Over the years I have taught many baccarat players and I have sold many of my books to those seeking a professional approach to playing baccarat.
I have met all sorts - but one thing was common - they were all gamblers who had lost a lot of money and they wanted to find a way to get it back.
Some had lost thousands while a few had lost hundreds of thousands and each one also said that they did not believe one could win consistently. If that was their belief, why were they still seeking a solution? Why not stop gambling completely? It baffles me whenever someone I come across tells me that. Why would you keep looking if you truly believe you can't win?
And then there are some who believed me and bought my books but there is a sub-group that I know will never make it - it is the 'compulsive gamblers' group. The number of times I have come across them and the pattern is always the same:
- They contact me and tell me how much they have lost and asked if I can help them - I say "Yes"
- They ask me if I can guarantee their success - I say "No"
- They decide to proceed to either learn from me or buy my books
- They learn the strategies and during the learning process they realize there is light in the tunnel
- They are excited and raring to go and I remind them that Rome was not built in a day
- They start playing and they start making $1,000 a day - they are ecstatic!
- After repeatedly winning for between 14 - 60 days, inevitably they contact me to say the system failed
- They start pointing fingers - they claim I said the system will not fail (which I never say)
- They get all depressed and ask me why they lost and my answer is always the same - "Look to yourself - did the system fail you or did you fail yourself?"
Why is it that all their failures happened later rather than sooner?
Why did no one say they lost on the very first session they played after learning the strategies?
Why?
The answer is simple...
In my books I teach them 3 key points:
- I teach them what to bet on using a unique and powerful method of analysis
- I teach them how much they should bet once they have identified what to bet on
- I teach them when they should place the bets
BUT the most important lesson I teach is "DO NOT GAMBLE - WORK FOR IT!"
I teach them to treat baccarat as a business - I teach them about bankroll (money management) and I teach them how to make a plan and how to act on that plan.
I warn them about certain "dangers" that can affect their "business" and I stress they need to be patient and work on their plan one session at a time and not overdo it.
I do everything I can to help them achieve their goals and I see them all start off well and go well for a while but the "compulsive gamblers" group always fail.
Why?
You guessed it! They stopped "working" and started "gambling" because...
- They became complacent and they started taking unnecessary risks
- They were over confident and started being cocky and began to veer away from their plan
- They started throwing the odd extra bet like TIE, Banker / Player Pairs (but they didn't realize that these extra bets add up very quickly)
- They started pushing the limits of their concentration by playing far too long (beyond their plan) and with that mistakes crept in that were costly
- ....and on and on and on.....that's what a compulsive gambler does.
So at the end of the day, who failed who?