Well, I don't know what to say.  Every once in awhile I email Gizmotron (Mark) and ask if he is okay.  Awhile back I got a short answer of yes, but not writing any longer on forums. 

I have not heard from him in quite awhile so this morning I emailed him and received this back:

"Address not found
Your message wasn't delivered to g1234567@...........com because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail."

I called his cell phone number and it says, "I'm sorry the person you called has a voice mail box not set up yet", with no ring tones.  My experience is those are phone numbers either out of order or not assigned yet by the cellular company that controls them. 

Anyways, we had our share of drama and fights for well over a decade plus between the two of us.  Mark is a great guy 24/7!  Hope all is well!

There's not a single book, not a single research paper, not a detailed audited video of a series, etc., etc.,  that will show guaranteed and systematic wins.  PERIOD.  There is none, never have been—never will be, none, zero, zip, zilch, nada!

There are numerous clowns and goons that say, post and attempt to sell systems pretending that they repeatedly prevail winning within the game. And there are just as many that will post garbage and attempt to sidetrack any reasonable factual and truthful people posting. Sad but true. 

What I said is all easily searchable but the Internet is the Internet and countless will be overtaken by the virtual lies and made up fairytales that people tell and the ones on YouTube are pretty darn attractive I will admit.

There most certainly is opportunity on the baccarat table. Not one doubt, but you must have some kind of knowledge of the game, common sense and have the stomach to risk money. But you must understand there is winning and losing and have a concrete money management method that will work for you and give you an advantage.

And let's all remember those countless people posting, "wait for this or that" and then "wager so-and-so on such and such". LOL, guaranteed losing propositions, but once again, the Internet is the Internet.

What about all those with their triggers, they are claiming nearly 100% or even 80-90%.  And all with their justification so systematically laid out. Looks like research, looks like experienced and advantaged secretive play, and so many other things to the person stumbling upon it. My response?  Fantasy and fallacy. 

And those that say to watch and watch and wager only a wager or two or three with some kind of small stop loss amount.  My response?  Well here it is. Uneventful failure is not a success. Because you do not lose you cannot justify not winning with success, it is a catastrophic failure of play. 

Do you want to do something to give yourself some type of advantage? You have to focus on winning. Realizing your buy-in is risk and understand how to turn your risk into profit.

Be Careful, Be Smart, Be Advantaged!

I caught a rare glimpse of Waldo at a gas station near the casino he works at early this morning.  Told me he just got off pulling 2 shifts straight. 

Here is a pic of his truck!  Gotta Love It!

The table is the stage! Not one doubt about it-not one! No fancy gimmicks, no light show, no name brands. Nothing phenomenally materialistic, No pyrotechnics, no strobe or neon lights.

Just the dealer, the chip rack and the shoe. The green felt is the ocean of effortless greatness. The ocean is your place where you basically jump in, splash and wind up swimming to success or sinking to failure. 

Buy-in, sitting at the table and looking at our chip stacks separated by colors directly in front of us.  Then continuously looking at the rack and imagining how many of the dealers chips we can manage to win. The words of the Talking Heads song, 'Burning Down The House', running through some of our heads. "Ah, watch out, you might get what you're after. Cool babies, strange but not a stranger. I'm an ordinary guy. Burning down the house".................. OMG, seriously so fitting!

Great moments and real bad moments and all kinds of in between ones form at the table. Great memories stick, bad memories most of us wipe out pretty darn quick. Real quick in fact.

Lots of players-lots of thoughts.  A few players-no less thoughts indeed.  Thinking to the max. Thinking the average person that doesn't play baccarat would never imagine happens within our heads.  The cards change the way most of us think for whatever reason. We attempt to follow the cards and the only one really thinking about everything is us, not the dealer, not the floor people, not the cards, not the chips and definitely not the table. But the table sure brings lots of drama and reaction out in every single one of us.

Funny how even after a bad session or two or three, we go right back to that same table with complete open arms and a new handshake once again. Really not very rational but in the mind of a baccarat player, 100% normal and expected as well as never really given a second thought at all.

Before you can truly win, you must be able to compound positive results at the table and manage those results into profits. It goes a little bit further beyond winning a few hands or a bunch of hands, but how you schedule and plan what you are going to do with your win money while you are winning. And that is not easy because of the psychological affects winning has on all of us. 

How much-how long-decision making skill or hot lucky streaks-following others winning, and so many more will come in to play. Wins are wins, no matter how you arrived at your win. Money from the dealers rack into your buy-in stack. Once it hits your stack, it is yours, of course. But, you have to give yourself positive profits you can apply a concrete Money Management Method (MMM) to.

We all have different goals and beliefs at the table. No matter how you win, when you win, you must hold portions of your wins and be able to get psychological and visual physical positiveness out of your wins. That will give you all good advantage over most anything else.

I have found that the highest majority of all baccarat players will wager more when they are losing than when they are winning. Cutting a long and complex explanation of the above statement, you must engage in a reversal of exactly that. Wagering smaller and then bigger. However the 'bigger' must not be your buy-in or stacked money. I will attempt to explain this as simple as I can.

You must also understand and be able to separate decision making for your bets and how to handle your winning wagers to give you advantaged winning.

AT A MINIMUM, BUT NOT OPTIMIZED:
* Holding portions of your win amounts religiously.
* Able to hold partial wins and use partial wins.
* Applying protocol.

THE ABSOLUTE OPTIMAL:
* Using only your winnings not your buy-in funds at some point.
* Applying protocol.

Use Winnings With Protocol:  Mine are, winning in excess of my buy-in gets divided up into 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd amounts. 1/3rd back into my buy-in stack, 1/3rd locked up for anything but gaming and 1/3rd into reserve. When certain amounts are won, those amounts are further divided up. I am governed by the losses of winnings, or simply in other words, not wining after winning according to protocol. 

So I am governed by the losses of the wins, rather than always relying on my buy-in and stacked chips with really no protocols. Thus I refrain from believing my wins won't stop or really getting 'sucked in' and giving it all back and losing my buy-in as well.

I am writing this from years (decades) of brick and mortar casino experience. I constantly witness experienced Players, friends and those that have extremely great BetSelection and Decision ability and other positive traits.  However most all have little or no MMM and that is what is killing their ability to win more sessions by far than what they lose.

Explaining what I mean by wagering smaller than bigger and how to handle your winning wagers to give you advantaged winning.  A realistic example and on the side of seriousness is a $180 base wager. Instead of a flat betting, pull down, add a partial unit of win or two and then wager again, etc., etc., I have found a solid and quickly aggressive strategy would be the following:

$180 Base wager.  If won, move to second;
$360 Second wager.  If won, move to third;
$720 Third wager.  If won, STOP. 

$1,440  $180 Back into buy-in.  $1,260 play money.

Or Another Example Would Be:

$300 Base wager.  If won, move to second;
$600 Second wager.  If won, move to third;
$1,200 Third wager.  If won, STOP. 

$2,400  $300 Back into buy-in.  $2,100 play money.

NOTE:  Replenish buy-in with whatever drawdown might have occurred prior to the, 'STOP'.

(Below I will post a couple of pictures of actual chip stacks of mine at the table and maybe you can imagine the psychological and visual physical advantages they give me).  I separate my chips, I know why and how I earned them as well the representation of drawdown or win, and the amounts by protocol with a quick glance. 

Back To Protocol.  You get the idea. Two wins past your base wager, with your risk money is not far-fetched and dreaming at all. I've done quite well at it and although I do not keep session by session records, I know I am up overall since I started to employ that several years back. And it helps me extremely well over just grinding it down or betting blindly and not having any outcome planned for the win money except to win more. Again you should get the idea. 

The protocol you must stick to, is that of the base wager, your first wager. If you lose, you are losing the wager from your buy-in amount. Yes that is your risk money, at least it is mine. If you win, you are governed by your win and you are allowing your winnings to earn you more winnings and within a short period of time you will apply your MMM to the wins by strict protocol.  Within my protocol is, that of my further win and generally I am governed by losing a buy-in worth of winnings, is my tap on the shoulder to wait or stop the session.

The reason I choose to wager and draw down on my buy-in, is because it gives me a greater alertness to wagering as well as a greater consciousness to make fewer and quicker wagers especially when winning. I have found that reserving win money and only increasing a small percentage of my base wager, works against me from my goal of base wager +2 additional wins before reverting back to my base wager.

The hardest, the most difficult and the greatest notorious killer of most all baccarat players as I said, is their inability to apply a solid concrete MMM to their winnings. But also, their inability to understand a flat betting grind and its adverse affect on the player. As well, the player winning a few and believing in the continuation of a hot streak or skilled decision making trend, etc., and then a few losses occur with the players quick attempt to recover what they just so foolishly gave back.

Sure it's hard not to continuously wager larger and larger bets, but with my way I am risking minimal base wagers and reaching out for three wins, two after a base win and then scaling back to my minimal base risk again. No matter if I am drawing down on my buy-in or if I am using my base wager from sole winnings.

Baccarat is probably the easiest game in the casino to win as well as lose. But, if you win you better learn how to handle it and what advantage you can easily employ to hold it.  Be Smarter-Be Better. Realize the power of winning-realize the power that losing has over most everyone as well. If you really do, you will become a better player, a more successful player and much happier. I promise you that.

Totally Unbelievable!  "Dear Judge, I was a police officer but I have a gambling addiction.  Please don't give me too many years in prison because I used to serve our community".  Yeah, Right. What a total menace to society that was a Gun assigned law enforcement officer.  IMO, put him in general population at a hard core prison and not some low level prison camp either.

"A Las Vegas police officer was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for stealing nearly $165,000 in a trio of casino heists, including one in which he was found guilty of brandishing a department-issued weapon."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/las-vegas-officer-gets-12-years-role-3-casino-heists-stealing-165k

I know it will never happen again , never ever.  But I sure do miss the old school Baccarat rooms and the high limit rooms—ran and patronized the way they used to be, which also held the original bac tables. 

The tables were all two-sided with a capacity of 7 people each side, having their own plenty of space area.  No back betting, no handing money to another, no capping wagers, etc., etc.  There was one dealer standing that would call the cards, once the person that had the shoe slid the cards to the dealer standing.  Yes, each person physically had possession of the shoe and dealt the cards.  The person kept the shoe as long as that person made Banker winning hands, when the person made a players winning hand the shoe was passed to their right.  The person having the shoe could wager for Bankers or Players.

It was considered bad luck and uncool by all means to pass and not take the shoe, or pass the shoe if you made a Banker and didn't desire to deal additional hands.  If you were wagering for Banker, you would slide a card out of the shoe and to the dealer standing face down.  Then you would put the next card under the corner of the shoe face down.  Then you slide the next card for the players to the dealer face down, as well as another card for the banker under the corner of the shoe.  If you were wagering on Players side, you would slide the 2 face down Bankers cards under the shoe to the dealer and the dealer would slide you the Players two cards.

If no one was on players you could tell the dealer standing to flip the cards or hold them face down.  Then you would look at the bankers side cards you had wedged under the shoe.  On rare occasions at certain casinos, one could ask permission to pass the Bankers cards to another person.  If anyone was wager on the players side, then the dealer would slide them face down to whomever had the highest wager or whomever several said to pass them to.  Then you would expose the bankers side cards.

If needed, the dealer standing would call for a third card for the P or B or both.  Those would also go to whomever turned over the first two.

Shoe started in Seat 1 and travelled counterclockwise.  Where the shoe ended, the next shoe would begin in the next spot.  New cards of course each shuffle.  But a real shuffle, unwrap the new cards, mix-wash-shuffle. A true 20-30 mins between shoes easily.  Old cards put in a zip lock bag, marked, tagged and taken away. 

There were no electronic scoreboards.  Most all kept their score and notes on a house provided scorecard and decent pen.  Usually a two color pen at most places, blue and red ink.  Also, no side bets at all.  Only B, P and Tie. 

Most people were not playing a few hands by any means.  Sure a very limited amount of people would come on and play a small amount of hands, then leave, but not many.  Most of those type were frequenting the mini bac lower limit tables on the main floor.  Virtually no one dressed as the majority does today or should I say post late 90's.  Meaning no ripped jeans, no hoodies, no sweatshirts, no shorts, no ultra casual errand running clothes.  Guys had on slacks, dress shirts, Tommy Bahama style shirts, etc.  Women had on dresses, pants suit outfits, skirts and blouses, etc. 

Besides the dealer standing that would call and handle the cards, there would be two banker dealers seated with 2 completely independent chip racks.  One for each side of the table.  There would also be one floor person standing behind each side of the table, the entire shoe.  All dealers and floor people had 20-30 min breaks and got tapped out, etc. 

And as long as the person with the shoe was making Banker winning hands, no dealer or floor could go on break until the next winning player hand.  Same thing with a chip fill arriving at the table, shoe could not be brought in until the next winning player hand was made. 

Before the highest majority of all big bac tables were removed and replaced with minis, midi-Macau style tables, the people playing had the option of playing the big table mini style, where as one of the two seated chip rack dealers would deal the shoe and flip the cards, etc. 

But all in all, the whole atmosphere and level of camaraderie were heads and tails over what it is today.

Hi Everyone!

Let me put something out here to answer some questions I have received off the forum while it was down/offline for a few weeks.  Kinda Two-fold.

First.  As many of the regular members noticed, there was a slow response to searches and posting with an extended time to load or retrieve content.  The forum needed to be 'cleaned up', have files removed and deleted, as well as problems with the server.  Victor who performs my maintenance had problems with a couple of things and this was supposed to only take a couple of days or so.  It took longer than we imagined by far. 

Second.  I was consumed in day-to-day life events including experiencing unprecedented dozens upon dozens of absolutely dangerous and life taking EF3 tornadoes the past few weeks.  While the day-to-day events were going on with myself and attempting to push 36 hours into 24 hour days, the forum problems were occurring.  I paid no attention to them.  Never followed up with Victor and put it all on the 'back burner' as the saying goes.

Second and a Half.  Recently I was questioned by two members of the forum as we communicate by phone as well, about the status of the board.  Long story short, I was ready to shut it down for good.  I do not profit from it, cost a little bit to keep it up and maintain it.  No advertising, links or commercialization of any type allowed without sponsorship and no one wants to pay anything to be a commercial member.  I also do not tolerate the well known circle of drama members that desire to soap opera every day and cause problems.  Upon review, we have a lot of readership and sign ins, but just a few regular members posting real, worthwhile and interesting posts. 

Upon communicating with a couple of members I was encouraged to keep it online as they believe it is a real type of non mathematical place to post and read.  Here is a quote from one of them, "your forum has a lot of meat on the bone posts, plus a broad range of approaches".  And, "most forums only have elementary level playing strategies/very few experienced real players at real tables". 

As well as, dealing almost everyday with memberships that sign up and then start their linking, spamming, phishing, etc., garbage.  Checking IP addresses and of course banning and blocking all the nonsense and drama driven concerns that make forums troublesome and aggravating to so many.  Once again, advertising, links to websites for gaming that so many will only take your money and are unregulated, and all the unrelated linking and diversion attempts.  It takes time throughout each and every day to attend to all this.

So, I was heavily leaning to staying offline and done.  But I rethought it all.  And here we are.

And here is a personal message quote from Victor to myself regarding the server and maintenance end of it.

"Hello & good day Glen, the server is good to be used normally again.  All data is okay.

In the end, it was the operating system unit getting clogged by files. I freed enough space already to cover the rest of the year.

Sorry for the interruption.

I'm in the process of offloading the daily backups to a secondary server, in order to minimize the possibility of this happening again.

Thank you very much again & much blessings."

I wish to add that I am hopeful to have more posting and members desiring to interact rather than just sign on and read. 

Wishing everyone health, happiness and good luck.

Respectfully,
Alrelax
Administrator and Forum Owner

Myself and a couple others decided to do something a bit out of the ordinary today. 

We pulled out before 5a.m., and went to a nice spot down by a lake on a road we can continue down for the casino we eventually desire to wind up at later today.

We brought our breakfast and will discuss our thoughts and ideas as well for the sessions we will be engaging in.  Watch the sunrise and make some 'good time' life observations. 

Here are some pictures from a little bit ago. 

Will post pictures of the score boards if possible after the play.

A few of us (that regularly play baccarat together) met for dinner at a steak house tonight and we got talking about weird and strange autos that were produced a while back. 

It was actually a nice change for us, as we didn't talk a word about baccarat or the casinos.  We all had steaks with those huge old school shrimp cocktails.  We all enjoyed a superb glass or two of some great cognac as well.

Here the are with some pictures attached for your reference. 

Ford Pinto
Chevrolet Vega
VW Bus
AMC Pacer
AMC Gremlin
AMC Rambler
AMC Concord
1974 Ford Mustang II
Yugo
Chevy Citation
Chevy Chevette
Chevy Corvair

And the Baker's Dozen special stupidity award goes to Cadillac for their, "rebadging of a Chevrolet Cavalier" into a CADILLAC CIMARRON!

From Motor Trend: "The compact Caddy was touted as "a new kind of Cadillac for a new kind of Cadillac owner" in its day. Certainly. Cimarron by Cadillac was built on GM's J platform at plants in South Gate, California, Lordstown, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisconsin between 1981 and 1988. Depending on the model year, Cimarrons were powered by 1.8- or 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines good for 86-88 horsepower. But if you were really livin' large—as one did in the Eighties—there was a 125-hp 2.8-liter V-6 available. Transmission options included a sad three-speed automatic for the V-6 and a sweet four- or five-speed manual for fours. Not impressed yet? Have you seen the Cimarron's thirteen-inch wheels and seriously classy hubcaps?

The Cimarron, introduced for the 1982 model year, became an instant icon of badge-engineered mediocrity, a mean stew of cynicism and desperation tinged with the sour stench of wheezy four-bangers and cheap velour," is howAutomobilesang its praises, adding, "In the early '80s, Cadillac still stood for a certain large-scale American bombast, but the Cimarron drove an 88-hp, four-cylinder stake straight through the heart of Cadillac's brand identity.

Inside, the front-wheel-drive sedan came standard with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a tachometer, perforated leather bucket seats, hand lever parking brake (sporty!), air conditioning, Trianon deep-pile carpeting, and an AM/FM radio—with four whole speakers! The cabin offered 89 cubic feet of passenger volume, per the EPA, which also pegged the Caddy's mileage at a decent 26 mpg city, 42 mpg highway."

DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT, JUST FRIGGEN DO IT!!!

Last night it was simply beautiful!  Simply amazing, flawless and a touch of stomach wrenching, even thou I wasn't technically playing.

Here's what happened.  I went to the casino to pick up H-Money my buddy. He was dropped off there by a family member and we were going to go out to eat, after I picked up and then give him a ride home. I get to the casino and I'm standing there with H-Money, he is into the place for about $3,400. Asks me how much cash I have on me. I go in my pocket and I have $820 plus a folded up $450 that I had to drop off to somebody on the way home. I tell him $1,270. He asks for it and I give him $1,200 even.

Understand what was going on, as I was standing there watching for about 10 hands. Everybody was losing.  No matter what side they were wagering on the majority of the people were losing. There were hands such as the following ones I will write out.

P=2/face B 10/7 and P pulls a 6. Everyone on bankers.
P=4/9 B face/6 and P pulls a 4.  Everyone on bankers.

Everyone switched to players. 
P=10/8 (of course quick hi-5s) B turns over 10/9.

Most all the serious bettors switched back to bankers.
P=9/8. B=5/A.

Most stayed bankers.  P=9/9. B=9/8.

Then hands such as: P=face/4. B=face/face. P pulls a 6 and bankers pulls a 10.  Most were on bankers and that, "darn can't even beat a zero" was said out loud in frustration.

Everyone on players with large wagers. 
P=5/9. B=2/10. Players turn over a 7.  Bankers turn over a face card.  Another frustrating hand for most.

H-Money says, "let's do this" pretty loud.  Throws in the $1,200 I gave him and he had a few hundred left in chips.  He was attempting to get some camaraderie going, but most were down in their buy-ins and multiple re-buys. You know heads in their hands type of aura going on. 

It is a $2,000 max table. H-Money puts $800 on the bankers side and slaps the table. Most follow with a couple being on the players side.  Players open an 8 and a 2, Bankers open a 9 and a 10 for the win.  H-Money quickly parlays it all and adds the other $400 he had for the table max.  Dealer says table max out loud, the pit person sitting down with her back to the baccarat table turns her head and says OK, because she saw all the regular players.  One other person is near table max and the others on bankers are probably $50 to $200-ish.  Cards dealt, players total of 6 and bankers had a two card total of 7.  H-Money lets out a loud "Sweet Whispering Geronimo" and lots of laughter and happy faces. 

Understand this is an EZ Bac table, no bankers commission and most are regular patrons and friends anyway.  H-Money is staying at table Max and I will make sure he colors up and leaves if his winning streak continues or whatever he is feeling. Lots play for the cut or doubles and then the cut as we all know. 

Well a good 15 minutes later if not 20 minutes or so, seven more winning IAR bankers were made for a total streak of 9.  H-Money stuck at table max on every single one, from the 2nd one on, with lots of fanfare from numerous people playing.  Of course he lost the last one.  By the way, the hand that fell off was, P=N9 and B=N8. 

H-Money got his $3,400 back, gave me my $1,200 and walks with $10K plus a few hundred.  Nice dinner off casino property paid for as well as a gas fill up, both courtesy of H-Money. 

Side Note:  Lots of people playing cannot capitalize handsomely on streaks, extended chop chop, extended doubles or countless other events because of the drummed in belief of, "it can't or shouldn't happen" so they wager continuously for the cut and then when the cut comes, they go for the IAR, etc.  Or, they stop wagering all together. 

But H-Money hit it hard, stuck with it and I made sure he colored up and cashed out.  I can't say what he would have done if I was not there.  But I do know, wins like that give unhealthy beliefs that a continuation of winning has to happen and quick winnings are very quickly given right back and additional buy-ins are attempted to win again.   

I wrote about it before and I think it's just simply amazing how Fred Smith kept this company alive for one more week to cover his fuel bills, that led him to $5.8 billion dollars net worth as of this year. Which included taking $5,000.00 to Caesars palace in Las Vegas and winning $27,000.00 to cover a week's extra business life!

Quote from a magazine; "I asked Fred where the funds had come from, and he responded, 'The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.' I said, 'You mean you took our last $5,000-- how could you do that?' He shrugged his shoulders and said, 'What difference does it make? Without the funds for the fuel companies, we couldn't have flown anyway.' Fred's luck held again. It was not much, but it came at a critical time and kept us in business for another week."

FROM WIKI:

In 1970, Smith purchased the controlling interest in an aircraft maintenance company, Ark Aviation Sales,[5] and by 1971 turned its focus to trading used jets. On June 18, 1971, Smith founded Federal Express with his $4 million inheritance (approximately $29.8 million in 2023 dollars)[17] and raised $91 million (approximately $690 million in 2023 dollars)[17] in venture capital. In 1973, the company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents and a fleet of 14 Falcon 20 (DA-20) jets. His focus was on developing an integrated air-ground system. Smith developed FedEx on the business idea of a shipment version of a bank clearing house where one bank clearing house was located in the middle of the representative banks and all their representatives would be sent to the central location to exchange materials.[5]

In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to great lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill. It kept FedEx alive for one more week.[18]

In 2003 Smith, along with Robert Rothman and Dwight Schar, purchased a minority share of the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League. The three owned a total of 40% of the team until 2021, when they sold their stake to majority owner Dan Snyder following discontentment with Snyder.[19][20] Smith also owns or co-owns several other entertainment companies, such as Alcon Entertainment.

In 2000, Smith made an appearance as himself in the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away, when Hanks's character is welcomed back, which was filmed on location at FedEx's home facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. A DKE Fraternity Brother of George W. Bush while at Yale, after Bush's 2000 election, there was some speculation that Smith might be appointed to the Bush Cabinet as Defense Secretary.[21] While Smith was Bush's first choice for the position, he declined for medical reasons — Donald Rumsfeld was named instead.[22] Although Smith was friends with both 2004 major candidates, John Kerry and George W. Bush, Smith chose to endorse Bush's re-election in 2004. When Bush decided to replace Rumsfeld, Smith was offered the position again, but he declined in order to spend time with his terminally ill daughter.[23]

Smith was a supporter of Senator John McCain's 2008 Presidential bid, and had been named McCain's national co-chairman of his campaign committee.

Smith was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame and also awarded the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1998.[24] He was inducted into the SMEI Sales & Marketing Hall of Fame in 2000. His other awards include "CEO of the Year 2004" by Chief Executive Magazine[25] and the 2008 Kellogg Award for Distinguished Leadership, presented by the Kellogg School of Management on May 29, 2008.[26] He was also awarded the 2008 Bower Award for Business Leadership from The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[27] He is the 2011 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.[28]

While CEO of FedEx in 2008, Smith earned a total compensation of $10,434,589, which included a base salary of $1,430,466, a cash bonus of $2,705,000, stocks granted of $0, and options granted of $5,461,575.[29] In June 2009, Smith expressed interest in purchasing the controlling share (60%) of the St. Louis Rams from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez.[30] In 2009, Smith earned a total compensation of $7,740,658, which included a base salary of $1,355,028, a cash bonus of $0, stocks granted of $0, options granted of $5,079,191, and other compensation totaling $1,306,439.[31]

In March 2014, Fortune Magazine ranked him 26th among the list of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders".[32]

In March 2022, Smith announced that he would step down as CEO and become executive chairman. He named long-time FedEx executive Raj Subramaniam as his successor.

Let's cut the chase and understand the power of influence. Bad influences will affect your wagering and profitability.

1).  Expectations that will prevent you from winning and might increase your losses greatly. There are plenty of expectations that players believe in, for example, believing that statistical averages will appear in their favor during the few shoes they play within a session. But there are plenty of other unrealistic expectations and you better define what they are and get rid of them;

2).  Oblivious states of mind, where as you convince yourself you can win and buy-in past initial risk capital buy-in over and over. You better come to grips with what the initial risk capital and your buy-in should be and look at it as your chance to win or call it an attempt to win and walk away;

3).  Continuously telling yourself excuses for losing hands or not wagering larger amounts on your winning hands. Very dangerous influences that will put you into a completely wrong state of mind you don't want to be in;

4).  Senseless play that only leads to grinding you down. There's no way I could define them all because we all have different expectations we believe in, therefore you better think about what grinds you down and how to avoid falling into senseless play.  If you think it doesn't happen to you, you are not ready to define it and improve your game yet;

5).  Have some type of MMM/PLAN, that you strictly adhere to, with 100% belief.

When winning, never walk away unless you used up the allocation for additional play within your MMM.

One thing I repeatedly tell myself when I get to my personal win amount and my MMM kicks in is that; "If I held onto my winnings with a plan as well as controlled my losses, I would have a hell of a lot of money that I gave back in reckless pursuit of winning more". I consciously say that during most all sessions when I get into the win status, when I do. 

Remember, you are responding to what you cannot control. Meaning you're facing a shoe that will produce anything and everything and not adhere to anything you believe in or not and in random order. Therefore results will affect your inner thoughts, with or without your conscious permission. Remember that while at the table!

MMM is not bet selection, such as 1-1-1-2-2-3, or wagering on any number of triggers, etc., etc. Those are bet selection and wagering beliefs. not MMM.

A true MMM Plan, is a solid concrete method that will dictate what to do with your winnings as well as limiting your play when you lose. Period. It also can allocate larger clump wagering with a certain portion of your winnings giving you an advantage, especially with positive progressions allowing you quick profitability in much larger amounts, that most do not engage in or find it difficult to. 

Think and think hard about what I am bringing forward here.

Here it is from the government.  And I will tell you, it is no game.  The casinos enforce it.  The world of the SAR is very strong and goes into play between $2,000.00 and $3,500.00 if the player is not a regular known ID on file player, etc.

https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/sar_guidance_casino.pdf

Just thought some of you would like to know (as if we already all did not) where the majority of the new members signing on, first or second posts, attempting to insert their Links, Phishing, Spamming and everything related to those 'low-life' computer journey livelihood ventures people originate from.

Pakistan
India
Africa

There are others, but those are the top 3, that I catch, when I run their IP Locations.  Yes, some do use USA or other country 'Proxy' servers, but there are ways to catch those as well. 

And to reiterate myself and my policies here, I am not against well known and regular posting members inserting links to their posts.  However as far as links to online gambling websites, I rather those are not inserted for various reasons. 

One of those reasons is that I feel most of them are not honest in their business practices.  I tried to deal with a couple of them that are on other forums as well.  I have proven their business practices to be dishonest in many ways.  If they are dishonest in their business practices, I can only imagine what they engage in with their players. 

As far as someone that is honest coming on board here, posting and promoting honest and reputable gaming sites, I am open to that.  But, I want to know who the member is beyond an anonymous, by proxy, email contact only, as well as whom the gambling site is with references and certifications, etc., etc.  Then the person can sponsor our forum and promote business in a real and open way. 

Most likely won't happen because the way I look at those attempting to Link, Spam, Phish, etc., is the same as those that call our cell phones with their robot or off-shore call centers trying to sell after market car warranties, house warranties, burial insurance policies, etc., etc., etc.  And if you attempt to redial and call 99% of them back, your cell phone carrier will tell you, the number you reached has been disconnected and is out of service.  The more creative ones actually have started using your own area code and first three digits as their originating business number, and it is not.  Others have found computer programs to actually show call back numbers of real live businesses and others, that are in no way connected to them.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  Right along with those texting they are from the USPS or UPS and there is a package waiting, etc.,etc., just click the link to get it delivered.  Oh yeah one more.  The one about the $1,537.17 charge to Walmart or Amazon and if we made it there is no action required, but if we did not click the link to stop the pending credit card charge, etc., etc.

So, I have nothing against someone that desires to promote honest and reputable online gaming, but I want to know who the person is as well as the business.   

ADulay gave me the idea for this thread.

I do like sunrises, sunsets, rainbows and unique sky colors.  Here are a few.  Could not resist to capture them.

First one was about 20-25 minutes earlier than the second one.  It was a fantastic coloring of the sky with a gradual relief of the dark black cluster of clouds.

KungFuBac's pick is the 49'ers.

My pick is the Chiefs.

I have to go with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to get it done.

Any thoughts?

No matter what you use to guide you through playing Baccarat, will ever repeatedly work and allow you to win with consistency. Nothing at all!

Your wins will be the result of a proper Money Management Method, that gives you advantages with concrete buffers (which include buffers to cut down, increase safely as well as stop), if you have the wherewithal to follow it-without thinking it will turn around losses or allow you to continue Wagering shoe after shoe after shoe.

Even when you are winning and you have multiplied your buy-in numerous times, mistakes are unavoidable. Do not blame yourself, if you do you will allow disadvantages to enter your play very quickly. Then you will be off track and you are certain to lose, or give back large portions of your win money.

I will tell you something, from years of baccarat play reference mistakes. It is not a problem to make them. The only problem is, if you never learn from them. And learning from them is not figuring out the placement of a wager after a trigger occurred. It is a bit more complex than that. It is actually reading randomness, capturing what is being presented and being guided by a real Money Management Method. Call me out on that, but I don't really see any other way one can make money at the game Baccarat. At least on a continuous basis.

I witness players actually fear failure at the tables all the time. I know if you are afraid of failure, you cannot win at the game Baccarat and do what needs to be done with wagering.

It took me a while to figure out the difference between a successful master and a beginner at the game of baccarat. And that is not always measured by the years of play. But I do know for sure, that a Baccarat Master has failed more times than the Beginner has even tried.

If you are a beginner, drum it into yourself you will fail. If you can recognize that and use that, you will add valuable pieces to the puzzle of baccarat most all people can never ever recognize, let alone use.

There is no rock-solid way, trigger system, or scheduling of wagering to continuously win, or even win small hit and run sessions with 51% +, as so many seem to believe. The same goes with triggers and scheduling that wins a few hands, but every person playing that way will lose far in excess of what he has won attempting to re-capture the wins with the beliefs subconsciously adopted for all the wrong reasons.

But, just because it is not happening at a certain time, one shoe, three shoes, eight shoes, a few weeks here or there, in no way means it never will. You have to learn the way while you are playing. Some things will be wrong at varying and unknown times, mistakes and losses must occur before you will have the confidence and be able to tackle the shoe challenges, doing it all with sheer passion and purpose along with a way to consciously understand randomness, employ a good GREAT M.M.M., and leave your emotions/frustrations at the door. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:  1) To myself, success is being able to win greater amounts monthly than I lose.  2) Being able to maintain my true passion and purpose when I play. 3) Maintaining my bankroll with occasional increases from wins.  4) Using my win money (cashed out win) for other things than gambling.  5) And most importantly, accepting both mistakes and losses with a Baccarat Masters frame-of-mind and attempt to learn from those.

(Taking advantage of presentments you understand, with a M.M.M., you follow results in the attachment I posted here).

What so many people do not, or will never recognize is the minimum and maximum numbers versus real numbers.

For the math freaks there is something called 'Set Theory'.  But, that can only apply if there are no 'real/reality numbers'. 

In mathematical analysis, the maximum and minimums of a function are, respectively, the largest and smallest value taken by the function. Known generically as extremum, they may be defined either within a given range (the local or relative extrema) or on the entire domain (the global or absolute extrema) of a function. >>>But not how each hand, or the order of each hand will be presented from any shoe.<<<

As defined in set theory, the maximum and minimum of a set are the greatest and least elements in the set, respectively. Unbounded infinite sets, such as the set of real numbers, have no minimum or maximum.

In statistics, the corresponding concept is the sample maximum and minimum.  Please Note:  Statistics are a theoretical sampling of 80 hands of Baccarat, played out approximately 1,000,000 times. 80,000,000 hands and then each minimum and maximum result figured out for whatever valued defined, etc. 

So in reality and more importantly, in relationship to wagering at the game, you can have maximum and minimum in statistical analysis.  However............But............in the game of baccarat and how each and every shoe will present its presentments, 80 + - times a shoe, will be 'real numbers'. 

And 'Real Numbers' have zero corresponding adherence to statistical results the highest of the highest amount of times.  And more likely, IMO the relationships, if any, can safely be classified as coincidental rather than statistical presentment.

Get rid of your False Hopes-False Confidence and Blindness within your baccarat play.

Put the time and trouble into improving yourself/your play.  I read it takes an average of 60-90 days for self improvement change to begin.  As far as application of change to gaming, I am not sure, but it's worth a try IMO.

1) Begin with a ritual of REFLECTION on your play. Please see my thread:  https://betselection.cc/index.php?topic=11679.msg71756;topicseen#msg71756.

2) Push the fallacy out!  Misleading and deceptive data, stats, methods and beliefs are super dangerous to your play. Be careful whom you listen to and trust.

3) Do not get hung up on certain triggers as a wagering point. You must learn and deeply understand randomness and how it is presented with or without any clue from a shoe.

4) Dedicate time each and every day to learn about the game.

5) Engage in a real Money Management Method (MMM) that benefits yourself, your play and control with the  sessions you engage in. But engaging in it with a solemn adherence.

6) When Frustration, Emotions and Stress sets in at the table note it and write about it later on. Find the reason so you can ultimately reverse it. It is more than a lost wager, I promise you.

7) Concentrate on yourself, as in You-Vs-You at the table. It is all about you and only you. Do not let yourself be distracted with all the verbal and physical doings at a table.

-8- Allow your Money Management Method to have the last words at a session. Win, Lose or Draw. This is different than engaging in the MMM, (#5 above), this is the faith, grace and priority of applying a session closure, which is vital and the most important.

9) Do not have expectations when you sit down. Learn how to center yourself with extreme and dedicated focus.

10) Engage yourself in the reversing of negative actions you learned you have in regards to playing Baccarat.

Recognize and Practice.  Learn what real consciousness, focus and neutrality mean and how you can possess them and apply them at the table with your decision making ability.

Do not hold yourself down with anything you cannot control. But you MUST be totally conscious of the fact every wager and  decision you make, you can control.

Well guys, it's almost here! Hope to meet with a few forum members, once and for all.  Although we are not a heavily trafficked forum, mostly because I refuse to have/allow the drama, spam, systems solicitation and posting all types of nefarious links, etc., we do have some great members here and lots of readership.

Wishing everyone a fantastic year filled with love, laughter, along with all your favorite things and lots of $$$ from gambling! May this year be your best one yet, full of amazing surprises and great moments of all types.

For all of you to have a wonderful year filled with good health and success!

Alrelax
Administrator & Forum Owner

QUESTION TO ME:

"Say you target streaks of 3s and 4s (or 2s and 3s or anything like that): when a superior streak happens (that is a 5+ streak) you have to reset the plan then waiting for new streak classes in the hope they'll come clustered (obviously singles and streaks of inferior lenght do not count).

Long streaks are relatively rare to happen, so it's likely that inferior streaks will come out clustered; sometimes (often) an entire shoe is formed by streaks not surpassing the 4 value.

Now we'll play with a 'sky's the limit' approach because the number of shoe rich of low value streaks overcome those rich of long streaks.
Sections!!!

It's a plan derived from what you've written in your posts."

MY ANSWER:

You say target. I do not 'generally' target in anything-except what the shoe is doing when presentments are forming with something I can detect and/or just plain feel good about placing a wager on. 

Streaks.  Yes-5/6 iar begins the streak, 1s, 2s, singles-chop, doubles, triples, quadruples are absolutely the most common with/within every shoe. Anyway, with that said......

I have a written about it before. I like to reiterate-as reiterating, reinforces!

Here Goes:

Long streaks 9-10-12-14, and more.  Certainly do happen. Posted many of them when I can snap a picture.  True not every session. But they certainly do. 7-8-9 iar, is almost common, not every shoe, but again not rare by any means at all.

I have adopted the, "It Is What It Is", play persona-protocol. Might not mean much to most, but helps on the frustration and emotions end with myself.

'Skys the limit'.  That has to be based/applied around your MMM and wagering win/risk chips already in your possession, or a small piece of your buy-in, etc.  But..........and However, when it happens you do want to be right there, on it, with a few positive progressive wins prior to the take off and then just pull down each win, only losing the last one when it does cut to the other side. 

Here is an example just below.  (I have attached 8 B&M score board pictures to reinforce what I am trying to get across).

P-BB-P-B-PP-BB-P-BBB

Then:  P-BB-P-B-PP-BB-P-BBBB

When it's like that or anything similar and you see one more two more iar forming, I sure want to be on it!  So many will risk wagering on/for the 'cut' again and again and get sucked into-the 'cut' has to come, etc. But......shoes do not operate that way. Shoes do everything  and anything, at anytime. Shoes are weak, clump strong, stay strong, weak and strong in distinct patterns, as well as spread out although-out the entire shoe, etc. Take that into consideration and being conscious of that, onward.

I have caught so many great longer streaks 7/8-10/15 + iar because of being on it when it went one more and then just continued iar repetitiously.  Then after a few positive progressions, I just enjoy pulling down each win and gladly surrendering the last one in the streak.

Ref 'One More' Mentioned In The Above Paragraph:

One More, as what I described above are 1s, 2s and 3s, and then a 4th was made. Or 1s and 2s, 3s and 4s and then a 5th was made, etc.  Just throwing a written explained picture out there.

You have to remember, you cannot control what the shoe is producing, but you can control the way you respond to what is happening, if you are conscious of it. So many players fail to practice what I just said the the previous sentence.  Why do I say that?  Because everything comes and goes in the game of baccarat and thus, confuses the highest of the highest amount of players.  What the shoe is producing, what the shoe has not produced, what the player desires, what they player believes in, what the reaction is by others present, etc., etc., etc., and many more. 

And you truly want to know something? When I have two really good options to choose from, I challenge myself to wager with the one that scares me the most.  (And I am not just referring to a B or P wager, might be a small or large wager, a flat Vs a pos progressive, a series of wagers, etc.  Because seriously, that is likely the one(s) that is/are going to help me grow. Re-read the paragraph I just wrote, think about it in detail!

I do not know, probably our methods of play are different, but I generally 'look for/wager with' whatever is happening.  Doesn't matter chop-chop, doubles, streaks, triples, 1s and 2s, etc. But I do look for those traditional streaks which are long repetitious iar Bankers followed by repetitious iar Players.

With all that said/laid out, let's go back to the above example:

P-BB-P-B-PP-BB-P-BBBB

Now let's say one of those 9 iar Bankers came along.  It would look something like this:

P-BB-P-B-PP-BB-P-BBBBBBBBB-P

(For example purposes, I was wagering $250.00 as a base risk wager)

Banker bet 1) $250 win $250. ($250 back to buy-in)

Banker bet 2) $250 From win. 

Banker bet 3) $500 Full parlay press from #2.

Banker bet 4) $1,000 Full parlay press from #3.
              $1k win pulled down.

Banker bet 5) $1,000 Pull down the $1k win.
             
Banker bet 6) $1,000 Win pressed to bet #7.         
Banker bet 7) $2,000 Pull down the $2k win.

Banker bet -8- $2,000 Pull down the $2k win.

Banker bet 9) $2,000 Pull down the $2k win.

Banker bet 10) $2,000 Lose as Cut to Players.

$8,000 won.  Initial $250 recouped after first wager. 

My reasoning is, if I was at least ahead the win of $250 after hand 1, hands 2 and 3 are on the casino, not affecting my buy-in at all. 

My reasoning regarding hand 4, pulling down the $1,000 all win money, I would have a complimentary 4 additional attempts on the casino to build out 4 wagers of $250 each.  That is playing a bit conservatively, we all agree it's tough after hand 4.  But a lot of the times, not all, I would stick with that wager amount. 

If that happened, I would set my buy-in sideways for hold. The $8,000 won, I would dedicate $2,000 to 8 additional $250 attempts. I would put $1,000 additional into my original buy-in (of $1,800-$2,500)and lock up, no double thoughts whatsoever, the $5,000 remaining from the win money.

Once again my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd (about) with win money. That is what I call a M.M.M.  It has to govern you. Not maybe, not possibly, but has to 100%.

Conclusion:

Adjust. Be totally conscious. Be super careful of desires, but don't forgo a trend-pattern-happening, etc., that is flowing and you see it or are capturing it easily. Most will say those are intangible events to be involved with, but they are not. To myself, they are tangible, but we just do not know when they will begin and end while we are in play at the table in front of a live shoe.

Eight attachments posted below from previous brick and mortar live shoes.

4th one down.  Note the 5B and the 5P next to each other in the beginning.  Then the 7 iar B, 6 iar B, the 5 iar B, the 4 iar B.  No one basically believed, most saying, "no way, players coming out next strong", over and over.  I did extra handsomely on all those  bankers!  Then the 4 players right next to the last 4 iar Bankers to match their 5 iar side-by-side in the beginning.  Note the extreme weakness for the rest of the shoe, all 1s and 2s. 

6th one down.  Classic and exactly what I was attempting to convey to you above.  WOW-O-WOW!  Beautiful!!!  Bang it on the 3rd winning one down with a nice parlay to the 4th hand. Then just pull down each winning payout. Stack one more time at least around the 7th or 8th hand and 'happily' lose the last one, when it cuts to the players. What's the problem?

7th one down.  The 9 iar Bankers, I gave in the example above, I have regularly experienced 8-12 iar, not rare at all IMO.  Yes, said countless times, not every shoe, but not in the rare department at all.  Anyways, here is a 9 iar with 3 5-iar Bs as well.  One players with 7 iar, but otherwise players 3 or less.

Insights From My Experience:

BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

Now, IMO, comes the hardest things to become habitual doing.

You have to break the habit of allowing yourself to automatically interpret every experience by believing, what happened-happened for a reason, (because within the game of baccarat, it simply does not). That is what turns off so many so quick and so ruthfully off. Period. Plain and Simple!

Interpret every experience by practicing anchoring your attention, your attention solidly within the instant experience.  Notice any physical sensations and emotions that are rising from yourself and observe the state of your mind. Is it racing, agitated, fuzzy, becoming emotional, or is it perfectly clear?

Become conscious of what you are feeling, because your feelings will not keep you consistent solid and profitable play.

RECOGNIZE YOUR GAME

Your conduct produces the result of your decisions. Those decisions will either generate losses or wins, simple. You have to remember you are the one that makes the decision if you win or lose.

Majority of baccarat players fall prey to what the game represents and how it is presented by most all casinos. Players become senseless, callous and outright stupid. There are no rhymes or reasons that could make sense for doing things that seemingly could never work.

Realize you cannot change what is going to happen with any shoe. When you genuinely do, then you accomplished what the highest majority of players take a very long time, as well as cost to realize. 

Look at the scoreboard and see what has happened, do not believe it will reappear or continue.  Dive much deeper into the possibilities of presentments happening for continued and upcoming hands. 

The bottom line is, being able to clearly see and focus using the game presentments and your recognition of the flow and outcomes that are being formed.

BRICKS YOU PLACE IN FRONT OF YOURSELF

Every single brick that you place on the wall in front of you-makes it harder to penetrate-makes it harder to profit-makes it harder to stay with the shoe presentments.

Information that is worthless and absolutely false in many senses, will be a brick YOU ALLOW to be inset into a wall in front of you-directly between you and every hand, every group of hands and every shoe you play itself.

When those bricks are there-they are there. No matter what, no matter how strange, weird, not ordinary, against all odds or how much you believe in them and how great they seem; They are bricks and will be there as well as remaining there.

Bricks are intangible. Same as systems, counts, data, mechanical wagering based on anything, charting, etc., etc.  Because none of it will allow guaranteed hand after hand wins. None.  In fact, none of it can even guarantee one for sure win. 

You know, but you really do not know. That's what you have to remember and be totally conscious of.

Think about it. 

If you do not play, you cannot win.

If you play, you will not always win.

If you play, you also have to lose. 

If you claim you do not lose and/or you always recover and walk even or with a little win, I say you are lying. 

Simple and Period. 

Thought I would go ahead and post what pump number I got gas at this morning on the way to the casino in Kansas City. Is there any other pump number but this one that's appropriate?

My buddy is with me and he's got all the songs programmed in for the ride and it starts something like this; Twilight Zone, Radar Love, Funkytown, I want a new drug, The Pusher, Cocaine, Another one bites the dust, Dude looks like a lady, Money, Walk this way, and lots more should get us over to the casino.

You know it's just after 2 AM and he's got the Twilight Zone song playing, how appropriate. If you know the words to the song, you would understand what that means.

Later.