Blackjack Money Management and Bankrolling
OK, you've learned Basic Strategy to perfection. You couldn't make a Basic Strategy mistake if you tried. You know it in your sleep, you actually dream Perfect Basic Strategy...
Well, I guess you're ready to learn the next step...
Money management and bankrolling are not the same thing, but they are very closely related.
Money management is the science of making the correct wager for each situation. Proper bankrolling is having enough money to keep you from going broke during losing streaks.
This is a very easy part of card counting, you can actually print out this page for further use. There is nothing to memorize.
Let's start with your total bankroll. How much can you lose and still live and pay your bills? Never play with "scared money". Let's say that you can afford to lose $100,000 (Oh, you say it's more) well, lets use $100,000 as an example.
The amount of your bankroll that you should use on each big bet is 1/150th of your entire bankroll...or $666 per hand, but if you are playing two hands your big bet would be 1/200th...or $500. I prefer to play cautiously so I would not go over the $500 bet. Being cautious may earn you a little less money, but, your sense of security will be raised and help you to feel good about any situation.
Let's take a look at a session bankroll.
You should have 30 times your big bet for each session. So, if your big bet is $500 what's your session bankroll? That's right...big bet=$500 and session bankroll is 30 times the big bet. So your session bankroll is $500x 30 or $15,000
This bankrolling system along with Perfect Basic Strategy and Card Counting will keep your chances of losing all of your money to 2%. That means that your risk of ruin is only 2% or put another way you have a 98% chance of never going broke.
One more tip...The smaller your big bet in relation to your total bankroll the smaller the probability that you will go broke.
That's it. Very simple.
Now let's look at money management. When playing Blackjack and Counting Cards there are times when you will raise your bet. As the count goes higher your bets will also go higher. The ultimate big bet would be the table limit, but, let's say that you have been playing $5 bets and the table limit is $500. Do you think that an alarm might go off in the dealers head if you went directly to a $500 bet? Do you think he might be inclined to alert the Floor Person or the Pit Boss? You bet. Or maybe you don't bet. If they let you make that bet the only way they would let you do it again is if you lost the first bet and as soon as you won a bet they would do one of two things. Shuffle the cards or toss your raggedy behind out for good. Neither one of which, is a good choice for you.
So you see you are in a win, go home forever or a loss-loss situation.
There you go, all of the time and effort you spent to learn Basic Strategy and Card Counting was wasted because you can never play in your favorite casino again,or for that matter any casino if you continue the same betting pattern.
Doesn't it seem obvious, then, that the less you bet the better your chances of continuing your card counting career? But, to what point can you raise your bets and still make a good profit and not get barred. One rule I use is that I will raise my bets in increments to get to the highest bet.
In a one or two deck game you can realistically raise your bets to 5 times your original bet. This will allow you to make a nice profit with minimum heat.
In 4,6 and 8 deck games the rule of thumb is 10 times your original bet. But, in both cases, if you jump immediately from one unit to 5 units in a one or two deck game or one unit to 10 units in a 4,6 or 8 deck game the house will begin watching you and you will bring heat on yourself.
What to do?...
Well, it's not brain surgery. When the count becomes favorable. Simply cap your original bet with 2 more units for a total of 3 units in a one or two deck game. It's always better if you win the previous bet. Then you will have 2 units out there and all you need to do is add one more. After the outcome of this bet, if you win take one unit off and play the rest. If you lose make a five unit bet, that will look like you are trying to get your loss back… the casinos love that. That will take you to 5 units. Then leave the 5 unit bet there until the count goes even or minus or the deck runs out. You then start over using the same system.
In a 4,6 or 8 deck game use the same strategy, but go to 4 units then 10 units.
This will look like a progression system, which the casinos love... and keep HEAT to a minimum. Well, that's about it for money management and bankrolling.
Let's move on to the meat of the lesson...Card Counting
click here for Card Counting
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