Smart Betting and Good Blackjack Money Management - You Can't Win Without Them
Smart betting and good Blackjack money management are critical to your Blackjack strategy and overall gambling success.
Your hours of practice to master the best Blackjack playing strategies will all be for nothing if you don’t place bets and excercise Blackjack money management in a disciplined manner. Many times, the difference between a winning session and a losing session is in your betting and your money management.
Remember: casinos just love players who “bet fearlessly” (as in “stupidly”!). Read on to learn how to join the ranks of intelligent players.
BETTING AND MONEY MANAGEMENT
The editors here at Blackjack for Everyone have many times observed players who are
knowledgeable and play perfect basic strategy, yet leave the table a loser time and time
again. Other players at the same table, with a similar record of wins and losses, leave the
table a winner. Why is this?
The difference is smart betting and good Blackjack money management.
Smart Betting
There are literally dozens of Blackjack betting and Blackjack money management systems, many of which have been around
for decades. Some of them are dazzling in their complexity and some of them are
downright foolish and dangerous (more on this below).
In the long run, the house will always have an edge. To counteract this edge, you must
use intelligent Blackjack money management. This means you must increase your bets when you are winning, and decrease your bets when you are losing.
It's that simple. Otherwise, the house percentage, even though it's very small for the
smart Blackjack player, will eventually eat up your bankroll. Every effective Blackjack money management and betting
system is based on some variant of this concept.
We recommend using a classic progression betting system, wherein you bet more while
you are winning and drop back to the table minimum when you lose. This is what we mean by intelligent Blackjack money management.
There are many different progression systems and they vary mostly by the level of risk
with which you're comfortable. By risk, we mean whether you increase your bets slowly
or quickly and at what point do you stop increasing your bet.
We present below three good, progression betting systems, with increasing levels of risk.
Whichever Blackjack money management system you use, just be sure to stick to it faithfully. This way, you will
minimize your losses in the long run. If you digress periodically, based on hunches and
gut feelings, you will be chasing the cards - and your money! - to little avail.
A Very Conservative Betting System
This is known as the "1 2 3 1" system, which represents your betting progression.
You bet 1 chip (which represents the table minimum) on your first hand. If you win, you
bet 2 chips. If you win again, you bet 3 chips. If you win again, you drop back to the 1
chip minimum and start the progression again.
This method presumes that it is unlikely you will win more than three hands in a row, so
it drops back to the minimum after three wins. While it's difficult to win big with this
system, it's also difficult to get yourself in trouble with big losses and in fact is designed
to minimize your losses. This is why we call it a very conservative Blackjack money management system.
A Conservative Betting System
With this system, your betting progression is "..". This is the same as the "1
2 3 1" system, except that once you win three times, you continue to bet 3 units so long
as you continue to win. Once you lose, drop back to the 1 chip minimum.
This is still a fairly conservative progression, but captures a bit more winnings if you get
on an extended lucky streak. It's still designed to minimize your losses.
A Moderately Aggressive Betting System
With this Blackjack money management system, your betting progression is "... ". This system is
designed to capture even more winnings if you hit a lucky streak, while still keeping you
from going broke if you start losing. As always, you drop back to the 1 unit minimum if
you lose a hand.
You'll notice that all three systems have the same initial three progressive bets of "1 2 3".
This difference is in how aggressive you want to be once you are on a winning streak of
more than three hands.
We recommend you practice these betting systems by downloading the "free play" software from an good online casino. You can then try out the three methods to determine which one works best for you. We recommend you download the software from Casino-On-Net. Please click here for a review of Casino-On-Net and to download the software.
A Betting System to Avoid at All Costs
Probably the oldest and most well known betting system is called the "Martingale"
system. It actually was developed a hundred and fifty years ago in France as a method of
making roulette bets.
The Martingale system is very simple to learn: you double your bet after every loss, and
drop back to the minimum bet after every win. For example, as long as you lose, your
betting progression would be "" and so on. Once you win a
hand, you drop back to the minimum one chip bet.
That's right, contrary to all common sense, you actually increase your bets when you're
losing and decrease your bets when you are winning! As a Blackjack money management system, this can be disastrous.
The theory here is that by doubling your bet each time you lose, you will eventually win
one of these bets and gain back everything you previously lost, plus one chip. You then
start over again betting one chip.
The fallacy in this Blackjack money management system is that if you keep losing and doubling your bets, you will
eventually hit the maximum allowed table bet. For example, if the table maximum is
$500, you will hit it after nine losses. Your tenth bet would have to be $512, but you are
restricted by the table maximum of $500 and thus you cannot bet high enough to recoup
your losses.
The proponents of this system will tell you that the odds of losing nine straight hands are
very small, in fact less than one tenth of a percent. This is correct but it can happen - and
if it does, you can't dig yourself out of the hole due to the table maximum.
But even if you don't hit the table maximum, with each win you're only recouping your
losses plus one chip. Does it make any sense to bet $64 or $128 for a net win of one
chip?
Not only do you need a big bankroll for this system, but you can't win big, as
every time you win the system calls for betting the minimum one chip again.
In essence, you are winning one chip at a time, with the chance to lose substantial
amounts. The casinos will send limousines to pick-up players who use this Blackjack money management system.
GOOD BLACKJACK MONEY MANAGEMENT
Even with intelligent play and a progressive betting system, you must still practice good
Blackjack money management to avoid going through your entire bankroll in one session.
Good Blackjack money management means two things:
- Decide in advance how much you can lose in each gambling session and when you
reach that limit, STOP! No matter how much you want to recoup your losses and no
matter how much you think you will start winning, STOP! You can always try another
day or another table...the casinos will still be waiting.
-
Once you are winning, quit while you are ahead. Don't give back all your winnings.
For Blackjack, a good strategy is to divide your bankroll for each day in half. Sit down at
a table and buy chips with one of the halves and keep the other half in your pocket or
purse. How you manage your money then depends on whether you are winning or losing.
If You Are Losing
If you are losing, don't let yourself lose more than fifty percent of your buy-in. If you
reach that limit, get up and walk away. Get some fresh air, have a bite to eat, and then try
a different table.
Buy-in again with your other half. If you once again lose fifty percent of it, get up and
walk away. Try a third time at a different table with your remaining bankroll. If you
once again lose half, quit for the day.
You'll still have twenty-five percent of your original bankroll for that day, so keep it.
You'll feel good that you didn't lose everything.
Let's look at an example. Assume you've set a daily bankroll for yourself of $200.
Divide that in half and put $100 in your pocket.
Pick a table and buy-in with your remaining $100. If you lose $50, get up and walk
away. Pick another table and buy-in with your other $100. If you lose $50, get up and go
to another table.
You will now have $100 left. Buy-in with that $100 and if you lose $50 again, get up
and walk away. Keep your remaining $50 for another day.
If You Are Winning
If, on the hand, you start winning, set a predetermined level of winnings at which you
will put aside half and not dip into if you start to lose. We recommend setting a limit of
fifty percent of your buy-in.
Once you've won fifty percent, put half of that aside, bet with the other half and if you
lose that, get up and walk away a winner - you will be using intelligent Blackjack money management and will be in the minority of Blackjack
players!
Let's look an example. Assume you have the same $200 daily limit set for yourself. You
Buy-in with $100 and start winning.
Once you get $50 ahead, put $25 of it aside and continue betting with the other $25. If
you continue winning, great! Once you get ahead by another $50, put $25 aside and
continue playing.
Keep doing this until you eventually lose the winnings you haven't put aside - and then
leave the table. Quit for the day - you've earned it!
With smart betting and good Blackjack money management, on top of playing excellent basic strategy of course, you now have a fighting chance against the casino. If you lose, you
will at least go down fighting, knowing that you gave yourself every chance possible.
And with just a little luck you can have fun AND walk away a winner!
