Walking away from a table when you are winning can be very, very difficult, even if you go in there with a goal in mind and you meet that goal.
For instance, if I've been in there for a few hours and I've been grinding it out and have gotten a bit lucky with BJs and double down/split opportunities and am a few hundred bucks ahead, it can be quite difficult to remember that the house still has a slight advantage. You start thinking "jeez, even if i lose close to half the hands, I'm STILL doing quite well. I can do this all night!".
As an example, a few months ago I was probably up somewhere between 500-700, flat-betting 25 bucks per hand (sometimes throwing a red chip on top and making it 30) for nearly 6 hours. I was just consistently hitting solid shoes without going on a prolonged negative streak.
One hour later, I lost my entire profit AND the 800 bucks that I started with originally. Granted, the majority of the hour was spent going head-to-head w/the dealer (even after the dealer told me i should leave the table!).
That's the problem with implementing a progressive strategy like martingale w/blackjack. It can be pretty easy to lose 8 hands or so in a row. It's happened to me a lot, actually, and I usually see it happen to most people that like to log the hours at the table that I do.
On the flip side, I DO think there is something to be said about pushing it after you win (doubling your bet after a win and continue leaving your winnings out there with the hope of hitting 4 or 5 in a row). While I haven't tried that much, most people who've seen me grinding it out and winning have recommended it to me.
But, I like to usually keep it to 25 or 30 a hand. I will bump it up to 50 for a few hands if I'm doing well.
My feeling is this: IF you're using basic strategy, the house has a very, very slight overall edge. As such, if you get a little aggressive with the double downs and splits, you *should* (obviously not always) be ok. Also, between comp points, free drinks, and the overall entertainment value, you're doing ok even if you break even or wind up just a few units down.
But I def. prefer it to betting on sports. Sports was too stressful and too time-consuming for me, lol.
Tomorrow, I'm trying to walk out of there with 3 or 400 bucks and I'd like to do it in about 2 hours or so so I can catch the Titans/Steelers game. We'll see though
