Money Management
by Jordan Walters

You've probably heard the term money management before. It's one of the most popular buzzwords in the casino. But what does it mean exactly? If you were to research money management, you would have a never-ending supply of material to read. Much of it would be redundant, some contradicting and some way too technical. Today, I will talk about money management for the average gambler.

The goal of money management is to help you keep a grip on your money in the casino environment. When you're having fun, it's easy to forget how much you've spent or won. It's also easy to let the moment take control. For the average gambler, I would define money management as a way to make sure you never lose more than you wanted to and as a way to keep your bets level, so you can have the most fun.

Let's tackle the first issue -- not losing more than you wanted to. Whenever you go to gamble, you should always have a spending amount in mind. Whether it's $10 or $10,000, you need to figure out what's the most you are willing to lose. Never gamble with the idea that you're just going to walk in with $10 and come out a big winner. It can happen, but the odds are against you.

I don't think defining an amount is a defeatist attitude, either. All you are doing is coming up with an amount of money that you would be comfortable spending on a session of entertainment. When you go to the grocery store, don't you have an idea of how much you are willing to spend? The same attitude is needed at the casino as well. For our upcoming example, I will set a hypothetical amount at $100. This is called a bankroll by the way.

The second issue of money management, as we are defining it today, is even wagering. In other words, if you have a $100 bankroll, you wouldn't want to bet $100 on your first hand of Blackjack, because if you lose, you're done. Our goal is to have a lot of fun and possibly win some cash. For our example, I will play Blackjack.

To withstand the ups and downs of gambling, I think you should give yourself at least 20 hands of play. By dividing your bankroll by your hands of play, you'll know how much to bet each hand -- rather, what your maximum bet will be. In our example, we have a $100 bankroll, and we want 20 hands of play. This gives us $5 units.

For my hypothetical playing session, I can bet a maximum of $5 per hand of Blackjack. Now, if I go on a winning streak, I can reevaluate my bankroll and adjust accordingly. For instance, if I am up $100, my bankroll is now $200, which means my maximum wager is now $10 per hand of Blackjack.

As you can see, we don't need to get fancy or technical to have a nice working plan for a good time at the casino. The next time you go gambling, try this two-step process out.