September 25, 2006

Moving on from tolerance, you must also be able to not play the money. Meaning, you shouldn’t get frustrated when you are losing tough hands ands start doubling your wagers. If you are getting dealt 19s and 20s and still getting beat, it’s tough on you, but do not start playing the money because of this – take your lumps and keep moving forward.

Here is a great example of what it means to play the money when you are frustrated and start doubling your original wagers to compensate for bad beats. Some players will get irritated when they get beat with 19s and 20s. So they double their wagers. Here is why you do not do this. Say you are in the situation ewe just described and you double your bet and get dealt a pair of 9s against the dealer's 3. You will be tempted not to endanger your 18, but you just have to split the 9s. After you split you get a 2 on your first split 9 (making you have an eleven) so you double down on that 11 and get one more card – it turns out to be a freaking four. This means your first hand on your split 9s is a less than impressive 16. Then on your second split 9 you get yet another 9. In the midst of losing hand after hand and making a miserable 15 on his double down, you caved in and played the money instead of the hand. You then refused to split off that third 9, passing up two more 56 percent shots for one 57 percent hand. Hmmmm.

This is a PRIME example of what NOT to do. You do not want to play the money, just take every play one hand at a time. After all, the best way is the best way and any deviation from the best way will just make you lose more cash and get even more frustrated.

The next thing we want to discuss with our online poker article readers is that you never want to be an overconfident player. Again, this goes for many other casino games like online poker – not just blackjack.

When playing blackjack, if being overconfident is not a problem for you, that is a good thing. Here is what we mean. This is something that is a rare occurrence, but players love it when it does. On a rare occasion a player may find themselves winning time and time again with 12s and 13s and when they double downs, they are on fire. A player will see their chips swell in side. Then they get cocky. So they start betting more money (almost like playing the money above). They may even start making cocky players like doubling down on hands like 8 against the dealer's 3 because they feel they are unbreakable. No. No. No. This is not the way to go. Remember what comes around goes around – you can not beat the given odds in the long run. Never press your luck.

Your may feel that just because you are cranking out the wins, but the cards don’t care – they have no memory. We are not trying to kill a player’s hopes and dreams here. This is just the way it is. Although you will sometimes stay lucky at times like this, much more money has been lost by overplaying in situations like this.

Think of it like this, just be able to comprehend that if you are winning, it only means you have been winning until now. It does not mean it will last for ever. If you do, you are the player that EVERY casino loves – someone who will end up giving their winnings right back. Be a thankful player instead of an overconfident one. Being humble is better. Remember the long run and the odds that accompany it.

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