Hey @mookie no problem at all and I'm sorry i haven't had a chance to get around to this post yet.
Like many of you I'm sure i got my start with a system seller and learned quickly they were full of shit....didn't learn my lesson there and bought another system from someone else and realized there was a pattern developing that wasn't on the positive side of my betting.
So I decided to seek out others playing the game on a more permanent routine with no systems. Most played some form of progression style and pattern recognition. i started to see what they were doing and picked up on some minor patterns when i realized that my biggest problem was playing to many hands. once i started betting less and only waiting for certain patterns it was amazing how my hit rate started coming up. However i was still using a heavy martingale progression and no discipline finally paying the ultimate price wiping out my bankroll.
I stumbled across BTC last year in my journey to rebuild my bankroll by working and had some really good success with what I was learning. I decided that I would not bet another dollar unless my hit-rate was over 50% right then and there my journey started. i had taken everything I was learning and practiced religiously. I read everything I could find on the site and had some personal issues that arose which forced me to leave BTC and focus more on working for a living. But BTC was always in the back of my mind and I was determined to get back. So less than a year later and tons of practice later I'm back. I have done my best to learn from all those hear @kachatz1, @CANADABACC, @W84it, @Dixon, & @Keith Smith. As well as others not yet on the forum but trying to get them to join.
All that said I don't hold myself to one thing except DNA, FTS, and 5D mainly. I still progress but am working more and more on flat betting but have a stop loss now and strict adherence to it. I was officially laid off yesterday from the Oilfield which is awesome because now I get to practice more on this and it was my plan to quit anyway. Now I get paid to get ready for my Baccarat career. Looking forward to meeting each of you in the near future and continue my journey thank you all!