1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Table Games Negative or Positive progression, what's your BJ betting style?

Discussion in 'Table Games' started by Happygirl21, Sep 30, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Happygirl21

    Happygirl21 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,544
    Location:
    New Jersey
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    Just curious to know what betting strategies/styles you guys are using. Any you recommend or recommend avoiding like the plague?

    Also if you happen upon a losing streak how many hands or what percent of your bank roll will you sacrifice before calling it a session?

    Regarding a winning streak do you have a "stopping point"? A good friend of mine goes with the idea when you get to ten times the table minimum leave. His argument is, more likely than not, you are not going to win the next ten hands. I say press on! After all I'm there to gamble:Þ
     
  2. tmaas21

    tmaas21 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2007
    Messages:
    247
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    I used to be a neg progression user. Then realized one night that I was just chasing losses, with no big wins ever to come from it.

    Now I'm a pure pos progressnist! I start with two units and press one unit every win. With no cap.

    If you cap your wins....why are you gambling in the first place. Probably not the right arena for you.
     
  3. Happygirl21

    Happygirl21 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,544
    Location:
    New Jersey
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    My thoughts exactly!
     
  4. casinoboy

    casinoboy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2013
    Messages:
    412
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    i press when i win two hands in a row but i always save a little of my winning. i dont buy in with more then i want to loose so unless it is a really bad table i dont have a loss limit other then my buy in. i had some good wins last week and should have walked but didnt. my best session was playing PGP and i started betting black chips because i was on a roll. :)
     
  5. macfisto

    macfisto Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2010
    Messages:
    226
    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    I'm a positive progression guy, and I do try to stop when I'm up a decent amount (usually double my buy-in). I've learned from too many instances of not stopping when I'm ahead that it's much more fun to leave a winner. To me there's no worse feeling than knowing I was up a grand, but blew it all back because I was sure this was the night I was gonna take 'em for everything!
     
  6. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2010
    Messages:
    10,096
    Location:
    At the tables
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    I press when I win and I press hard. always. however, I do tend to stop pressing and start flat betting when I hit the limits of my "comfort zone". sometimes that's 5k, other times as high as 10k. table max is usually 15-20k and I rarely make it there. I really should keep pressing because there's been times when I've won several hands in a row at my 5k or 10k limit and if I had continued pressing I would have won a ton more. I guess the reason I don't is because I tend to stick to round numbers, so if I'm betting 10k, I want to press to 15k and then 20k. but I fear losing one of those hands and giving back a good portion of my profit. what I need to do is continue pressing but just 10% at a time. that way I keep getting more money out there and can take advantage of a really hot streak if it continues, but don't risk giving back all my profits if it doesn't continue. if I win another few in a row, I'll get to table max and be winning the maximum. if I lose, I only lose 10% more than I was going to bet, so really nothing. I did this one time and ended up winning 8 in a row I think and pressing as high as 13k and making a ton more than if I had just continued flat betting 5k.

    when deciding when to quit on a streak, it depends. if I'm down big and hit a good streak to get back to even, I will quit in the middle of a streak. I've lost out on some wins because of that, but there's times when I would have lost the very next hand and then kept playing and who knows. getting even is always good when you were down big. if I'm on a streak and winning, I almost never quit until I lose at least one hand except for a couple of times when I hit a certain win total that I was shooting for.

    I've found that if you set a win goal for the trip, you absolutely have to quit when you reach that no matter how hot you think you're running. I always set a goal before each trip as i find that my luck is better when I have a goal i'm shooting for. i guess it helps me stay focused and i make better decisions. but a couple of times I've hit my goal and kept playing and immediately my luck changed and I ended up dumping everything back. so now if I reach my win goal for the trip i unequivocally stop even if it's right in the middle of a huge run. there's nothing more painful then when you reach the win goal that you specified and you keep playing and give it all back. and you can't blame anybody but yourself.
     
  7. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    21,525
    Location:
    Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Just curious, which mgm property are you playing at that has those limits at BJ? I recall watching my BJ playing friends in the high limit rooms at Aria and Bellagio play over the past year and the limit was consistently $10k
     
    The plans have changed
    Post-Shopping Recovery Period
  8. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    21,525
    Location:
    Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    I play a bit of both. I definitely use a negative progressions strategy, but its far form a martingale. At the same time, when I am up or on a streak, I will press it up to two or three units. So, not much of a press, but one I am comfortable with
     
    The plans have changed
    Post-Shopping Recovery Period
  9. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2010
    Messages:
    10,096
    Location:
    At the tables
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    I'm talking Bacc where the limit is always 20k. I don't really play much BJ, but the limits are always 10k. but I don't play that big with BJ, I've hardly ever gotten more than 2-3k on the table at once.
     
  10. USCHawks

    USCHawks High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2013
    Messages:
    920
    Location:
    WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    I'm going to take a guess and say that shifter was talking about baccarat.

    Edit - Looks like I was too slow to respond, shifter already beat me to it.
     
  11. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2011
    Messages:
    4,051
    Location:
    Chicago
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    142
    I have been at tables in those rooms where players just disregarded the $10k limit. One just pressed on up to $15k/hand on 3 hands at once and got paid on wins. Perhaps they had a special advance arrangement which allowed them to play higher based on their history or credit line.
     
  12. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,307
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    I generally bet flat, unless I am trying to count (not usually). If counting though, bet more when the count is more positive, obviously.
     
  13. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    I never do it either way. If I double my buy-in, I'll take the buy-in out of play. That's about it.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2013
  14. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    21,525
    Location:
    Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Gotcha. OP asked about BJ and I thought that was an odd limit for BJ, but you never know
     
    The plans have changed
    Post-Shopping Recovery Period
  15. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    21,525
    Location:
    Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Oh sure. I sat next to a guy playing bac two months ago and his limit was $300k (just a tad over the table limit :evillaugh )
     
    The plans have changed
    Post-Shopping Recovery Period
  16. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2010
    Messages:
    10,096
    Location:
    At the tables
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    that's based on your CL. at a Bacc, your limit is 7% of your CL/FM. I think BJ is a bit lower, but not sure the exact numbers. but I know people that have limits of 3 hands at 100k each.
     
  17. firstkill

    firstkill High-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2013
    Messages:
    805
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    positive progression unless im playing to
    1. kill time
    2. being chicken
    3. nursing a sore loss

    its almost impossible to get out of a hole flat betting. and if im flat better id rather just do my day job.

    The problem is once your "use to a certain level" it takes more to get excited which is the dangerous part.


    Fk
     
  18. lvmb

    lvmb Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2010
    Messages:
    170
    Location:
    UK
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    Positive progression for me if I get up, flat betting otherwise.

    The earlier poster makes a good point about getting out of a hole flat betting though. It's difficult, but it prevents a multiple split and double wiping you out or forcing you to get more cash out to make the correct play.

    The other reason I don't press when I'm losing is that I would rather stay in the game longer waiting for a winning streak than try to force it.
    I've had two or three winning sessions after being down to my last chip.

    When I'm pressing, I keep always try to keep 3 or 4 times the big bet available to cover a multiple split and double. This is so my original bank roll isn't dented if it goes the wrong way.
    Even that isn't really enough on very rare occasions.

    Worst losing case scenario with BJ for each hand is 8 times your original bet - split 4 times all doubled.
    I lost one of these once and there is nothing worse.

    Of course if you land that monster it's the best feeling ever.
     
  19. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2012
    Messages:
    3,414
    I'm pretty much the same. I'll press progressively between 1-3 units usually and sometimes 1-6 units. But its in no way absolute. I try to leave up even when that means leaving before a streak has ended. I just like the feeling of winning and don't see much upside in potentially winning "a lot" more versus leaving a loser. Winning a ball game by a single point is just as good as winning by a dozen points.

    It also just helps me reset things mentally.
     
  20. Terry Benedict

    Terry Benedict VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2010
    Messages:
    1,658
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    15
    Positive progression, just add on to every win. I convince myself every loss is only one unit.
    As far as when I quit, I don't put a ceiling on my wins, I just keep adjusting the floor higher. "If I get down to #hundred dollars, I'll color up." Then hopefully it goes to #+1hundred, #+2hundred, etc.
     
Tags:
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.