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Casinos> Gambling Articles > Blackjack Money Management Tips
Blackjack Money Management Tips
Casino games like blackjack are supposed to be fun and
entertaining. For those who view a
gambling session as just a fairly expensive form of entertainment, that’s all
well and good. But, for those of us who
visit casinos to take their money home with us, the fun aspects play second
fiddle to more serious issues, like hanging onto our money long enough to
increase our bankroll!
That’s really what it’s all about with games like
blackjack. The underlying goal each time
you sit down to play is to effectively manage your losses, biding your time
until you hit the inevitable winning streak.
Make no mistake – in blackjack, there will be numerous hot and cold
streaks during every session where you play longer than just a few hands. The ultimate key to consistently beating the
casinos is to minimize the losing streak dollar losses, and maximize the
winning streak dollar winnings.
The casino holds a slight edge against average players who
are not counting cards or utilizing some other effective strategy, which means
there will often be slightly more hands lost than won. However, at the end of a given blackjack
gambling session, the odds strongly favor a roughly equal total of hands lost
and hands won.
So, how do you, as a blackjack player who isn’t using card
counting or a similar strategy, take advantage of the nearly equal odds that
blackjack offers to become a consistent winner?
In a phrase, ‘money management.’
You may also think of this as ‘betting management.’ The concept revolves around the broad goal of
winning more during your hot streaks than you lose during your cold streaks.
Again, every blackjack player – even the best players on
Earth – have inevitable hot and cold streaks during any lengthy blackjack
session. It’s the nature of the
game. Don’t fight that fact – use it!
The way to effectively manage your blackjack bankroll is to
set hard ‘win’ and ‘loss’ limits. This,
coupled with having the discipline to stick to those limits, no matter what, is
how you can go from casino sucker to consistent winner.
Here’s an example.
Before you enter the casino, determine how much you can afford to
lose. Use facts, not emotions! That is your loss limit. As soon as you hit that level, you stop
playing that day. Period. No exceptions. You also need to determine a reasonable
winning expectation and stick to that number – your win limit. A good tip is to set your loss limit at 50%
of your win limit. For example, if your
win limit is $100, then your loss limit is $50. Whichever one you hit first, that’s when your
gambling session ends. If your total
bankroll for that session is $500, then you stop playing when it hits $450 or
$600, whichever comes first.
This money management strategy takes strong discipline. The first time you’re having a great day and
get up $100 quickly, you’ll be sorely tempted to stay and play some more. Don’t!
That’s what the casinos count on.
They expect you to get greedy at that point, not to get up and calmly
walk away. Even if you hit your win
limit after only 5 minutes of playing blackjack, stop and go enjoy the rest of
your day. Ditto the times you hit your
loss limit quickly. This is the key!
So, why set the loss limit so far below the win limit? Good question! The answer is that this money management
system accounts for the inevitable losing days, with room to spare. The house edge in blackjack is such that the
casino expects to keep about $50 for every $1,000 you bet.
To nullify that edge, you can count cards, play some other
strategy devised to eliminate the house edge, or play blackjack straight up,
head-to-head, using only the Basic Strategy Card while managing your money
correctly. By setting your loss limit at
50% of your win limit, you can lose two sessions for every one that you win,
and you’ll still break even. That means
you only have to win more than 33.3% of the blackjack sessions you play to win
more money than you lose! Played correctly,
you are virtually assured of this happening over the long haul. Nothing fancy – you’re just limiting your
losses and your wins and being disciplined enough not to deviate from the
plan. The rest will take care of itself.
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