Second post in my continuing series.

Recognize your game.

Your conduct produces the result of your decisions. Those decisions will either generate losses or wins.

The highest 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. Unfortunately. 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. When you look at the scoreboard and see what has happened, do not believe anything will reappear or continue.

The one item that is always present in the game Baccarat is uncertainty. Most of you will say that is easily dealt with by either ignoring conscious thought about it, or claiming to wager only on certain advantages. However, uncertainty plays a much larger dominant role with our mind and affects our decision making process more than anything else.

Why?  Because when confronted with a difficult experience the untrained mind wants to be anywhere but in the present moment, where it perceives acute unpleasantness.  The mind becomes anxious whenever it is uncertain and reacts as if one's survival is at stake. In this case the mind is attempting to protect the buy-in and the bank role but doesn't have the protocol to do it.  So rather than staying with the experience and determining the best possible way to relate to it, the mind jumps to creating a story that involves worrying about the future or judging oneself and others based on past experiences. This pattern of resistance to staying present in experience is an automatic response arising from the LIMBIC BRAIN as it detects threats.  And you have already programed yourself that losing money is a threat. Ironically, the story imparts a false sense of knowing what's going on and therefore can seem temporarily soothing while you sit wagering at the baccarat table.  But you wind up grinding yourself down is all that happens.

When we start to interpret an experience, the thoughts generated by our reactive mind become our primary experience, as opposed to whatever is actually happening that needs our full attention and considered response. Important Note:  Which is how the hands are presented from the shoe and we so frequently become oblivious to what can happen and usually does happen.  Usually we continue on with the activity, but our attention is split or less than complete by far.

Is it any wonder that we don't do our best under such conditions? And so frequently we just continue the activity no matter the outcome or how much we lose.

And sometimes we just can't continue the activity or we should not. IMO, one of the most common triggers that affects any of us negatively, is "shutting down" and forbidding us to continue with clear and conscious thought.  The mind starts spinning and has to wait for the episode to pass. Numerous triggers can trip the negativity at the table, how other people wager clearly against you, how others do not engage in any form of camaraderie, how you planned on certain events to occur or be absent and did not realize anyone of them, etc., etc., and so on.

You too may have triggers that cause you to get lost in interpretation rather than staying present; you may even have a pattern of interpretation that shuts your mind down but have never realized it's happening because you are so accustomed to it. For sure, there are so many different experiences vying for attention in any given moment that in order to deal with what seems like an overwhelming amount of stimuli the mind rushes to interpretation to gain a sense of control. In reality, though, interpretation creates a false impression of stability. As you start to become aware of your patterns of interpretation, be kind and nonjudgmental towards yourself. It is not helpful to fall into self-blame or self-loathing, both of which are forms of interpretation. Be careful.

"It ain't over, till it's over"

Yogi Berra


(Although it was undoubtedly said by the great Yogi Berra for the game of baseball, it sure can relate to the casino as well)

The following will be a continuing series of posting.

Long and hard research here. Analyzing countless past play with why I did what I did, textbook study and a lot more. Now I will start this thread with the goal to allow you to change your response to what you cannot control, which is the presentments of the shoe.  But you can allow yourself to grow stronger and understand your decision making, which affects your buy-in, bankroll and producing a higher profit.

Know what is really happening at the game of baccarat, relying on your experience; is it a negative advantage? But truly using interpretation can be to your advantage.  You must know what the differences are and how they both affect the decision making process. 

Sit down and seriously measure yourself against your wins, losses and the decisions you made with the reasons you did. Interpretation of your experience is what will clearly give you real advantage with your decision making process in the game of baccarat. 

Interpretation occurs as the result of a combination of several factors. The mind has an automatic tendency to interpret an experience and create a story/a fallacy about it based on your memory, past realizations, and situations you have encountered yourself or with others when you were present. Your mind then selectively gathers data from within the experience(s) to support its interpretation. It may seem to you that your mind is simply trying to figure out your experiences, but really it's screening for evidence to support the decisions you are making from your story it is clinging to. However, your story is delusion because your mind is being clouded by extremely strong emotions brought on positively or negatively with each hand presented from the shoe.

Therefore, a crucial skill for minimizing emotional chaos and sustaining clarity in your baccarat game is the ability to distinguish between your experiences and your interpretation of your experiences. Your experiences are simply whatever is happening at the moment; the hand, the wager won or lost, the camaraderie, high-fives or fist bumps, the long faces and the banged chips against the table, etc. etc.

Your interpretation is your minds reaction to those  experiences. One way to understand this difference is to picture that when you are directly experiencing a moment similar and you are within it. When you are truly interpreting it, you will put yourself outside of it and give yourself a true advantage.

You must become committed to a particular and interpretation regime to the point that it becomes a habit, a story that you repeat in related circumstances. For example, your interpretation generated by your reactive mind usually will become your primary experience which will usually be opposed to whatever is actually happening in the game of baccarat that needs your full attention and be considered advantaged response. Then what normally happens is we continue on with the shoe, but our attention is split and far less than complete. That causes us to allow frustration, emotion and disarray to sit in fast which will add poor decision making forcing us to revert back to our experiences having no direct correlation to the shoe we are playing.

The shoe is not your battle ground! Your mind is your sole battle ground you face at the table. It is the place where the conflict resides, the place where we develop habits that put us in direct opposition with the reality of the shoe being played. It's where the things we figured would happen, never happen; or were the things we believed and desired to happen actually happen. But we fell prey to our own train of thought because of direct opposition with reality. Therefore, if we were right we tend to repeat and we all know the game of baccarat will never repeat itself over and over the same way we want it to. And on the other hand, if we were wrong then we correct ourselves and the shoe reverts back to producing what we believed was wrong. 

That is what you call direct opposition with reality in the game of baccarat.

It is where our expectations get the best of us and we fall victim to our own trains of thought, again and again and again. It is our own fault within our own mind, not the shoes fault, or the shuffle, or the cut, or the other players wagering against us, or the dealer, etc. etc.

Truth be told, in the game Baccarat we will receive a unique set of unexpected and unknown limitations and variables within a shoe. The advantaged question is:  How will you think and respond to the hands being presented?  You can either focus on the lack thereof (experience), or empower yourself to play the game resourcefully with full and real advantage, making the very best of each outcome as it is presented (interpretation), even when it's hard to accept with a loss of your wager.

The bottom line here is, that you cannot control what is happening around you and with everything that has already been set. So you challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what is happening to straighten out those habitual, spiraling patterns of thinking that clearly the highest majority of all baccarat players engage in. But that is much easier said than done though, for all of us. Because it is hard to change the habits we engage in mostly at a subconscious level. But we can get better by bringing more awareness to what we are doing through our own experience and proper interpretation of such that will give us viable advantages with our decisions concerning wagering.

Will post again when I finish my next part.

Real brick and mortar bac is random, unlike online and practice games that mimic real live bac. 

My best chance as well as others, is to follow what the shoe is presenting.  Easier said than done.  However, when it's there or when it's not (depending on what the bettor believes) can be highlighted within sections that will allow the bettor to consciously focus while putting aside all the mechanical wagering and as well, say being on hand 50 + and wagering on what the shoe produced say a few times from hands 1-35 with things such as; Cutting after a tie, sticking or cutting after a natural, players 3rd was a seven so it should be a bankers win next, etc., etc., etc. 

I can't always stick to sections, but I sure try.  I do know that I win much larger and longer when I do the majority of times. 

I also know that when I don't go by sections, such as in my recent posts about those heavy chop shoes, etc., I either lose my buy-in or break even with a possible tiny profit, when I could have done hundreds of times better.

I try to play all shoes with 3-5 sections.  Sections allow me to concentrate and realize on what is actually being presented. 

Every shoe will have sections.  Every 15-25 hands or so is a section.

Anything and everything can happen in any shoe played of Baccarat.

That is why my greatest advantage is, if I can stick to it and deploy huge self-control and patience is, following sections without being biased and focusing on experience (which causes us to be biased) and what I want the shoe to do (which most don't understand the shoe will not comply with our desires—rather it presents what it is physically set to).

And what you just wrote there; "Naturally there is no guarantee that the deviated category at either positive or negative side will come out "when we wish" and it's very likely that after one or a couple of negative shoes the player's attitude is flawed." 

SPOT THE FRICK ON!  So many, the highest of the greatest majority have zero idea why the casinos spent so much real valuable money on all those high tech beautiful score boards!


Ask a player and something like: "Those scoreboards give us a huge advantage", will be said.

Ask a casino executive back in the late 90s/early 2000s and something like:  "Those scoreboards entice players to wager as well as feel like they can predict more, causing them to wager longer and larger.  Couple that with the well known fact, the longer they play the more they lose", will be said.   

Win today with an app and lose the next ten fold days/sessions with the app. 

Same thing as the scoreboard.  Follow it this shoe and win and then the next 15 shoes total unpredictability or un-followability! 

Take all the notes you want at the table.  4 cards left, three face cards and one 9, before the red card comes out.  Please tell me which side will get the two face cards and which side will get the 9 and a face.  Please tell me.

1). DO NOT ATTEMPT/LIVE to beat the game/session.  You can't and will never do it!  I promise you that;

AS YOU WROTE:  "My opinion differs on this one. I attempt to beat the game every day/ when Im not playing Im researching, studying the game, discussing with others,  ..etc on how to improve and beat it. So I guess I am obsessed and live to beat the game. Much like trying to beat the stock market. One must be obsessed with winning as both are very arduous tasks. Sometimes I receive favor /sometimes I don't."

Well I actually meant, play until you win amounts greater than previously or you totally lose all.  So many players wherever I go, are winning and when engaged in conversation, they are telling me their goal is to beat their previous high/record win or they just keep randomly adding on win goals as they continue playing.  Then when they start losing, their new win goal reverts to recouping their previous win they gave back.  Frustration and emotional decision making enters.  Huge disadvantage. 

THEREFORE, based upon that, my original meaning would be:

Accepting 100% some sessions will not be win sessions and governing your wins with a great MMM plan is what I was referring to. 

Not, being a dedicated hard researcher, risk taker, learner, putting in the hours or anything along those points.

Quote.................


Any thoughts by anyone?


Thx in advance, kfb

A very controversial subject. 

But.....all a machine can do is 'deep' shuffle, or 'light' shuffle.  No way to put in order card values, etc. 

And....if you see same cards and 1 or 2 lesser/greater
point value consecutive cards appearing in repetitive order, use that to your advantage.  Again, as I have done very well with, following the presentments and not wagering for something I desire.

And.....I strongly believe the cut, at least if it's greater than a half deck deep, as well as the burn, squashes any order the shoe could have been set up with.

I have done countless trials years ago with 8 decks, shuffling, putting in order and then hundreds of cuts and burns, no order of my 'pre-set' cards was able to be held.

The questions are tough, the questions are ones that most never find the answers to, never really want to deal with, or ones that are quickly dismissed as unanswerable.  But they MUST be!

I desperately struggled for years to engage into finding answers and just thinking about it stressed me out countless times. So I simply avoided the questions and the soul-searching it demanded of me. Until............Recently.

The tangled and the misunderstood realm of the game entered my mind and remained in the forefront at the end of every single session I played. The presentments, the shuffle, the dealer, the amount won or given back, the published and written Q's & A's and stories. All ran through my head on the way out of the casino after each session.

Think about it. The shoe produces presentments that fall within the sphere, the domain within which anything and everything can occur, prevail, sometimes dominates the field, or fails to produce anything recognizable. Other times the presentments are totally recognizable and they match our beliefs, desires and decisions spot on, sometimes even allowing us to win like 7 or 8 times out of 10 leading us to fantastic wins. 

And with that said, onward with what this is really about, decisions and making them while winning.  How would it have been great if we previously left? Think about it, sure we are after anything to protect our buy in and a small or smallish win.  But IMO and experience, the greatest wins and 'great' sessions come after an 'up and down' of my buy in.  Which means, a drawdown of my buy in, evening out and getting a little bit ahead, once even twice, like being on a roller coaster ride. 

Larger wins take a climb, meaning a bit back-and-forth, winning, losing, pushing back-and-forth, etc. Parlay and positive progression wagering really boosts the person's chip stacks, visually and physically which will definitely assist in relieving the person's emotional downturn and stress factor, making it easier for clearer and more focused decision making.  It does for myself every time I get within the event of a nice ongoing winning session. 

IMO there is no magic percentile when to stop or continue play when you are winning. But one thing for 100% certain, if you stop, you cannot win more. And the more you win the more you want to continue playing. I don't care who you are, that applies to each one of us.

One example comes to mind that happened to myself not long ago. I arrived at my regular casino and no one was playing and one of my absolute favorite dealers was sitting there bored to death. We engaged in some quick small talk and I was gonna go get something to eat and kill an hour or so and come back. Anyway I took out only $100 from my buy in risk capital I brought and I laid it out on the table. She said, 'WHAT'?  I said, one hand be nice, just checking you out before the real play when I come back from eating. I put $80 on the banker and $20 on the fortune 7. She gave me a fortune 7 for an $800 win. I played a few more hands, and I won most of them. Not many hands later she gives me a second Fortune seven. A few people sat down at that time. By the end of the shoe I had over a $2,000 profit, got up to well over $3,000 and gave back about $1,000. She is telling me to take it and leave. Not a bad return on the next to nothing investment of my only $100 buy in.

But I felt something and not just because I had a huge return on my $100. So into the following shoe, I reached well over $8,000 of win money and I called it quits once I drop down to $7,000 of pure win. All of it off that next to nothing $100 buy in. 

And I remember her, seriously telling me to take the money and leave when I was at the $2,000-$3,000 mark. Thinking back on that, at least twice I almost did, but the ups and downs were quick and I stalled out at that $1,800-$2,000 mark and again at $2,900-$3,300 mark as well. Then I took off again with winning most all parlays and positive progressions for 1-2 or 3 hands and losing only those when I backed down to my base unit wagers.

So if I left with say $2,500 I never would have reached the $7,000 to $8,000;mark. I was basically doing a 1/3 risk of what I was winning once I reached the $3,000 level which I have written about countless times in my money management method, that I normally use.

Here are three quick examples of what I am talking about here actually was applied and gave me clear advantages.

1)


2)


3)



NOTE:  Reference #3.  I have several pictures of the scoreboard and will post them.

So many believe it is an easy decision to make. I guess it depends on your experience, outlook, desires and goals. For myself, I love the point of working my drawdown, getting a bit of profit, working that into my money management method and looking for the 'takeoff'. And for me that is where the money is really at. At least it is for myself and most of the people that I play with at the casinos. Buy in safe-a but of profit. But I do know playing on all win/won money is what I strive for.  But, it gets confusing at times. How much longer to quit, risk the win money further, leave even if winning fails to continue, etc., etc.

So many repeatedly write/say on the forums, win 1 to 3 units and leave. Lose 3 to 5 units and stop. I can't fathom that and I don't play that way. I don't have those kind of win stop, loss stop rules. I can never see making anything substantial if you play like that. Maybe I'm wrong? However mine are like so many. They want to win sizable amounts and I do, quite often. My loss stop is my buy in money. My buy in is my risk capital for the session. My win stop is unclear without definitive numbers. Once I takeoff, if I do, I govern myself by my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd Money Management Method.  Which works like a rock-solid rule manuscript maintaining success or having further profitability 1,000,000% of the time!

It works extremely well and I know it does, because I have no regrets if I was winning nicely, then gave back 1/3rd win and continued my play with my second 1/3rd of my win as my playing money. If I took off again, great, that is what my 1/3rd sectors are designed to do. If I lost a 1/3rd sector and struggling with my second 1/3rd sector, I am normally done. I have my buy in plus 1/3rd to 2/3rds of my win.  Cash out, leave, done and that emotional, 'I shoulda and coulda' doesn't exist!!!

So many win and see their session as unprecedented and a labored win they so rightfully deserved. They get into a zone, tuning everything out and become their own worst enemy most every single time they win or when the wins are happening for them. But they have nothing to govern themselves with.

It is easier said than accomplished at the table, but the only way to really excel is to focus, be extremely conscious and forget the past and what the shoe has produced or failed to produce in the past hands. Wager with the shoe's presentments and do not wager for your own desires as to what the shoe should produce or what your desires are. 

We talk about it all the time, especially with the ones we actually gamble with. The questions go something like; "How long do you play" or "If you are winning how long do you stay" or "If you are losing, how long will you attempt to come back" or "If you keep winning do you just up and leave at a certain point". And so on and so forth.

Tough, real tough if you soul search. By theory, so simple. If you are winning and start to lose, leave. If you were losing and can't get above your buy in or your buy in is depleting, leave.  But, it is not easy because we all know the presentments can certainly match our decisions and blast us into the positive if we were losing, or if we were winning, can blast us even further ahead. 

There are no easy, simple answers and never will be. However, you will wish you left much more than staying when losing. Because you experience the loss of your funds if you lose them. However, if you win/won or broke even and left, you probably will not really know what would have happened to really come about with a definitive conclusion. 

The 4 things I found that give me advantages into my play.

1). DO NOT ATTEMPT/LIVE to beat the game/session.  You can't and will never do it!  I promise you that;

2). TRULY UNDERSTAND what you are up against;

3). CALM AND PATIENT.  Hard as heck to do with losses, but you must.  Don't dwell and don't have the mind frame to recover and win something; 

4). UNDERSTAND AND REMAIN CONSCIOUS of the following.  Anything and everything can happen in no particular order or protocol whatsoever. 

As soon as someone writes the below or along the lines of James Bond; the only possible motive is to steal the gambler's money, no matter a casino, systems seller or author.  Period.

"If you're looking to sit down at a Las Vegas casino table game with few complexities and a lot of James Bond-style gambling fun, baccarat is your go-to game."

"The purpose of gaming is to win".

Alrelax, 2023

....."it's more intricated to be grasped as being a by product of both math and statistical features.".....

But stress, you never know when it will adhere, appear or disappear.   

Written 5 years ago.  Pertains to many discussions today.

Asym?
Kung Fu?