mgibson99 said:
I know that Omni is not a Playtech Casino, but I have to share this story. Talk about flipping the switch....a few weeks ago I posted about an incredible winning streak playing BJ at Omni. I had something like 8 or 9 winning sessions in a row, a loss, then 4 or 5 more winning sessions. I was up $10,000. After that, I've had one losing session after another, and I mean ugly, bad losing sessions. Almost never up during any session. The majority of my doubles and splits were losers. Lots of 20's that lost to a dealer 21. I kept thinking it had to turn (classic gambler's mistake), but it didn't. I gave back a little over 1/2 my winnings (spread out over many sessions) before I just said to heck with it. On one hand, you can't complain about winning almost $5000, but on the other hand, it really makes you wonder. I've always thought Omni had a fair game of BJ, and I'm not ready to suggest there is anything "unusual" going on based on this latest losing streak (it is a relatively small small sample size), but man this really plays with your head and makes you ponder what is really going on behind the scenes. I can almost picture someone staring at my game logs and saying..."Ok, he's up $10,0000, lets take him down". I don't really think that is the case, but it is sure is a nagging thought in the back of my mind, especially since I have had similar situations at Omni in the past (several nice winning sessions, followed by a series of fast, ugly losing sessions).
Quitting while one is ahead... THAT takes discipline.
So couldn't you also deduce that when you were winning $10,000, the switch for the player was "on"? I'm not sure if it necessarily has a switch...I prefer to call the play "streaky".
Just logged off from playing Omni. Decided that since my graduate paper was almost done, I'd shoot for the $100 bonus. Bought in for $1400, played only multi-hand blackjack, one to two hands. I figure I wanted to make at least the bonus...
Quickly went up to $1700. At one time, I was betting $45 per hand, two hands. The winning streak ended abruptly with a dealer 21. Logged off to calculate my wagering totals.
Wagered again...this time $20 per hand, two hands. Couldn't catch anything, usually faced with stiffs of 13 and 16 against the dealer 10. Went down to $1400 (my initial buy-in). The good news : I hit the WR for the bonus... bad news: decided to keep playing, since I felt that I had an additional $100 to play with.
Did the same - $20 per hand, two hands. Would occasionally add a third hand if things became too dicey - and THAT was a mistake, since it tended to land the dealer a blackjack. Went down to $900. So even with the bonus, I would be $400 in the red.
I decided to play one hand - with an initial bet of $20 - and run it up to $1000. Once I reached that goal, I'd go two hands at $20 each. The first run was choppy...then ultimately successful, as I would press my bets during the win streak and ended with a balance of $1200. Stopped playing one hand when I lost the hand.
Changed over to two hands. Once again, pressed my bets during wins. Quickly ran it up to $1500. Decided that it was the time to cash out. Including the bonus, I netted $200. One hour of work.
My run from $900 to $1500 occurred in two play sessions. The first one, with one hand, netted $300. The second one, with two hands, netted the same amount. My strategy involved pressing bets during wins, then stopping at a loss.
If I were to flat bet, I would still be in the negative, as I never Martingale during losing sessions. By pressing bets during winning sessions, my win streaks need not be as long as the losing streaks to make a profit. There ARE potential pitfalls, however, especially when you begin splitting and doubling.. and have large bets out there... and THAT was the time the losing streak begins. Talking about ouch. I once had two pairs of 8s against a dealer 6, with the initial bet of $60. Split and doubled down twice, with the result being $360 on the table, and no hand higher than 19.
Didn't even blink when the dealer flipped over a 4 from under the 6, then matched it with a 10.
Live by the sword, die by the sword - but a $720 swing.. that's some edge to that blade.
, and that was the end of that 
. I've read of a few other people who've felt the same way (or shared the similar experiences), or who've stopped winning since that point in time.
