The amount of money that you bring with you to the gambling table comes with a great deal of responsibility. Subsequently, sound bankroll management can affect whether you break your bank or the casino’s one.
One factor that you control, even before you step into a casino or log onto an online casino website, is the amount of money that you can decide to bring to the table. Many rookie players often jump straight into a game and bring their entire bankroll along with them.
The wrong presumption by inexperienced players is that the more money you bring to the table, the greater your chances of winning a substantial amount of money. For one, this is not true, and this approach should be avoided at all costs. You should always be shrewd with your bankroll and never spend money that you can’t afford or that you impulsively are driven to splurge.
Smart Management of Your Bankroll
Bankroll management refers to the limits of the amount of money a gambler plans to spend during a single session at a casino. This is known as playing within a bankroll. Playing at higher limits, where your chances of losing are more significant, is called playing out of a bankroll. Ultimately, smart bankroll management will prevent you from going broke.
Set Aside Money for Gambling
The golden rule in gambling is to set aside an exclusive fund just for gambling. This should be the money that you can afford to lose, and you should never spend beyond this amount, even if you enter a losing spiral.
Ultimately, don’t ever spend the money that you can’t afford to part with. Using your kids’ education savings or skipping your utility bills to redirect this money towards gambling is irresponsible and an example of horrendous bankroll mismanagement. These actions will shift you away from a prime playing environment since you will be playing to recoup losses and not to generate fresh wins.
Ways to Manage Your Funds Better
The first step to responsible bankroll management is determining how much you can realistically set aside for wagering. Here are a few bankroll management approaches popular amongst players:
The Martingale Technique
Martingale assists players to manage stakes. It is one of the approaches that is high on risk but simultaneously offers a good chance of winning. The principle here is straightforward and dictates that, should you lose, you should double your stakes and, if you win, you should start again at the beginning stake. The expectation of this method is that you will eventually win.
The Ferguson Rules
The Ferguson rules were developed by the renowned poker champion, Chris Ferguson. According to his rules, you should never enter a cash game where the buy exceeds 5% of your entire bankroll. Additionally, Ferguson states that you should avoid multi-table tournaments where the buy exceeds 2% of your bankroll. Also, should you eventually win, and your money exceeds 10% of your bankroll, you should cash out.
The Kelly Criteria
The Kelly criteria are often used by professional gamblers to determine the precise amount of funds to bet, whenever an almost exact probability of an outcome can be worked out. The stakes are determined by a percentage of the size of the funds that you have.
The Kelly criteria formula is as follows:
- Multiply the event odds by the probability of winning
- Subtract the probability of losing from the figure obtained in step one
- Take the number calculated in step two and divide it by the odds
Stop-Loss Technique
Stop-loss technique is best suited for cash game players and is one of the most straightforward rules around. All that you have to do is set a loss amount that you are willing to accept for the duration of your entire session. Should you at any stage lose that amount of money, you should then quit.
Remember that luck controls which cards you get dealt with, but strategy determines how you play them. Of course, there are no shortcuts to success and learning to manage your bankroll effectively takes time, even though it can be done, boosting your confidence to conquer any game.
