Flat Betting

20 April 2021

By Frank Scoblete

Scratch casino players and you will get a load of betting strategies. Some of the players will be positive progressive bettors, a few will be negative or regressive bettors, some will be haphazard bettors just throwing out bets hither and yon of different sizes, perhaps at a multitude of different games.

You have players who have thought deeply about how to bet and, yes, how to play. Others haven’t given the games much thought except to go cash in and play away.

Some bettors are flat bettors, meaning they play the same sized bet for each and every decision. If they are winning, they don’t increase their bet; if they are losing they don’t increase their bet either. Each and every hand at blackjack is the same bet; each and every bet at craps is the same bet. If they play slot or video poker machines, they stick to the same denomination and the same type of machine.

The flat bettor isn’t necessarily interested in making a killing. Wins come and go; losses come and go. A flat bettor goes with the flow of the game without changing his or her approach.

I think the majority of casino players range between being a flat bettor the majority of the time until they change their betting for a variety of reasons. They could be winning and figure to increase their betting level to really hammer the casino. Sometimes such a hammering does take place; often it doesn’t.

The true flat bettor will not bother changing the size of his or her bets.

Now is flat betting a wrong way to approach the games? I think not.

If you increase your bet, even if you have been winning until that point, your new bet is still susceptible to the house edge. It is always susceptible to the house edge.

Players like to think a table is hot. A table is never hot. It was hot. That is past tense. “I am at a hot table.” No, you aren’t. You were at a hot table. Until the decision you have to see whether you win or lose. Nothing is happening on that “hot table” until a decision is rendered; not past decisions, no, the decision that’s coming up is the key decision.

The past is no indication of what the future will hold. It takes investors a long time to realize that truth and playing casino games is a type of investment – a negative one for the players and a positive one for the casinos.

My recommendation is to find the level of flat betting that gives you a thrill without giving you a heart attack. If you have a bet out and you think to yourself, “That’s a lot of money,” then that is too much money. Find a flat bet that is fun but not frazzling.

Try to play games that are relaxed and somewhat slow. Never let a dealer or another player jar you into betting before you have given your bet a chance to be won. That is especially true of games where you have to make decisions that actually influence what’s coming up. A game such as blackjack fits that bill.

Being a flat bettor might be the best way to bet casino games. If you’ve never done it then give it a try.

All the best in and out of the casinos.

Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books and at bookstores.