The 10 Casino
Gambling Decisions That Lead To Winning Sessions
By
Jerry Patterson
This article describes the decisions you
make every time you gamble in a casino. If
you're like most gamblers, you may not realize the importance of these decisions
and their impact on your chances of winning.
Make these decisions correctly and become part of a select few
smart gamblers who know how to win!
If you own your own business or hold a
key position in the corporate world, you would not undertake a project without
proper preparation and planning. But
many businessmen and businesswomen go on a casino junket or travel to a nearby
casino for the evening with no preparation or planning whatsoever.
I just want to have some fun, is their attitude.
The theme of this article is that you
can have more fun by exercising a little preparation.
It is fun to WIN and go home with the good feelings of taking the casinos
money home, not leaving yours behind. That's
what these 10 decisions are all about.
Let's get started.
I'll discuss each decision in the order in which it is made.
Decision 1: Choice
of Casino
Shop around a little bit, just like you
would if you were buying a new car, and choose a casino that will give you the
best deal on comps and that will rate your play to optimize your comps.
Establish relations with your casino host and let him or her know if you
want to open a credit line and how much action you intend to give the casino.
The idea here is to minimize your expenses letting the casino pick up the
tab for your room and food; the less you spend, the higher the probability of
coming home with a win.
Decision 2: Game
and Strategy Selection
To optimize your chances of winning, I
recommend playing blackjack, craps, roulette or baccarat because, except for
roulette, the house percentage against you is around 1%, much less than in the
slot machines or in the other table games the casinos have introduced over the
past few years to increase their overall profits.
Tip for Blackjack Players:
Learn the basic strategy for playing each hand against any dealer
up-card. Most blackjack books
contain this strategy or pick up a wallet-sized basic strategy card, usually
available in the casino's gift shop. Better
yet, pick up either of my books Blackjack:
A Winner's Handbook or Casino
Gambling which contain basic strategy matrices and learning drills and
exercises.
If you prefer the high intensity and the
excitement of craps to the more casual atmosphere of the blackjack table, I
recommend sticking to pass line bets with double odds and making one or two come
bets. As an alternative to the come
bets, you could place the 6 and 8.
Don't be tempted to play the high house
percentage proposition bets in the middle of the craps table layout.
Responding to the stick man's exhortation of
Who wants the Yo (eleven) or Hard Ways get your bets in now! will
quickly dissipate any win you might accumulate!
Craps appears complicated, but actually
it is a simple game to learn. The
basics of the bets mentioned above can be found in any good book on casino
gambling.
To get an edge at roulette, you need to
learn and understand the concept of a dealer signature or repetitious pattern of
spinning the wheel and releasing the ball.
I'll give you a simple-to-use idea for finding and betting on a dealer
signature in Decision 6 below.
Baccarat is a no-brainer card game in
which you bet on either the player's hand or the banker's hand, which are played
according to house prescribed rules. Keep
a score card and record the wins and losses, then look for patterns choppy
or streaky. Most gamblers bet on
whether or not these patterns will continue or terminate.
Decision 3: Bankroll
and Betting Unit
If you're a manager of your own company
or of a corporate department, you understand the importance of a budget.
Why not relate the importance of a corporate or departmental budget to
the process of establishing and managing a casino bankroll
Decide on the level of risk you wish to
take and then size your bankroll accordingly.
I recommend a 200-unit bankroll, but I realize that aggressive gamblers
will use 100 and some even less. For
example, if you're playing with a $5,000 bankroll, your basic betting unit
should be $5000 divided by 200 or $25.
The fewer units you break your bankroll
into, the higher the risk of losing, so give this decision some serious
consideration before your casino visit.
Decision 4: A
Schedule of Casino Play and Other Activities
When you travel for business purposes,
do you start with a schedule of where you're going and what you will be doing
when you get there Of course you
do. Think about your casino visit
in the same perspective. Schedule
your casino playing sessions around other activities.
I recommend NOT jumping right into action upon your arrival.
Relax with a nap, a meal, check in with your host, set up dinner
reservations, etc. Consider a
workout in the fitness room before your first gambling session.
Decision 5: Casino
Orientation
When you walk onto the casino floor to
begin your gambling session, it is important to keep your perspective.
Most gamblers are mesmerized by the flashing lights, the cornucopia of
colors and the incessant sound of the slot machines.
This is what the casinos want. Don't
fall for it. Keep a cool and clear
head.
Tip:
Walk around the casino floor for five or 10 minutes before sitting down
to play. Mentally review your
objectives for this gambling session while you observe the games and the
gamblers.
Decision 6: Table
Selection
For most gamblers, this is an ad hoc
decision. They choose the first
table they come to with an open seat or space.
I suggest that the table selection decision is crucial to your chances of
ending up a winner.
Tip for Blackjack Players:
Look for evidence of the players winning like stacks of chips in front of
them or multiple-chip bets. The
non-random shuffle contributes to winning cycles for both the players and the
dealer. Whatever you do, avoid the
obvious losing table where players exhibit few chips, single-chip bets, and a
morose attitude. If you play the
shoe game, avoid the open table; there may be a reason all the players have
departed a hot dealer! You
will find more table selection ideas in either of my two books.
Tip for Craps Players:
Use the same table selection criteria as for blackjack because craps
tables do go through winning and losing cycles.
Keep an eye open for a shooter with a controlled throw one who sets
the dice on certain numbers and throws with the same form and motion each time.
You may be betting on a shooter with dice control skills and an edge over
the house! My book, Casino
Gambling, contains six chapters on craps and dice control.
Tip for Roulette Players:
Examine a diagram of the roulette wheel, pick a lucky number and memorize
two numbers on either side of it on the wheel, not the layout.
For example, 17 with the 32 and 5. Choose
roulette tables where four or more of these three numbers show up on the
electronic display board. You may
be looking at a dealer signature and a possible edge on the next few spins.
Bet a $25 chip on each number straight
up (or a $5 chip if you just want to test this idea).
If you don't get a win within four spins, walk away.
On a win, for the next three spins, bet the same three numbers plus those
180 degrees opposite on the wheel, e.g. for the 17:
18, 6 and 31. Conservative
bettors, make three split bets of $25 each: 5/6, 17/18 and 31/32 for a total
risk of $75. Aggressive bettors,
bet $25 straight up on each of the six numbers.
This is a hit-and-run tactic, so be sure to walk away with a win if you
get at least one hit.
Decision 7: Increasing
Your Bet Size
The point to remember in making this
decision is don't let your emotions get in the way of making an intelligent
wager; i.e., don't chase any losses or bet up too heavily on a winning streak.
This latter point is especially important if you're a craps player.
I have seen players pressing up their bets on a hot shooter only to leave
most of their winnings on the table when the shooter sevens out.
It is very important to bet with a
carefully thought out plan in the heat of battle.
My advice is to bet up on a series of wins as follows:
Conservative Progression:
1-1-2-2-3-3-4-4-5-5-6-6
Aggressive Progression:
1-1-2-2-2-4-4-4-8-8-8.
In each case, increase your bet to the
next unit level in the series on successive wins on even money bets:
blackjack, craps pass line, baccarat, or roulette outside bets.
On a loss, revert to a one-unit bet and start over.
Study these progressions and you will come to appreciate their value in
not only accumulating profits on a winning streak, but also protecting these
profits.
How far do you go in each of these
progressions Make this decision
before you start play, not in the heat of battle.
Notice that each progression gets you a 12-unit profit after six
successive wins. Not too shabby!
These winning streaks do happen, but I suggest you pick a reasonable
level to reach, and then back off to a one-unit bet.
If you find yourself in choppy
back-and-forth game, play a mild up-as-you-lose progression, e.g.
1-2-4, reverting to a one-unit bet on any win or after losing three in a
row.
Decision 8: Table
Departure
If you're in the business world, how
long would it take you to bail out of a losing operation
You would have a plan, wouldn't you
You need to apply this same kind of thinking to the table you select for
play.
Tip 1 for bailing out of a game:
Depart on a Stop-loss
This decision concerns how many betting
units you will lose before departing this game.
I recommend six, no more than 10. So,
if your betting unit is $25, leave the game if you're down $150 and find a
better one.
Keep in mind that every unit you save,
every unit you don't lose, looks much better later, especially after a losing
session because you've cut your losses short.
Tip 2 for table departure:
Depart on a Stop-win
A stop-win is the opposite of a
stop-loss. I recommend using a
trailing stop loss to make this decision. Here's
how: When you accumulate a win,
e.g. 50% of your buy-in amount, divide your chips into three even piles.
Only bet off one pile. Use
chips won to keep the piles even. When
you lose, only bet the chips from one pile.
When that pile is gone, your trailing stop loss has been triggered
leave the game with the other two piles, which represent your buy-in and your
win.
Decision 9: Documentation
of Results
I recommend using a pocket notebook, the
kind that fits into a shirt pocket or sports jacket pocket.
After leaving a table, cash in your chips and record your win or loss
along with any comments you want to make about your table play.
You will be pleasantly surprised at the satisfaction this decision gives
you after your session ends and you can look back and reconstruct your actions.
Decision 10: Session
Termination
There are two good reasons to terminate
a gambling session:
1.
You have reached the limit of your optimal session time.
You need a break to keep your perspective.
I have found that, in many years of instructing gamblers, optimal session
time is around 90 minutes. Give it
a try.
2.
Fatigue; you are just plain tired and this is affecting your judgment and
play.
A good time to terminate, take a break,
and assess the situation.
Final Advice
I suggest copying each of these 10
decisions into your pocket notebook. Make
notes as appropriate about how you intend to implement each decision.
Now you're playing with a plan of action and have the best chance of
coming home a winner!
_________________________
Jerry Patterson, an internationally
known gaming author, player, and instructor, is the author of five gaming books.
The two most popular are Casino
Gambling and Blackjack: A
Winner's Handbook. Either
can be purchased on amazon.com or at Jerry's Web Site:
www.casinogamblingedge.com.
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