Daily Intent

Santa Barbara, CA – Jeff Bochsler - Follow me on Twitter or tell the world on Facebook through the Share Link above.  **Audio Version will be available soon.  Return and download it to your iPod!

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Recently, I was handed a 50 page book on Blackjack.  The title, BlackJack’s Hidden Secrets – Win Without Counting by George Pappadopoulos.  Ah, hidden secrets.  I want to know secrets.

Not one to ever smartly play Blackjack, I figured it would behoove me to learn a few basics.  Basics that would limit my downsize risk and perhaps even pay for my next vacation.

I must admit, I didn’t ever wish to spend my days at a Blackjack table.  I’m partial to the hoot and holler, all win together lose together Craps.  However, I’ve long been aware of the Blackjack aficionado culture.  And this little fifty pager was a quick way to pick-up some beginner level Blackjack verbiage, words that would at least afford me an ability to find el bano, and request a cerveza in this new language.

Then again, swimming about mounds of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck in DuckTales wouldn’t be a terrible end result either.

A couple notations and an hour later, I was converted from the cheering Craps player to a disciplined and methodical Blackjack winner.  I was splitting aces in my mind, muttering “winner, winner, chicken dinner”, and getting comp’d at the most luxurious hotels in Vegas – “Room service.  Yes, I’d like a plate of caviar and your best Champagne.  That will be all.  Thank you.”

I began thumbing through my mental calendar in efforts to find a free weekend for a quick trip to the shining lights, where there are no clocks, and talking on cell phones is useless because of the loud kachinging slot machines making it sound like all are winning in unison.

It all sounded so easy.  Brilliantly easy.

Then reality hit me.  The hidden secrets of Mr. Pappadopoulos’ methodology weren’t anything more than principles.  And there was no get rich quick gold path in these ingredients.  It was going to be slow moving to the pot of gold.  He called upon my discipline.  Vegas had never been about discipline.

I went into post-hidden secrets book depression.

Fortunately, my depression quickly abated.  And what I came to find with this renewed clarity, forever pulling out learnings from life’s activities, is the basic principles of Blackjack are quite relatable to life.

The authors 5 keys to success on the Blackjack table were 5 fundamentals to living the good life.  The crucial detail is they must all be followed without falter or the gambling chips will creep away quickly.

5 Principles of Blackjack and How They Relate to Life:

Rule #1. BANKROLL – 40 times table minimum: Do not sit down with less than 40 times the table minimum.  If the table minimum is $10, you can’t start playing with less than $400.  This ensures you have enough money to survive the risk, the ups and downs of the odds, giving yourself the best chance of winning bigger hands.  Your job then is to walk away from the table once you are 50% up on your money.  In this situation, you will leave the table after having won $200 extra.  This prevents you from getting greedy and losing it all.

LIFE RELEVANCE: You should always be aware of the true dollars it takes to start something, maintain it, and get the most out of it.  Do your due diligence.  Check your bankroll aka your budget.  You may have money for a down payment on a BMW; you may have enough money to pay the monthly loan; but if you don’t have enough money to cover the maintenance, then you are not sitting down at a table you can afford.

Rule #2. STRATEGY – Play the odds:  Knowing the odds of different hands in comparison to the dealer’s face card is important.  You need to have a good handle on when you should fold or hit.  You can buy a placard that guides you on these odds.

LIFE RELEVANCE: Stack the odds in your favor.  Know the rules.  If you are starting something new, but are sensing the odds are against you, ask yourself how you may rebalance the odds.  What do you need to ensure the odds become more favorable?  Do you need more education?  Do you need more money?  Better mentors?  Be patient.  Work diligently.  Better your odds.  Then set-off on this new adventure.

Rule #3. MONEY MANAGEMENT – Have a system that allows you to capitalize on the upward trends and get out on the downward trends.  Bet big at the right time.  Get out at the right time.  The book had a rule of starting by betting double the table minimum, $20, in our example. If you lose, then you bet $10 the next hand.  If you then win, you bet $20 again.  If you win again, you bet $30.  You keep increasing your bet by the table minimum until you lose a hand.  When you lose a hand, you go back to betting the table minimum until you win again.  The system looks like this:  2,1,2,3,4,5,6….  Then, if you lose 4 times in a row, you leave the table.

LIFE RELEVANCE: Have you ever considered creating a system in your life that encourages your participation at a heightened level the more you win or have good experiences?  Perhaps it is with a client, prospective new friend or putting on a certain type of event.  You start by giving the situation your two times table minimum bet, meaning you spend some good resources, but not all your resources on this client or event.  If the outcome is good, then you increase your involvement or effort.  If it is bad, then you give the table minimum.  You continue giving the table minimum until you’ve reached 4 bad experiences and need to fire the client or cease putting on the events, or you win and begin investing resources into it again.

Perhaps the number isn’t 4, maybe it is 6, 8, or 10, depending on how realistic you think it is to gain traction.  Either way, it might be a good idea to create a few general rules for yourself to ensure decisions are made based off the odds rather than your emotions.

For example, if you have one bad experience with a particular client and you let your emotions take over, you might walk away immediately, however maybe they had a bad day and your next experience with them is going to be great.  Such a rule might ensure you don’t make brash decisions and you get to experience that next great time.  Or you put on an event that few attend, but it just so happens that a large community event was going on the same evening.  Emotions will tell you the work wasn’t worth it.  The system will tell you to continue with your efforts for a few more events to see the true trend.

Rule #4. TRENDS – Even when the odds are 50/50 in flipping a coin, there are trends over the course of many flips.  Your job is to find them and jump in the pool during a hot streak for winning.

LIFE RELEVANCE: Be okay with being a spectator for a few minutes, hours, days, years, before you see the trends fall into your favor.  This again falls in line with stacking the odds in your favor.  You may feel like you are arriving late to some parties, however trust your self.  You have a system in the previous rule (Money Management) to ensure you leave the party before it is too late, or things get ugly.

Rule #5. DISCIPLINE – Once you win, get out.  Don’t let outside influence distract you from playing out your strategy.  Follow your strategy at all costs.  You are there to win.  Fun is not found in losing.  Losing is more likely when you aren’t disciplined.  So don’t drink before or during.  Follow your rules rather than your emotions.

LIFE RELEVANCE: Keep your wits about you.  Don’t let others influence you by talking you into or out of a decision that falls in-line with your strategy.  In the book it talks about Vegas being great at keeping you at the table gambling.  They offer free drinks.  You wait for the next free drink before you leave the table, just enough time for you to lose a great deal of money.  They offer you comps, which take 30 minutes to arrive.  Again, just enough time for the odds to shift into their favor.  Life happenings can do the same to us.  Our sober awareness of where we stand a midst it all, and the systems we strategically established, is critical to our long-term, steady success.  Remember, your goal is to win your days, you weeks and your months.

With this knowledge and these references, might our next Vegas experience be a bit more holilstically impactful.

TELL ME.  IT’S EASY:
I want to hear about how you might implement a few strategies into your life to maintain progress and limit destructive emotional decisions.  Write one or two sentences below.

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“A slang term for a young urban professional who cannot afford property. Yupcaps are individuals in their late twenties or early thirties with a post secondary educations and a well-paying jobs who are unable to purchase a property due to factors such as high real estate prices, limited personal savings and limited credit history, all of which can make it difficult to get approved for a mortgage.

These individuals often need to wait until they build up a larger down payment, purchase a home with another individual, or get help from their parents. Yupcaps’ situation contrasts with that of their parents, who could more easily afford their first homes.” – Investopedia.com

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Live and Be Well,

Jeff Bochsler

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