Bankroll Management
Betting the right amount of money and being conservative about your bankroll management are the most important factors when it comes to ensuring that your gaming sessions will be long and satisfactory and that you won’t run out of money after a few days of play. However, many novice casino enthusiasts and even intermediates simply lack the knowledge necessary to make it work. The goal of this article is to provide you with the tools that will allow you to size your bets properly, depending on the games that you prefer to play.
One of the first things you’ll have to understand is that online casino games can be very different in terms of how fast the action tends to unfold. Classic table games like Blackjack, Craps Online, Baccarat, or Online Roulette are rather slow, which means that you won’t be placing as many bets as you normally would when playing Video Poker or Slots, for example. The more wagers you place and the higher the variance of the game, the more money you’ll need to keep the risk of ruin reasonably low.
Another important thing you have to keep in mind is the fact that refusing to follow proper strategy in skill-based games like Blackjack, Baccarat, or Video Poker means that you have to bring more money to the table, as you won’t be maximizing your profits.
For example, an hour-long Blackjack session usually requires you to have at least 19 betting units, but if you don’t make the right calls and decide to do silly things like hitting with 19 points, you’ll require 20 or even 25 more. It’s important to remember that those numbers won’t change regardless of the stakes you’re playing – if you’re going to place $1 bets, you should bring $19. If you want to play the higher stakes and bet $5 each hand, you’ll still need at least $95.
In the case of Baccarat, a similar gambling session won’t be safe unless you bring 20 betting units. Craps and Roulette are significantly cheaper, as they allow you to get away with 10 and 12 units respectively. Video Poker and Slots on the other hand are notorious for the amount of betting units they require – a one hour-long Jacks or Better Video Poker session usually requires at least 400 bets, while most slots won’t let you get away with less than 600. Quite obviously, those numbers might seem rather outrageous, but you have to keep in mind that the minimum bets in Slots and Video Poker are usually considerably lower than in the case of traditional casino games.
If you care about keeping your gaming sessions long without bringing a lot of money to the table, you should definitely consider sticking to games that progress at a relaxed pace. Most experts advise beginners to avoid Slots, as they generally tend to have the lowest Return To Player rate, which means that you’re going to lose money considerably faster than if you were placing safer bets on Blackjack or Roulette.
However, if you really enjoy playing slots, you have no reasons to worry, as many online casino sites offer generous slots-only bonuses and promotions that will undoubtedly help you extend your sessions by providing you with an excellent match on your payment. If you get a 200% match on your first deposit, the money you were willing to invest into playing slots will be worth three times more than it normally would, allowing you to get triple the betting units and triple the excitement.
Finally, you have to keep in mind that playing safe and following the aforementioned guidelines won’t turn you into profitable gambler. In fact, regardless of the betting system you choose, you will still lose money over time, as the expected loss is pretty much a product of the total amount of money you bet, the house edge, and the laws of probability. Still, conservative play will allow you to maximize the time you spend actually playing the games.
If you really care about short-term profits, you’ll have to maximize the impact of variance and place some risky wagers. For example, playing the Pass Line in Craps gives you a 49,3% chance of winning, which means that your odds are, in the long term, a little less than 50/50. If you place numerous bets, your results are more likely to reflect the house edge – but if you wager your entire bankroll on a single game, you make it very similar to a simple coin flip by exploiting the variance and you either double up, or lose your money.
Quite obviously, playing a single game has a high risk of ruin and wouldn’t really be considered all that fun by most people. Fortunately, you can combine the aforementioned methods to get the best out of both worlds – start by playing in a very conservative manner and placing small bets.
Once you’re done with your gaming session, use what’s left of the money that you were willing to use up that day to place a massive 50/50 wager – that way you’ll be able to play numerous rounds while simultaneously being able to reduce your exposure to the house edge. However, please note that following such risky strategies is very dangerous for your overall bankroll – if you turn that into a habit instead of an exception, you’ll eventually run out of funds, as even with nearly 50% odds your chances of losing several bets in a row are fairly high.
