Money Management at Casinos

WHEN IT COMES TO MANAGING your bankroll for gambling, you must have a basic plan; however, it's also important for you to remember that a money-management plan will not help you win at the tables or machines. Rather; a good financial plan will help you reduce your losses and give you a better chance to come out ahead in the long run. To be successful, you need to win more frequently than you lose, and you need to restrict your losses to a minimum when you do lose. Your plan should consist of the following steps.

Set aside gambling funds

Start with establishing a set amount for your entire trip. Next, set an amount for gambling for each day of your trip. Finally, establish an amount to play with during each session. For instance, you might want to play three sessions per day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. It’s important that you do not intermix session monies. That is don’t use your afternoon funds to help a losing morning session. Each session’s funds must be separate from the others.

Establish Goals

Setting goals is very important in gambling. Having a goal enables you to reach for a specific and reasonably attainable objective. It teaches you self-control, and most of all - it forces you to gamble responsibly. Consider this technique for leaving a winner: Set a firm goal of doubling your buy-in amount; for example, if you buy in for $100, you should stop playing when you reach $200. You'll find that you can usually reach your goal at some point during a session. Most players don't stop when they hit a set level. Remember, though, that the longer you stay at a game, the more chance the house will have to beat you down to zero. The object of playing is not to keep playing until you run out of funds. Instead, think about it this way: A 30-percent return on your investment is very good; a 50-percent return is excellent; and a 100-percent return is out of this world. So, doubling your buy-in (your investment) is a very nice, reasonable goal to set when gambling.

Establish a “stop-loss” limit

This technique is very similar to working with a stockbroker. When the price of a stock you bought for $30 goes up to $40, you tell your broker to sell only if the stock drops back down to $35. The broker will do this automatically so that you still come out with a profit. You should follow the same principle when gambling. Keep this in mind: If you win early and significantly, leave. Don't give the casino an opportunity to get its money back. Again, it's not that difficult to win in a casino; what's difficult is to walk out with your winnings.

Set a loss limit of 50 percent of your session funds. This will help to stop you from experiencing a big loss during a losing streak.

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