I am somewhere in the middle of forums. By no means a beginner but some of the advanced stuff goes over my head so I’ll post here. For two years My big bet was $10…min was 5. Average was probably 5.15 over the course of two years. I would sit there and the floor were nice but they would say “You don’t bet much”. I managed to get several rooms a month and countless meals. I would also see people around me losing 300, 500 and one lady on a 5 dollar game went 100, 100 at two hands, 25, 250x2, and then 500…every hand lost. She dropped 5000 in under an hour and she wasn’t a bad player but the cards came out not in her favor. My goal was to take 100 with a 100 in reserve (just in case) and walk when I hit 100 in profit. So many times I could have gotten more but if we all left when we were up the casino would change the rules again. My point is this…I built up a positive bank of profit so that when I went 5-25 on a good count even if I lost I was still ahead. My bankroll went to 200 with a reserve 100. Now I stroll in with 300 to start and a reserve 300 if I feel I might get it back. I also know that I can and have walked away down and it doesn’t matter in the long run. My biggest loss occurred on 25 double deck and it was $1400 over 3 hours of play. It hurt to write in my log -1400 but I did it so I knew where I was in P&L, and making it easier it was early profit this year (4500) that went into a loss of 500 and is now currently up 2200. It is possible to win but there are going to be losses.