Just like Ball Players we all have slumps. The length is entirely up to you and how you react. Most will double their practice and go back to the basics unless the flaw is readily apparent and fixable which usually isn’t the case.

Joseph:

overall I am up for all the years that I have been playing as an AP, the graph goes up and down all the time but angled upwards.

The longest loosing streak was about three months. This is when I was in LV every week. It took a lot to stay with the game. But I stayed cool and just tried to loose less by playing a more conservative game. I always use the five count anyway, but when I was having a having a bad time, I was even using it on myself.

I have learned over the years that bad things happen even to a well practiced AP player. But a good AP player knows not to chase losses, but to let the game come back to the player.

During those three months I was very skittish and did not participate in some CF’s decent rolls because I was scared. But I came out of my streak by just practicing and having confidence in my shot. I was eventually able to roll my way out of it, recoup all my losses and get back on the positive side.

It was important to have a bankroll that was able to ride through the rough periods. I have not had a loosing period that long in recent years, but there are still loosing sessions, however, they don’t bother me because I have the bankroll to overcome the loss and the confidence and experience to know that the good times will come.

One more important thing to add to new players is that, because this is such an athletic endevour, there will always be good and bad sessions. I do not know too many people that can make a long term living from just playing craps. A) because of the physical and mental skills required and B) because they will not be able to hide their skills from the casinos long enough to make a long term decent living. What this skill has given me though, is the ability to have FREE vacations for the past 10 years and a lot of smart friends to play and hang out with, oh, and some spare $$.

Pit Boss:
thank you for your post. That was very useful and detailed exactly what i was looking for.
I figured there would be losing streaks i didnt know that it could be as sever as the one you
described about. Good to know

I think, when I was playing at least once every week I went about 1 month that would be 4 days. There will be more variance in the up and down swings the more often that you play.

So expect the ups and downs, but below IMHO is more important:

When I decided I needed to make extra money going back 30 years ago as I was starting my software company, I took a job working a night shift solo, at a gas station and got robbed at gun point as I was closing up after about one month on the job. The gun was held to my neck and the robber, (there were three of them) was shacking like a leaf.

I decided that getting robbed wasn’t for me, but I needed extra cash, so I learned to count cards and traveled to Atlantic City one day a week on a bus. Back then there were even 50 cent games and coming back with $20 to $40 dollars in CASH was enough to pay for a week’s worth of groceries!

But here is the key:
I practiced for six months as I was building a very small bankroll before I even put one cent down at a BJ table. I could count down one deck in about 11 seconds without any mistakes. I knew I had an edge and I wouldn’t play UNTIL I knew I had an edge! My money back then was too hard earned and I wasn’t going to put hard earned money that I saved for my BR on the table without knowing I was playing with an edge.

So what I am saying to everyone is that if you shouldn’t think anymore about placing any bet unless you know you have an edge and if you do this your downs will be small.

Dominator

JosephM1 I think in an old post Frank said some thing about having 97 sessions in a row that were losses.It was a hard time getting back.
I don’t feel that I am a AP yet but am getting close. But I still love to play craps. I play a lot different then before I started reading Frank and Dom books. Also since I took the class .
I still play way to long. I also play when I get there the first night which is a NO NO . I now vary seldom bet the pass line on other players. One before me and unless I like the way the player rolls the dice.
I bet either the 6 or 8 or one or the other.If crap number comes up bets off or down.
I have kept track of nothing so know nothing about wins or losses.
Hope you enjoy this journey.
Good Rolling. 😀 😀

I have been keeping records since May of 2009.(first class was March 09)
In that time I have 206 trips recorded. 121 are wins or break even. The longest
run of losses was 8 in a row. Even with a 401g able to stand that streak it was almost enough to lose faith.
A refresher class and increased pratice put things back on track. The road can be rough at times so be prepare in advance. Good training, practice, mental toughness, and a good 401g are critical to sucess.
All this means nothing unless you also follow GTC’s advice on betting properly as well. When all the parts are
put together the result are so worth the effort.

JRC

I may not be an advanced dice controller, but I do play with a sizable edge. JBW and I play almost weekly at CCBH and several trips toVegas each year. Our longest losing streak was four in a row and our winning streak has been five in a row. It is very seldom that both of us are off at the same time. Usually one of us is hot and one is cold. When we are both on we have some very big wins. If we are ahead after the first session we usually just go home with our win. Lately in Vegas we don’t do very well early on in the trip, but our last night brings us back to profitable. Our nov. trip I, Brothelman and another GTC roller went back to back to back the last nite in town to win back all my losses. Our Jan. trip Docs two 30 hands and Brothelmans big 20s hand the last nite wasn’t enough to save me. In Jan. with four people from SR I brushed up on SL and threw from there. It was a big mistake, I was terrible. Lesson learned.

GOLDFINGER

I believe all of our journey’s have been like being on a roller coaster, hopefully the trips down have been shorter than the trips up. I know I have had a few long downhill swings, one of which was 21 point seven outs in a row, yes 21. It was a killer and I was at the point that I didn’t want to throw the dice but one day I noticed that my ring finger on my throwing hand was coming off of the dice in my backswing, once I saw this I was off to the races again.