Money Management

[Mikeaber]

I guess this is a bit of a confession and sort of embarrassing. I find that when I get on a cash table that I get really caught up in the action. I do not pay a lot of attention to my chip stack. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose but it seems that if I really get into it for hours, that whatever I start out with often dwindles to nothing.

Some sort of "money management" needs to be employed to control losses. I underscore the point here that what I am thinking about is not a streak betting strategy but rather a "caution flag" to remind me what's happening.

Let's say that we are NOT counting. Betting Strategies do not usually coincide with Card Counting. Okay, straight flat betting or whatever.....but Basic Strategy all the way.

Start out with $100 and plan on making $5 bets. Let's pick some arbitrary amount as a cap loss....call it $25 Playing Double Deck. Start out the first shuffle with $25 as your chip stack though your BR is $100. If you loose that $25...WALK. If you loose $10 in the first shuffle, then you start the second shuffle with only $15. When you loose that $15....WALK. Go play some Video Poker or take a nap and come back later or go to another table. When you resume, you start the cycle over again with a BR of $75 and a chipstack of $25.

How bout if you win? I see that scenairo playing out as follows starting with $100 BR and $25 in your betting stack:

You loose $10 on the first shuffle.

Start the second shuffle with $15 and win $15. You now have a betting stack of $30.

You've comitted $25 to the trial at the table but now you have won a little. So, instead of starting the next shuffle off with $25, you start it with $30. If in consecutive shuffles you happen to exhaust your winnings and your $25, you WALK!

However, if you continue to increase your winnings in consecutive shuffles, you risk all that you've won plus the original $25 UNITIL you reach a winning amount in excess of the original $25 of $50. You now have a bankroll $100 plus $50 in win. At this point, you put your original $25 back into your bankroll and work just with the $50 you've won.

From this point on, I think that I'll risk the entire $50 before walking. Each time I accumulate an additional $25, I "bank it." When I finally loose the $50 then I WALK. When I return, I start out with the original $100 BR and start the cycle all over. Note that hopefully, I'll have rat-holed several green chips along the way above and beyond the original $100.

I note that using this money management strategy has nothing to do with "streak betting" such as is employed by Martingale or Dahl to captalize on streaks of wins or losses. It is strictly a way to send up a "red flag" to tell me to get the hell away from the table before I blow it all in one session!

The downfall I see to this is that often, you will start out a shuffle loosing more than you win but that it turns around before the end of the shuffle. When this happens, you might loose the $25 to start with and not get the chance to benefit from the end of the shuffle. Sometimes it goes the other way and you win early. What I am trying to do is eliminate those sessions where you get wipped out in a hurry or the ones where you are steadily but slowly loosing.

The amounts might need to change. Instead of a starting cap of $25, maybe it should be $50....I haven't tried it in practice to see how it goes and my streak betting simulator cannot be set up to accomodate this type strategy.

I would like to hear comments from others on this.

[mrbill]

I agree with your strategy. I try to use it as much as possible. Sometimes I have to get a little creative to accomplish it. When the casino is busy it can take forever to get back on another table. When I reach the point I just take a little break and go to the bathroom or get a soda or something. I've also just sat out till the end of the shoe.

[Mikeaber]

I've played this out through one complete cycle dealing to myself and three "other" dummys <smile>. Straight basic strategy. I didn't bet on the dummy hands...just played them out to get a view of the cards as I played.

Before I lost my first session, I had recovered my initial $25 by increasing it to $75. After placing the $25 back in my starting BR, I was left with $50 to bet with. I increased that to $75 and rat-holed a green chip and then lost the $50 after 30 hands. Results, $25 ahead and my original BR still in tact.

This repeated two more times leaving me $75 ahead with a full BR. Then the fourth shot saw me rat-hole two greens making a total win of $100 before I lost the $50 betting stack....I'd doubled my starting BR.

Then things turned south on me. I had my first loosing session. I think it took about 7 hands to loose the $25. I still had the 4 green chips I'd rat-holed, but was now down $25 to $75 for my "budget" for the "day." I took a break and actually worked a little <LOL>.

After that first loss, the next three sessions were loosers and I had exhausted my BR but was actually dead even with the rat-holed chips. Tomorrow's a new day and I'm no worse for the wear. In fact, I consider that entire exercise a success because as a recreational gambler plying my skills at a game I love to play...breaking even is a win for me! I figure I played at a minimum, 500 hands...a pretty full day of BJ had I been at a casino. In reality, it took three days to play this out in my spare time.

Now, this could have played out much differently. What would have happened had those last four "sessions" been at the start of my endevor? Well, instead of breaking even with the rat-holed chips, obviously, I would have lost the entire $100 BR with nothing to show for it. That can certainly happen and I'm prepared for it, but if it does, it will happen in four separate sessions with breaks in between. Maybe breaks of several hours in which I'll indulge in the other attractions of Sin City! And when it all said and done, I will only be out $100. I won't be chasing it!

I do not start out with a BR larger than I can afford to loose nor do I plan a trip with a BR that I can't afford to loose. I don't WANT to loose it and don't expect to loose it, but the possibility is there that it might happen. My objective with this type strategy was and is to assume the worst case scenario and figure a way to make the most of it. I think this accomplishes that and still gives me the chance to play a long time, especially if I have some winning sessions, or at least no consecutive 5 hand loosing streaks!

I don't like to put a time limit on my sessions. You can loose a LOT in a short period or you can reach the time limit and be on a winning streak and be more than tempted to stay with it. This method I'm practicing gives me the option of walking whenever I get the urge and then return right where I left off with no alterations in my progressing stragegy.

I'll be giving this a chance in the casino in about three weeks!

Oh, and MrBill......where I play, there is usually no problem in getting a seat at a table. Most of the "tourists" are afraid of the variance with Double Deck games and those are the ones I seek out. But, if I can't find a seat at another table, there's always Video Poker or an Elvis impersonator to watch <LOL> and that too accomplishes my objective of stretching my BR for the max amount of time.