Self-Sabotage: Stupid Mistakes Players Make
It is so frustrating to see how players often ruin their game by bad judgment calls. Never mind beating the other people at the table—sometimes, your worst enemy is yourself. The complete lack of logic. Gambler’s euphoria (or one too many liberal shots of vodka) winning over basic common sense. It’s almost painful to watch.Take the habit of some blackjack players to double down on 12. That is crazy. Some stupid player thinks that he’s on to some hotshot strategy. “Oh, look, the dealer is showing something poor,” the gambler says, faced with a 4-5-6. Then he thinks that because his cards are bad, the rules of statistics rearrange themselves, or those numbers indicate some kind of trend. Like a card conspiracy. Like a sign from God. “Maybe the deck has a lot of non-face cards. Maybe I’m due for something low.”
It doesn’t work that way! Every book, every website, every experienced blackjack player will tell you that you’re inches away from busting. Even if you’re right on your hunch that the deck has a lot of low cards, then think about it: the dealer’s going to get low cards, too. You’ll double your loss.
Blackjack players aren’t the only ones who can pull a few dumb moves. Poker’s got its own share of newbie mistakes—and sigh, there are a few mistakes that everyone makes. Like the habit of joining a game without enough chips to compete properly. This is usually the offshoot of the traditional gambling advice to “start small.” Well, that’s true. You should keep your hand on your purse strings, but there are some games that inherently require larger “investments”. At poker, without enough chips, you can get blinded from the first deal. Another game that requires a large purse is craps. If you want to “start small” then join poker tournaments where you can get a good deal on your money-chip ratio.
The third mistake that many gamblers make doesn’t have anything to do with gameplay—it’s how they throw away their winnings. No, we don’t mean blowing it all on a Porsche. We wish. Some people forget to collect them at all. Yes, it happens, especially on online websites. Many gambling sites allot points for each time you play. Acquire enough points and you get a prize. No porsches, but nice enough rewards: a plane ticket, free membership, even cash. Unfortunately, these points expire, so players are literally throwing away freebies.
Of course there are many ways of throwing away money. Three words: Martingale Betting System. Never heard of it? Well, that’s fine, as long as you’ve never done it. Basically it’s the rule that you double your bets when you lose until you win back your money. Why doesn’t it work? Common sense tells you that if you’re on a losing streak, quit while it doesn’t hurt. Don’t wait until you’ve gambled away all your money, and definitely don’t increase your risk by doubling your bet! It defies all reason. And it also puts you in the unpleasant position of “betting scared”: desperately joining games because you’re “in too deep” to pull out. Not exactly the way you want to spend an evening.
Written by BettingBots on July 8th, 2006 with
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