The idea of bankroll management in gambling is as old as casino gambling itself. Once smart players realized that bankroll management was a crucial key to unlocking the gambling puzzle, they not only embraced it but also created systems around the concept. Although it is a well-known concept that gambling is a game of chance, what is not so well known is that you can position yourself to maximize your chances by managing your bankroll. I mean, what’s the use of getting lucky if you don’t have the cash to maximize it because you blew your account earlier? As a matter of fact, you have to be sitting at the table playing to be lucky. Hence, if you don’t manage your bankroll well, your chances of getting lucky diminish greatly.
Effective bankroll management is essential for maximizing your chances of success in gambling.
It is this realization – that managing your bankroll is key to maximizing your chances in gambling – that spurred the development of betting systems. Regardless of how sophisticated betting systems appear, in the end, they are essentially bankroll-management systems.
Gambling Systems are Essentially Bankroll-Management Systems
Gambling systems are grouped into two main classes: positive progressive gambling systems and negative progressive gambling systems. Both systems are based on a simple premise that is interpreted in reverse for both systems: you change the size of your wager based on the outcome of a bet. For positive progressive gambling systems, you increase the size of your bet following a win and reduce the size of your bet following a loss. Negative progressive systems follow a reverse logic: you increase the size of your bet following a loss and reduce the size of your bet following a win.
The reasons behind the logic are beyond the scope of this article, but the point in outlining them is that bankroll management is a key part of gambling, and the popularity of progressive gambling systems is evident of this fact. When you assess them at a basic level, gambling systems really just define a way for you to manage your bankroll in a way that the proponents suppose would maximize your gains. Do they actually live up to this lofty promise? Again, the topic of another article.
Having explored the importance of bankroll management in gambling, let’s consider ways you can manage your bankroll.
Learning to Manage Your Bankroll
Learning to manage your bankroll can be one of the gambling skills that returns the most value for your effort. Why is this so? Because in the process of learning how to manage your bankroll, you will touch on other equally important aspects of gambling like the odds and house edge of a game and what that means for your wagering decisions. Since you need to know games with the best odds and lowest house edge to make the most of your gambling bankroll, you will delve into the topics that are important to make the most of your chances as a gambler. When you have covered these topics that are more or fewer prerequisites for managing your bankroll, you can focus on the main issue of learning to manage your bankroll. Here are some ideas to help you with the process:
Choose Games with the Highest Odds and Lowest House Edge, and Make the Right Bets:
The first step in bankroll management is making good gaming and wagering choices. There are two parts to this. The first part involves making good gaming choices while the second part involves making good wagering decisions. Making good gaming choices requires you to choose games with relatively good odds and make the right wagering choices. A good example of this kind of optimal decision-making would be the choice to play roulette and the decision to stick with even money bets.
Set Win and Loss Limits and Stick to Them:
It’s not enough to choose the right games and make good wagering decisions. Another important piece of managing your bankroll is setting win and loss limits. Setting limits allows you to have predetermined triggers that serve you when you need them most: when you need to take your gains and call it a day instead of trying to overstretch your luck or when you need to avoid chasing losses. But it’s not enough to set win and loss limits. You have to stick to them. Without sticking to the predetermined limits you set for your gambling, you would cross them without realizing it.
Know When to Maximize Luck:
Managing your bankroll also incorporates another important aspect of gambling – knowing when to make the most of luck when it comes your way. If you made good gaming and wagering decisions and stick to the predetermined limits, then you will find that luck comes your way from time to time. This can be in the form of a winning streak in roulette that shows up as a procession of red over a number of bets. If you have been betting on red and gotten lucky over and over, why not ride the tide? You never can tell how long the “abnormality” lasts before resetting. However, don’t hesitate to take your gains and walk away when you figure that the tide has changed.
By understanding and applying these principles, you can ensure that you stay in the game longer and maximize your chances of success.
