Money Management For Effective Casino Play

Being an effective casino player requires, among other things, being able to take advantage of the trends within the game you are playing. Sports bettors try to see trends develop from past performance records of the team or horse they follow; they can spend hours or days making their decisions. Trends in casino games happen so quickly most people do not realize what they represent - a chance to slightly overcome the built in percentage in the casino’s favor. One way to capitalize on this is through the use of money management (MM). The MM methods discussed here are for the recreational player of “player Vs house” type games. Card counting in blackjack involves a different type of trend recognition and will not be discussed.

You might see some “It is up to you” type comments. You are playing with your money, not mine. You make the decisions, not me. You do not have to share your winnings with me (unless you would like to) and I certainly will not pay you if you lose. Nothing anybody tells you will guarantee you will always win. If I could tell you how to always win I would not be sitting here writing this column. I would be on my way to the casinos with a quick stop at the disguise store. MM is about being a more effective player and increasing you chances of winning.

Positive MM is a organized, systematic method of increasing bets when you win and decreasing bets when you lose. It should be part of your overall plan to get some of the casino’s money without wasting yours. One of the things that make casino owners happy is a player who makes the same bet on every hand or throw of the dice so the casino can “grind” you out of our hard earned money. By using MM it is possible, under certain circumstances, to slightly offset the casino’s built in advantage.

Basic Unit: If your bet on the first hand is $1 your basic unit will be $1. If it is $100 your basic unit will be $100. You should have at least twenty units to start. If your basic unit is $5 you should have a stake of twenty ($100) to start playing.

Only you can decide what your basic unit will be. It should be based on your gambling budget. If you are staying at the Mirage and want $2 as your blackjack basic unit you will probably have to find another casino that has a $2 or less minimum bet. Do not be intimidated by the minimum bets where you happen to be. Las Vegas casinos that have the minimums you need are not difficult to find.

Think in Units: By all means keep track of your money but learn to think of it in units while playing It is less confusing and easier to remember what that next be will be. If I had to think in terms of money instead of units when I was dealing craps I would have gone bonkers in the first hour of the first day.

This is a basic MM betting progression: 1-2-3-5-5-8-8-12-12-18-18... You start with a bet of one unit, if you win you go to the next bet, in this case two units. If you win that you go to three units and so on. When you lose you go back to the beginning and bet one unit.

You are playing blackjack and decided that your basic unit is $5 so you have twenty $5 checks ($100) in front of you. Your first bet is one unit ($5). If you win, your next bet is two units ($10). If you win, your next bet is three units ($15). If you win, your next bet is five units ($25). If you win, your next bet five units ($25) again. If you win, your next bet is eight ($40) units. If you win, your next bet is eight units ($40) again.

In this betting progression, starting with the eighth bet, increases are determined by taking half the last bet and adding it to itself and making that bet two times if you win. From eight units the next bet would be twelve units (1/2 of 8 =4, 8+4= 12); if I win that one I bet twelve units again. The next bet would be eighteen units and so on. This continues as long as you keep winning. Again, when you lose you go back to a bet of a single unit. With a little practice it is easy to do, even at 4:00 AM after a few drinks.

This is what happens: If you win the first hand and bet two units on the next hand you are still risking only your original unit; the other one is the casino’s. If you win the second hand and bet the next hand with three units, you are now playing with the casino’s money and your original one unit is now dragged back to your stake. Once you win the third hand and bet the next with five units, all the money in your bet is the casino’s and, win or lose, you will not be behind any money. If you lose you go back to your basic unit. This way you can only lose a minimum amount of units at a time.

If you are dealt a winning blackjack, win on a double down or split situation, skip a progression and make the next bet. If your bet was two units and you get win on a double down, skip the next three unit bet and to go five unit bet for the next hand.

Now, about the trends I mentioned earlier, this is a trend: win, win, win, win, win, lose.

This is how your bets would look if you had been betting this trend: 1-2-3-5-5-8 and the next bet would be 1.

You do not have to worry about recognizing trends because your MM will take care of it for you. If you are not happy with the basic progression of bets change it to something you are more comfortable with. Maybe you would like to be more aggressive, such as 1-2-5-10-10-15-15-25-25. Your progression of bets, like choosing a basic unit, is up to you. Be careful, though. By betting more you can win more, but you can also lose at a faster pace than with the more conservative basic progression. No matter how you change it, your MM should reflect betting more when you win and less when you lose. This is the only way for a recreational player to overcome the grind, that is, the built in percentage in the casino’s favor.

Stick to the plan - make the bet! Remember, MM is a part of a plan you have to deal with the casino’s built in advantage. If you do not follow it will not do you any good and your plan becomes weaker. Consider this situation. You are playing blackjack and have been dealt 5 & 6 with the dealer showing a 4. Ask yourself if you would double down if your bet was $2. How about $10...or $25? The cards are the same, the outcome will be the same and the odds against winning do not change with the size of your bet. Here is the rule of thumb: If it is a good bet for $2 it is a good bet for $10. If you get nervous and back off at doubling down or splitting somewhere in the progression you might want to consider lowering your basic unit. Without following your plan you become a hunch bettor. There is an old saying about people who consistently bet hunches, “They sleep in the park.”

A few words about when to quit: If you sit down with twenty basic units and lose half, this would be a good time to quit for a while. Not conservative enough? Quit if you have lost 25% of your stake. You decide - but stick with it!

How much should I win before I quit? If you ever ask this question have the cocktail waitress smack you in the head a couple of times with a wet towel. The answer is simple, you want as much as you can get. If you are winning KEEP PLAYING! What reasons could you possibly have to quit when you are winning? Isn’t the idea of playing the game to win? Winning streaks are too few and far between to quit in the middle of one. If you win enough you might even consider increasing your basic unit - it is not carved in stone. A player who starts with $5 as a basic unit and wins $200 or $300 (a substantial win for a $5 bettor) at a sitting might want to increase the basic unit $10 or more. As long as you are winning keep playing. When you start to lose, stop. Do not try to reverse a loosing streak. Do not chase the money you just lost with more. If I am ahead a substantial amount and lose three hands in a row I usually stop, get up and walk away. You decide when is the best time for you to stop but do not give all your winnings back before you leave the table. Use the casino’s money to go to a show or restaurant that normally would not be within your budget. You can always play again after you have enjoyed the benefits of your win.

I suggest you practice MM before your next trip to the casino. Play a couple of hundred hands and get used to figuring out what that next winning bet will be. After a while you will start to get the rhythm and it will become almost automatic. When you finally make the trip to the casino and are at the table you will feel more confidant and relaxed. Win or lose you will have a better time.

Do not expect to get rich using MM. Be realistic. Although it happens, you probably will not be winning ten hands in a row. Be happy to win three or four in a row. Using MM, if you win, you will win more and if you lose, you will lose less. Good luck.