Embrace the big loss

It hurts to lose, everyone knows that. Tanking it to the tune of a grand or more feels worse than a punch in the stomach, and it gets your mind swirling in ways it otherwise wouldn’t dare. Negative emotions flood into the brain. Revenge comes first, accompanied by frustration, determination and just basic rage. But in there somewhere is the admission of defeat. You’ve lost, you know it. Now what?

Should you stick around, try to get even? After all, it’s a game of ups and downs, and as I’ve said many times before, you need to stick it out in the long run to maximize your odds against the house. So my recommendation every time would be to keep playing, try to get even, right?

No. You’re going to shake your head like a good little actor, get up and walk away. Yeah, you heard me. Why? Appearances, baby. It’s all about the show at this point.

Look, you’re going to lose. Everyone loses. The best thing for you to do, especially if you’re a regular card counter trying to make it look like you’re a regular Joe who just enjoys the game, is to let the pit bosses and others at the casino see you hang a big loss on your collar every once in a while.

We’re always talking about maximizing your odds in the long run? Well it’s moves like this that ensure there will be a long run for you. The game, of course, will be there when you return – whether at that table/casino or somewhere else. In fact, moving around isn’t such a bad idea anyway if you’re a comp guy to begin with.

If you’re playing ranked, don’t be shy about making sure the powers that be see and record your loss. Make it count. Go ahead and sigh a little louder than you normally would, furrow that brow, just make sure you’re not as transparent as a porn star’s acting in the process. The appearance is what counts at this point. There’s nothing better for you than when the pit crew honestly believes you’re a loser. In fact, you can pretty much kiss the notion of extended sessions goodbye unless you have a few massive losses recorded in your playing session. So good luck, loser.