and lose, the downside sets in because almost all players refuse to accept the discontinuance of those presentments, etc.  So yes, you are correct in many ways.

Number 5 you seemed to have taken to the extreme, but it touches upon the other 4 in many ways.  Taking it to another level I have done on a frequent basis, but I always apply my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd MM Method which will 100% of the time protect me as long as I stick to that.  That alone will allow me to excel with wins, if I am winning, while I apply positive progressions allowing me to fuel my 1/3rd MM Method even further, until the presentments stop. 

[Jimske]

My rule of thumb is to take a profit from a winning series.  Halfback or reset to assure a win. 

[Johno-Egalite]

I guess what I personally found, learned and experienced, has been a continuance will of course doom the player,

Only if you chose to deviate from whatever it is you are doing. My rule of thumb nowadays is, it you are not losing, don't change anything based on what your see unfold.   

Then when you do continue and lose, the downside sets in because almost all players refuse to accept the discontinuance of those presentments, etc.

Yep, that is when your composure is shot. Loss of control, discipline gone, head home broke, wondering why you even got sucked into it. The truth of the matter is, when you first start playing, you are less likely to fall into this trap, if you have been playing for many many many hours, it becomes more likely that you will. 

[alrelax]

Absolutely, spot-on, to the classic 'T'. 

Many (countless) doom themselves.  But in all reality, it is not just bac, it is the guy down the street in the all out verbal fight with his wife, the employee and the employer (neither one backing down) and the pissed off customer and the retail shop owner disagreeing.  The list is long, but to me, no different. 

However, cash is involved and lots more than just a few dollars most of the time.  Coupled with the fact (100 percent fact) the player lost because of the player's poor judgment and he can not handle it or accept his own reasoning.