Playing Session Management

Do you know what one common element is that links all successful gamblers? The answer is money management. Every successful gambler that wins consistently knows how to manage their money. This article won't go into painstaking detail of all the ins and outs of money management. Rather, we will talk about how to manage your money for one playing session. This is where it all begins. Knowing how to manage your money for one playing session will allow you to have more fun and ride through the low periods.

The first step is to figure out how much you have to work with. This is the maximum amount of money you are prepared to lose. For our examples, we will say that this amount is $200. What follows are directions for common games like Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack and so on. Managing your money for slots, poker and video poker is a little different. However, you can get a basic idea of how it works. The goal of session management is to give us a chance to win by having enough funds to ride through the losing periods.

In general, you want to have at least 20 bets in your bankroll. If you want to be really safe, go up to 40. If we divide our $200 session bankroll by 20, we have $10 units. The unit is the maximum amount that can be bet per betting instance. For example, you could be $10 per hand in Blackjack or Baccarat. In Craps, you could wager up to $10 per point. In Roulette, you have up to $10 per spin. Actually, I recommend going to 40-50 bets in Roulette since it's a rough game.

Now that we know how much we can bet per betting instance, it's time for the action. If you are into Blackjack, you could run off to any table up to $10 minimums. However, I recommend playing at tables that are half of your maximum bet. This will give you betting flexibility. For instance, let's say you run to a $10 Blackjack table and start losing. You have no way to scale back your wager. You always want to give yourself the ability to scale your wager to the circumstances.

As the playing session progresses, you have two options. First, you could simply stick to your original betting unit ($10 in this case) or you can use a running count and adjust your betting as your bankroll goes up and down. For instance, let's say you started out like gangbusters at Blackjack and your bankroll is now $300. You could keep betting up to your original $10 limit, or you could revise your limits and go up to $15. In the end, having good session management of your bankroll will allow you to have more fun and keep you from making wild and costly wagers.