The Bankroll Approach

I'm almost 3 year into online gambling. I'm attempting to turn $500 into a $10,000 bankroll. With little money to start with, I had no choice but to start out at small-stake Blackjack game. Starting out, I'd often manage to win a dollar or two, but I'd quickly started to lose them and have to start over again. It took some time but, after awhile, I was eventually able to graduate with a $1,000 bankroll after accumulating over $500 at the low stakes games. Playing in online casinos is a battle of brain and patience. Move too fast, you will go busted. Patience is the key.

Even today, people don't believe if I told them that I still sit down at low stakes Blackjack games. They ask what I'm doing down there, and often tell me stories about how they turned $5 into $500 or $100 into $1,000. Usually, these stories end with the person telling me that they went broke. There's no surprise there. These folks tried to quickly build a bankroll by gambling and moving up to high stakes games. They'd play in a game that was beyond their bankroll and, if they happened to win, they'd move up to a higher limit and risk it all one more time. Inevitably, they'd lose a few big hands and go broke.

For me, it isn't about the money. It's about showing how, with proper bankroll management, you can start from small bankroll and move up to the point where you're playing in some pretty big games. I know it's possible because I did it once before, turning $600 into $7,000. It ain't easy work!

To ensure that I keep my bankroll intact, I've adopted some key rules:

• I'll never play in games with minimum stake amount larger than 2 percent of my total bankroll.
• If at any time during a game session the money that I'm losing is more than 25 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game.

I think a lot of players would do well to apply these rules. One great benefit from this approach of proper bankroll management is that it ensures you will be playing in games you can afford. You'll never play for very long in a game that's over your head because, when you're losing, you'll have no choice but to drop down to a lower stakes game. You can continue to sharpen your game at that lower stakes game until your bankroll allows you to move up and take another shot. These rules also prevent you from being completely decimated by a bad run of cards.

Dropping down and playing lower stakes is difficult for a lot of players. Naturally, they view it as a failure and their egos get in the way causing them to get emotional. Many want to remain at the level they'd been playing and win back their losses. But this can lead to some pretty severe tilt and extremely high chance of wiping out your bankroll in a single stroke. I know that dropping down was difficult even for me. When I first played in the $5/$500 game, I lost. Sticking to my rules, I dropped down to the $2/$200 game. I had a losing streak there and had to go down to $1/$100. That was tough. After playing $5/500, a $1/$100 game was boring to me.

But I had the discipline to stick to my rules, and that motivated me to play better at the lower levels. I really didn't want to lose any more because I knew the consequences: I'd have to play even lower and work even harder to get back to where I'd been, which could take as long as a month. If you ever find yourself bored or frustrated playing at the lower stake games, you're obviously not playing well. Take a break from the game. Often, stepping away can give you a fresh perspective and heightened motivation to play well when you return.

There are a couple of more tips I'd like to share regarding bankroll management. First, you should never play in a game that is beyond your bankroll simply because the game seems to be a hot table that day. It's never hot enough to risk money that puts your bankroll in jeopardy. The other point is that you should avoid playing in games that are at the top of your bankroll limits, when a lower stake game offers more opportunity for profit.

These rules are sure to help you as well, as you pursue your own gambling career. So, if you want to build your own bankroll, open a free account at online casinos and start playing today. I'm confident that by sticking to these sound bankroll management rules, I'll make it to my $10,000 goal. Actually, I'm already $6,500 and only $3,500 to the goal. :)

Embracing the existence of house edge

Let me be honest here. There is no way to eliminate the house edge. If someone told you that he could make 100% winning bet in a casino, he is lying. As a professional, we know that house edge is always there whenever we are playing in casinos whether it is a land-based or online casino. By accepting the fact that house edge exists, we play by knowing that casinos will always has higher chance to make us losing our chips than we beating the dealer. Personally for me, this is the most important thing that you need to accept before you decide to do gambling as your career. By acknowledging the house edge, any player would likely to be caution all the time to protect his bankroll. We know that any casino is out to get us. We are the fishes and they are the shark! :D

The important thing is not to find a way to beat the house edge but to understand how house edge could work to your advantage in any casino games. I'm a Blackjack Queen so you will always see me at the Blackjack tables! So, I'm gonna tell you this again. It is not possible to eliminate the house edge of a game of Blackjack. So, how the hell am I going to win some chips there if the house will always win? :p

Personally in my opinion, I believe that the software has the intelligence to adjust the game play to avoid the online casino from bleeding chips! You have to accept this unfair fact if you want to play and win in any online casino. Please bear in mind that all this are based on my personal observation during all my plays in online casinos for so many years. However, this does not dispute the integrity of any online casinos out there. I'm sharing my opinion because my belief has been helping me to survive all those gambling sessions all this while. However, no reputable online casinos can be afford to be caught with such behavior in their software or they will have their gambling revoked if proven. Whether you believe me or not, you have to believe that online casinos can make you lose if you are winning big and they will.

In my next post, I will share more on my personal strategies when the casinos are bleeding my chips. Okay, I know some of you may say, "Yeah, right! It's the Blackjack perfect strategy again!". Lol, well, it's not sadly! :p It is something more basic than the perfect strategy. The perfect strategy alone doesn't help you make money. Trust me, a Blackjack game is designed by casinos such that you are losing money even when you make no mistake in the perfect strategy. The perfect strategy only exist to help you to interpolate the house edge, not to beat the game. Well, till next time. Good luck out there! :)

Professional players are not perfect.

Even professional players make mistakes when we are really on the field. Gambling is always a battle of mind and emotion. I'm still licking my wound from playing at one of the online casinos last night.

I went to Titan Poker for a game of Blackjack with a starting bankroll of $400. After a couple round of calculative and systematic plays, I managed to get my bankroll up to $2,500. The plays continued into late night roughly around to 2am so I was a bit weary and stoned. My emotion started to get erratic due to the tiredness. I lost my professional judgment and went into flat betting with $100 bets infinitely. So naturally I ended with zero bankroll. If you are tired, you should stop playing. It was my mistake to start the play with insufficient mental preparation. When I'm down to zero, my emotion urged me to deposit more to get back the losses. However, my professional side got hold of me so I just cut my losses, went to sleep and woke up this morning feeling like load of shit thinking about last night tryst with the Queen of Spade, lol!

Instead of lamenting my losses, I went through all my mistakes today. Running through my checklist, I can see that I broke so many of my rules even before I went into the field. The first mistake is I went gambling when I was tired and exhausted from the day work. Secondly, I failed to respect my stop-loss limit. So, the moral of the story is, you will need to constantly learn from your mistakes and strive not to repeat the same mistakes ever again. This is part and puzzle of a professional gambler. Failing to learn from your mistakes will only spell doom to your gambling career. So, I could have ended up $2,500 richer last night but I ended up $400 poorer due to my mistakes. Professionals are not perfect but only those who learn from their mistakes are the true winners!

Make the bankroll last!

In my opinion, the most crucial practice of a professional online gambler is to protect his bankroll. This is the first thing in my priority list when I'm in the play. The bankroll of a gambler is equivalent to the capital of a trader. Capital preservation allows a trader to stay in the game as long as his capital could sustain without dipping into extra cash. There should be no hesitation to adopt such approach when it comes to professional gambling. It is part of the job!

Let say you start with $1000 bankroll. When I say bankroll, it means that you will only gamble with this $1000, nothing more, nothing less. The longer you can prevent this bankroll to go down to zero or negative, the better chance you have to win more money from it. Once it's down to zero, you are out of the game. We know that there is equal chance of winning and losing when it comes to online gambling. A professional gambler like me understand the game we are best at well enough to be able to deduce when the odd is against the house during the play. I'm best in Blackjack. When it comes to Blackjack, there are a few trends that signify that the odd is on the player. We will talk more about that in my future posting.

I don't think it matters what type of casino games you are good in. You must protect your bankroll to stay in the game long enough to start winning. I would like to share a couple of rules that I adopted myself when playing professionally.

Rule one - Cut your losses. I know it's hard but this is the most important rule that you must follow in order to be a professional gambler. One of the most important factors in achieving gambling success over the long term is that you do everything in your power to ensure that your losses never get out of hand. They will devastate you emotionally and drain your bankroll away. You cannot control what the dealer deals but you can control the amount of wager you want to bet. Put that power to good use. As a rule of thumb, stick to a table that has minimum wager that is small enough for your current bankroll to last at least 100 bets. For example, if you starting with a bankroll of $100, stick to a table with minimum wager of $100/100 = $1! When you observe that the play is on losing streaks, stick to minimum wager to minimize your losses. Don't say that I didn't tell you, this is easier said than done. Professional gambling requires full commitment and discipline. I'm gonna tell you that it ain't going be a stroll in the park! Even with minimal wagering, set a loss-stop limit! As soon as you start to lose exceeding the loss-stop limit, RUN!! I, myself, like to quit after losing three or four large bets in a row. You may want a different limit for yourself, but you must have one. Whenever you sit at the table, you should know exactly how much you will allow yourself to lose before leaving.

Rule two - Control your emotion. Many players lose because they become emotionally involved in the game. When they are losing, they start break down emotionally and begin to chase their losses. The problem with chasing your losses is that it will catch you before you catch them. Getting emotionally won't help you win money at the tables. I remember I once put a large bet on a hand of Blackjack in one of the online casinos as I see that the odd was against the dealer. The dealer dealt my hands. I looked at my cards, J-Q. I stood and then watched the dealer draw to a 21. All I said was a loud, "Shit!" and instantly stopped my play, withdraw all my remaining chips and left for good. Now, that's the way to gamble! There is a good technique you can learn to help control yourself. Allow the emotional arousal to act as the signal for you to quit. You must pay attention to your emotions. As soon as you feel yourself getting emotionally aroused, STOP PLAYING. Be like the basketball coach who calls a time out when the team is getting blown out. In the sports world, this is called "settling down." In gambling, it is called "keeping your money." You may get your emotional signal in a variety of ways. It could be physical, a tenseness in your stomach, chest, face, throat, or hands. My signal is a tenseness in my stomach and feeling like throwing up. I used to feel that same emotion when I was in extreme fear when I went to the dentist during my childhood. The type of feeling will vary from person to person. It will only take you a few sessions of paying attention to your emotional state to learn how and where to locate your emotional signal. However, once mastered, it will save you thousands of dollars in your gambling career.

Well, it seems that this posting is getting a bit lengthy so I'm gonna stop here. There are still a lot of rules when it comes to online gambling. I will talk about them in my future posting. For a meantime, digest the two rules I highlighted above. If you can't even succeeding in understanding and practicing rule one and rule two, I shall give you a friendly advice that you are not suitable as a professional online gambler. Sorry for that! Not every can be a professional. It's better for me to tell you point blank then letting you think that gambling online is easy money.

Only do what you do best.

Are you playing Slots, Roulette, Poker, Craps, Blackjack, Pontoon or even Video Poker when you are in online casinos? All casino games have easy learning curve and most people should be able to put wager and start playing in just a couple of minutes. The question is are you good at the games that you choose to play in? Don't know if you should increase your wager or decrease it?

Honestly, I will say that there is no luck involved when it comes to play in online casinos. You have to know how to deduce the odd based on the play results. And, the odd changes during the play. Let say you are into Blackjack. You have to know that you have better odd when there is more high cards been dealt, e.g. 10, J, Q, K, and A. And, the odd is lower when the decks start to deal more low cards, e.g 2, 3, 4, and 5. All this acute observation should be considered before you put the wager for the next bet. Each new bet should be done with due consideration. I do not deny that it is easy to be carried away once the play started. Slow down a bit and think before pressing the "deal" button.

Choose the game you are best at before you even commit those chips. Personally, I play only at the blackjack tables. It is the only game that I'm best in. I know the Blackjack optimal strategy by heart and everything flows naturally. You will have to find your own favorite game. Be it Blackjack, Craps or Roulette, you need to be proficient in the game you choose. We have no room for mistakes when the real wagering starts. Before you even think of downloading the casino software, ask yourself if you know the game any of the games well enough. This should be your first checklist.

Keep in mind that each online casino may have different rules even for a same type of game. If you are not sure, ask the customer support. Only proceed when you know all the information. As for me, I normally play Blackjack. When it comes to Blackjack, I would normally ask this questions:

1. How many decks are used? More decks, higher house edge.
   
2. Does dealer hit or stand on soft 17? House edge is higher if dealer hit on soft 17!!
   
3. How player is paid on Blackjack? Standard is 3 to 2 but sometimes some online casino paid it differently, so watch out.
   
4. Is it allowed to double-down on split?
5. Is it allowed to re-split?

Remember, stick to the game you are best at. For me, it is Blackjack. The bottom line is always to verify and confirm individual online casino's rules before committing your chips!

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing!

I'm churning out this blog to share all about my experiences in the journey of professional online gambling. Before you proceed, I would like to warn that online gambling is not for faint-hearted. It is only for those who are willing to take full responsibility of their actions and consequences. You need to have upmost discipline plus full commitment. It's not gonna be a stroll in the park! It is just like any other professions out there. There is no free lunch out there. But, if you manage to pull it through just like me, you will get back more than what you lose! Don't just take my word for it. This weblog will be the true life diary of my online gambling journey. Continue reading and be my witness!

Knowing what you are doing is the most important thing even before you click on those link to any online casinos out there. The money is real and the risk is huge. Only with proper plan and discipline, you can be a professional. I first started to play on online casinos in June 2005. My first journey was a mess. I did not know what I was getting myself into. The pain of losing is excruciating and the joy of winning is real. This two emotions will always be part and puzzle of any professional online gambler wannabe.

I started out with a USD7,000 savings, managed to raise it up to USD15,000 in multiple online casinos in a span of one month. But, those USD15,000 was gone into thin air in a matter of a week. Losing USD7,000 was real and the pain was killing me. It took me around 8 months to win back those savings and plus much more after that. So, what went wrong in the first place? Anybody that goes gambling should know that it is possible to make big bucks fast in casinos. So, what does it that stop us from taking all those big bucks from the online casinos? I'm not going to share too much into details on this posting, but just one word for you to ponder on until my next posting, "RISK!"

As quoted by Warren Buffett, one of the world richest investors, "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." Know the rules, handle it as a professional and walk away as a winner. I will share more about how to actually win in online casinos in our next entry. Until next time, adios!