Card Counting

So you used to fantasize about gambling for a living, and making millions? You bought all the books, glued yourself to the web researching, and with your hard-earned savvy you spent months practicing. You are aware of the online gambling benefits. You had it down to a fine art. You could count 3 packs of cards a minute. You were good with all the fundamentals. You had all your friends deal to you thousands of times. You could chat up a storm while counting, listen to booming music, all the conditioning you read about. It took a long, hard 6 months, and at last the moment has arrived to go and play at an actual or online casino. You'd never have to work again!
You were armed with a hefty bankroll, fundamentals are as sharp as could be, you could just about count cards in your sleep.
Nothing could stop you. You know what your bankroll should be and that's what you put in your pocket. No way you're going to lose more than the system allows.
You didn’t pay much mind to money management - I mean, that was the easy part, right?
It was time to get rich!
You played roughly 6 hours, made very few errors that you noticed and avoided the attention of the pit. Overall it was an OK session. Apart from one small detail; you lost. It wasn’t much, but you did lose.
You returned the next day, freshly showered and with confidence reinforced by a strong coffee. And you lost again. This happens every day that you’re there. A hellish 6 days - and expensive too - because you dumped 80% of your bankroll into the deep pockets of the casino. You board the plane completely deflated, depressed and almost broke.
So what happened? Did you make a mistake with your counting? No, you’re sure. Your fundamentals? Again, no way, you’re sure.
No, what happened was that you ignored the two most important rules of counting cards: NEVER lay out your whole bankroll on the first session, and NEVER play long sessions.
The first rule is all about getting comfortable with the action, the atmosphere and the house before laying out your whole bankroll. Had you eased into it a whole lot more and played with a whole lot less, you’d still have some money!
But where you really messed up was the second rule - playing too long. Hard pros usually limit themselves to 4 hour sessions. For beginners - like YOU! - 2 hour sessions are ideal. I mean, it was the latter section of your sessions where you lost the most, right? Right! You see the longer you play, the more tired you get. The more tired you get, the more often you’ll drop a number, make a mistake.