losing in my first online blackjack experience.. A question....

[sweeng8]

Hi,

Just having my first flurry on online blackjack. I signed up with $100 and got an extra $300 bonus to play with, so $400 in all. I play exactly to basic theory, $5 bets at a time. I need to clear $8000 worth of bets to get the bonus.

Anyway, started playing and in first day got to $500, then dropped to $160, put it all on one hand, and doubled up. My $320 dropped again to $170 so i put $70 on one hand and doubled through. Im now on about $210 and need to play probably another hour before I clear my bonus

My question, is basically is this typical blackjack varience? I seem to be getting hammered playing basic strategy, I think in another hour I will even have a bonus to cash out?
Not to sound cynical but is this normal?

[Mitch Evans]

Dude, it's blackjack.

[kyleb]

lol.

[poorolrich]

You are playing against a MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!! It can be programmed any way they want to program it.

[WhoIam]

There is a lot of variance.

[2/325Falcon]

[ QUOTE ]
started playing and in first day got to $500, then dropped to $160, put it all on one hand, and doubled up. My $320 dropped again to $170 so i put $70 on one hand and doubled through.

[/ QUOTE ]

You will be something in BBV.

[DMoogle]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
started playing and in first day got to $500, then dropped to $160, put it all on one hand, and doubled up. My $320 dropped again to $170 so i put $70 on one hand and doubled through.

[/ QUOTE ]

You will be something in BBV.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah dude, what happened to $5 bets?

[sweeng8]

Well I figured that seeing as im trying to play to pay off my bonus, there would be no point in allowing my bonus to disappear. If I let my bonus shrink below $50 then it wouldnt be worth my time. Anyway, cleared the bonus and ended up with $330, so $220 profit, which I am happy with. Seemed to lose way more than I won but I made 3 big bets of $50-75 that all won so I was lucky in that sense.

[DMoogle]

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Well I figured that seeing as im trying to play to pay off my bonus, there would be no point in allowing my bonus to disappear.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's all about expectation. Sometimes you win a lot, sometimes you lose a lot. With the bonuses, you're supposed to come out ahead overall IN THE LONG RUN.

If you're worried about "losing it all", then you're playing under-bankrolled. Simple as that. Solution? BET LESS, NOT MORE. This is very very basic fundamental gambling theory stuff.

[kyleb]

that mentality is actually quite +EV

unfortunately it also breeds degeneracy