| Money management can be defined as
making the best use of your bankroll for blackjack playing purposes.
Your first goal is to make it grow bigger when you are winning. Your
second goal is to preserve it in those times when you are losing.
Proper money management will allow you to utilize your financial
resources in a manner that maximizes your chances for profit and
minimizes your chances for loss. When you're
winning, you have to seize those opportunities and stretch them to
the maximum safe level and make sure you finish a winner. And when
things go against you, you must restrict losses to affordable
amounts and protect yourself from ever really getting hurt at the
tables.
Discussing money management should not turn into a
long winded lecture. Before you even enter a casino, two things need
to be decided beforehand:
- How much are you willing to lose before you
quit?
Before you become involved in a game, make sure
you can afford to lose whatever amount you play with. Never gamble
with money you cannot afford to lose either financially or
emotionally. If the money you intend to play with is needed for
something else more pressing like paying for a rent or a utility
bill, skip the game. There is never a guarantee of winning but you
can be assured that there will always be game in the future.
Betting with "scared money" adversely affects decision-making.
Knowing how much you can afford to lose does not
mean that you should keep playing until you lose all your original
bankroll when you hit a losing streak. Other considerations need
to be taken into account in deciding whether you are to continue
playing or you with stand up and leave when you encounter such
unfortunate circumstances. Such considerations will be discussed
in a separate section.
When you have the bankroll you want to play
with, and you have established the fact that you can afford to
lose it, you will be in a much better position to pursue that big
killing at the tables. Psychologically, you'll have enough nerve
to bet BIG when the circumstances dictate that you do so. This is
what you need to win big. But when you are playing with "scared
money" you'll be intimidated to bet big when you should.
- How much are you willing to accept as your
winnings and quit if you are ahead?
If you have any expectation of ever becoming a
winning blackjack player, you must set a goal to never give back
your hard-earned profits to the casino. Learn to take the money
and run! Set a profit target before you buy-in at a blackjack
table. If you are successful in reaching your target, just keep
playing while you are in your hot streak (you never quit when you
are winning) but you should be ready to leave the table as soon as
your winning streak ends.
If you are ahead and continue to gamble, the
house advantage kicks in and will eventually chip away your
winnings and bankroll.
This is money management at its most
basic - setting goals of enhancing your casino earnings without
substantially increasing your risk. If you have not answered these
two critical questions before you enter the casino, you are on a
collision course with disaster - you can end up losing more than you
can afford.
Caveat:
Even the best money management system will not make up for bad luck
or bad play.
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