Money management at the machines

22 May 2018

By Frank Scoblete

Starting a Money Management Plan

FROM NANCY: How much should I set aside to play a table-game such as blackjack or craps and also on quarter slots of the more or less traditional style? I tend to go overboard when I am playing and the next day I have to ask myself “What have you done Nancy?” The answer is not usually good.

I have had winning trips but the bad trips outweigh these. I do not want to just throw my money away. I need to develop a money management plan that I can stick to. Can a person beat the casino using money management? That would be a great incentive to learn it.

FRANK RESPONDS: I have bad news for you. Money management cannot give you the edge at any game. But I do have good news for you; money management can help you keep your losses within reason and will (hopefully) stop those early morning castigations of “What did you do, Nancy?”

First things first. You must play the proper basic strategy at blackjack. Basic strategy is the computer derived play of every player hand against every dealer up card. Do not get worried. You can buy basic strategy cards at most casino gift shops so you don’t have to start memorizing huge play lists. At craps you only make the best bets – pass line with odds and come bets with odds. (You could learn the darkside of the game but most players will be frowning at you should you play this way.) Do not make more than three bets at craps. I make just one bet on other shooters; I make three bets on me.

For slots stick to the machines that are not progressive. These will usually have better returns than those progressives. Also stay away from those penny, nickel and dime machines that have multiple lines of bets. These have high house edges and you wind up betting a lot more than the face value of the machine.

OK, for blackjack I recommend having forty times your bet as your session bankroll. So if you are playing a $10 game you should have $400 behind you. If you lose this or you get tired, quit. No matter what, don’t play for than an hour or 1.5 hours per session. Give yourself a chance to breathe.

Craps should have 10 times your total bet as your session bankroll. So if you are betting three numbers just multiply the total by 10. You lose that or you play your hour to 1.5 hours then you take a break.

On slots give yourself 100 times what you are betting per spin. Slots, as you know, can have very long losing streaks. These streaks can vanish with a big win or two but you never know.

Now, when you win, put half of that money away and play with the rest of the win. If you win some more take half of the new win and put that aside. Play with the other half. You lose that half or you feel tired or “I’m finished,” then you take a break.

Try to have enough money in your trip bankroll to play the number of sessions you desire. If you are ahead, you never use the win again; you use a new bankroll.

Hopefully this will help you navigate the dangerous waters of casino play.

Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. Frank Scoblete’s latest books are I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps, Confessions of a Wayward Catholic and I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack. Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.