When You Will Play
Deciding when to play means more than simply choosing the best time of day. Casinos are generally busiest from eight o’clock in the evening until well after midnight. It is always more difficult to find an empty or one-player table during these hours. Crowded conditions are seldom the best in which to play, unless you are seeking complete anonymity.
Knowing when to play implies knowing when not to play. Counters should decide ahead of time just how negative they will allow the TC to become (if at all) before they will refuse to continue playing. Also, if a dealer seems suspicious, is not friendly, or begins hiding cards in games dealt down, it is time to move on before heat from the floor drives you away.
In addition, you may decide to stop playing when one of the following happens: (a) you double your stake, (b) you lose your stake, or (c) you have played continuously for two hours.
The Stop-loss Limit Smart players quit playing when they reach what is known as their “stop-loss” limit. The stop-loss limit varies with the individual and the amount won, but it begins as a specific percentage of one’s playing stake, generally around a third. For example, if your net loss is equivalent to thirty or so minimum bets (from a playing stake of a hundred units), you are wise to at least change tables, if not exit the casino entirely. After all, you may have encountered a “mechanic” dealer who was cheating you. On the other hand, if you easily double your session’s stake, your stop-loss limit would increase to sixty units. Continue playing until you reach your new stop-loss limit, or other factors indicate that it’s time to quit. This way you will always be quitting while you are ahead, unless you experience an unusually high number of losses at the start of a session. Otherwise, you keep salting away two-thirds of your winnings indefinitely. Unless you are mentally well disciplined, actually place this two-thirds gain into a not-to-be-touched-under-any-circumstances pocket. In any case, you will never lose more than your original stop-loss limit before pushing away from the table.
Many players fail to realize that the old adage “Never leave a winning streak!” does not mean that one should only depart all tables as a loser. It is extremely important to know when to quit. You feel yourself getting tired, or you begin losing track of the counts, or you find yourself being easily distracted, or you start becoming emotionally involved in the game, or you begin accepting the free alcoholic beverages offered by ever-more-attractive-looking cocktail waitresses these are all signals that you definitely need to take a break.
Be sure to consciously include when to stop playing in your game plan; otherwise, you may find yourself making foolish decisions at the tables. These will end up costing you money, and you almost certainly will regret them later. There is absolutely no need for you to lose your whole playing stake (i.e., three losing tables in a row at which you reach your stop-loss limit) more often than the laws of probability predict simply because you didn’t know enough to quit when you should have.
