Systems do not win, players do.

[VLSroulette]

Some quotes from Swami3 @ GG:

Regarding system sellers:

System sellers invent systems that they can sell, they do not concern themselves trying to invent practical systems that win in real life. If you buy a system, buy it with the idea that you will garner some information that will help you improve or devise YOUR own successful strategy. Even if a strategy does win for someone else, it probably will not win for you.

Regarding his reason to be at the casino:

I am in the casino for ONE reason, and that reason is not winning. Winning is always competition, like 15 wins and 10 losses. My one reason to be in the casino is for PROFIT. I do not give a rat's ass if I win more decisions than I lose, and I am not going to play any long series of decisions, or all day, or any full shoe, or any Zumma book such as the system sellers do to prove success. Success is involved in only one aspect - profit or no profit, and I am not so stupid as to think that I can play for hours or play every hand or every shoe and attain profit.

Cycles and situational play:

There are ALWAYS going to be cycles of wins and losses. Experience teaches you to recognize these cycles and to take advantage of them, and, even more importantly, not get burned by them.

My goal is to attain profit, keep it and quit winner. It is much better NOT to be a loser than to be a winner. How much I win is not the point. Sometimes I make my win goal, occasionally I go over it, but when I get in profit, I guard it and play conservatively and do not lose it, and stop playing when I see any danger sign. I never, ever look for a Big Win. I will be gone long before that can happen. It certainly is important to do every thing that I can not to lose the BR. I always take small wins on each session, each day, and each month, and I do not take risk on my BR.

If you sit and play and play and play, just like Zumma, you will see huge swings in your bankroll.

I play when I see opportunity, and I do not play when things are against me. At the end of the month I am very happy with the total of my wins.

Personal winning system:

I have been asked by other players why I do not put a syndicate together and go for the big win and the big money. That, my friends, is a different game, and one that I do not know how to play and am not mentally equipped to play. If you sit and play and play and play, just like Zumma, you are not playing for profit, you are playing for recreation. You need to learn what your sphere and range of play works for YOU, not what works for someone else.

Casino versus punters, punters versus me:

I am not competing with the casino. The casino has such great advantages over me that I would be insane to think I am going to "beat" them. I like to think that my money comes from the other players. I am happy to compete with them, they are like fish in the barrel. They bet Bank, I bet player, and I like to think the casino is not involved. Like the casino has so much advantage over me, I also have advantage over Joe Average Punter. The casino is simply the handler of the transaction.

Skill or chance?

Believe that if you are a winner, you are playing a game of skill, not chance. If you do not have the skill or know where to learn it, you will never be a winner. I simply will not play a game of chance.

Now, my way is not the only way. Johno has a method of play that is totally opposite from mine. But note that I said a method of play, NOT a system. Three attributes make him a winner: Balls, Experience, and a Big Bankroll. And, he has had a very, very long learning curve.

Advice on play for beginners:

Everybody wants to be a winner, but who wants to do the work? My advice is to study systems, invent your own, and practice, practice, practice. After you think you know your system, open a net account and play for pennies. You cannot duplicate playing for real money. Very few punters go to the casino really prepared to play.

More on L/w situational play:

Chart many, many shoes for experience and as a learning tool. I ALWAYS chart the shoe. In the beginning, I bet little and do not try to win until I get a feel for how things are going.
I want to see what is being given before I jump in. I always hope that the virtual losses will pile up for me in the beginning, because I will get great winning chances coming up later. I am always aware of how many bets I have lost and have won. My method almost always comes out about even in W and L, and hardly ever is there a differential of 8, and I am never there long enough to play the whole shoe anyway. So, when the wins are out of line, Thank you, I will take the profit and go. I remember one of the greatest stock traders of all time was asked how he was so successful. His answer,"I always sell too soon." When the virtual losses pile up, I am standing aside and waiting my turn. What makes my me a winner is not the how many wins and losses there are, I make my profit on how I handle the money.

Finally:

Do not look to others or other systems to make you a winner.

Acquire the skill and knowledge and practice and make yourself the winner.

Remember:
 

Systems do not win, players do.

[GARNabby]

Wow, Victor,

Quoting the love-guy from the GG?

How many more ways are there for the losers, the obviously uneducated and inexperienced, to "rattle" on and on about it... trying to convince themselves it's okay to (eventually) lose another welfare-cheque for that momentary-but-pretend "high" of having won something, anything?

Ultimately, these sorts of losers are as much about some sort of scam as those who charge money for it.  If there were a "big easy", then they wouldn't be taking the hard road with all that posting, teaching, etc... they'd be only playing, if that's where, according to them, the big money lay.

[GARNabby]

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