Your Gambling Bankroll

Even extremely good luck is of little value when a bankroll is poorly handled. On the other hand, a bankroll that is well managedBasil Nestor is the author of the new Playboy Complete Guide to Casino Gambling. This wonderful book teaches players how to avoid sucker bets and win more when playing gambling games.  He is also the author of The Smarter Bet Guide series for video poker, slots, craps, and many other books about gambling.  Basil's website is www.smarterbet.com  can minimize the effects of bad luck, and it can give you a chance to capitalize on good luck (I’ll show you how this works in the next few articles). All professional gamblers, and even casinos, use money management to safeguard their bankrolls and maximize their profits. You can, too.

The basic premise of money management is simple. You want to bet big enough to maximize profit, but you also want to bet small enough to minimize risk and keep yourself in the game.

For example, let’s say we’re betting on coin flips. If the coin comes up heads, you win $20. Tails costs you only $10. Who would give you such awesome odds? Nobody probably, but here’s the point; that’s a sweet bet. You could quit your job and flip a coin for a living with 2:1 payoffs like that.

But what if we take the same odds and make the base bet $10 million. Clearly, that changes things. Even with 2:1 odds in your favor, $10 million is an outrageous risk on a single coin flip. A smidgen of bad luck, just one loss, would leave you super-bankrupt, unless you’re a billionaire.

Now imagine that the stakes are only one penny. Even with favorable odds, it will take a while to earn substantial money. In fact, the game is hardly worth playing. But on the bright side, even the worst luck will have little effect when the stakes are so low. So you can play forever.

Here’s a real-world example of the same principle:

Imagine that you own a casino. When would be the best time to “quit while you’re ahead?” Of course, the answer is never. Usually, a casino has an advantage. The more it plays, the more money it earns.

On the other hand, there is luck to consider. Let’s say you build a casino, but you have only $1,000 to cover all the bets on opening night. Yes, you have an advantage, but the average swings of luck could bankrupt you anyway. That’s one of the reasons why casinos have jackpot-reserve requirements, table limits, and a specific range of denominations on their slot machines. Nobody, not even a casino, can risk an unlimited amount of money.

And here’s the kicker… You and the casino are playing in the same “mathematic universe.” The basic math is the same for everyone, even though the edge in various games may be different (sometimes the casino has an edge, other times it’s you who has an advantage). Either way, everyone is playing the balancing game.

So you might as well use professional money management techniques to maximize profit and minimize risk. After all, your opponent is using them.