Astro Blackjack

• Bankrolling Your Play in Blackjack

  What is a Bankroll? Basically speaking, a bankroll is the total amount of money that you will commit to Blackjack play for an extended period of time. It is not the amount that you will wager, nor is it the amount you will be carrying around with you from casino to casino. It is the total amount of money that could be used, if it were necessary.

  The principle that one must rigidly exercise in casino play is: "Never" play with scared money. This means that you should never play with money that you cannot afford to lose. The psychological effect of playing with scared money is such that most of the benefits of the system will be nullified. The frightened player makes mistakes, gives himself away as a system player, fails to act boldly when he should, thus reducing his proper percentage plays.

  Always keep your living expenses separated from your playing bankroll. Never try to use your bankroll for daily living expenses. Only use money that you have deemed excess, money that you can afford to lose. This will usually be savings of some sort that you have managed to accumulate beyond your normal needs.

  Once again, bankroll money is "Not" next month's car payment or your wife's birthday present money, and it is certainly "Not" your emergency money. You must provide for these things first so that you will be able to play coolly and confidently. Lastly, bankroll money ought to be considered speculative money that could grow very quickly into a sizable sum, given a sufficient amount of time and correct play.

  Ruination and Bankrolling With an unlimited bankroll, there is no chance of ruination (losing your entire bankroll), and we could express your chances of ruination mathematically as 0%. With an extremely large bankroll and a very small maximum bet, our chances for losing the entire bankroll might be about 0.00000001% (still practically zero). The trick is to find an acceptable level of risk with a given sum of money and as large a maximum bet as is "safe."

  There are three bankrolling combinations that will be described for your consideration. Each has a different ruination factor listed as a percentage. 10% ruination means that there is a 10% chance of losing your entire bankroll. Obviously, the lower the percent ruination, the "safer" it is.

  Bankrolling Method 1 5 times Maximum Bet = Mini-Bank 10 times Mini-Bank = Playing Bank (Bankroll) 5% Ruination With a total bankroll of $2,000 each mini-bank (10%) is $200 and the maximum bet would be $40 (5 times 40 = 200).

  Bankrolling Method 2 10 times Maximum Bet = Mini-Bank 10 times Mini-Bank = Total Playing Bank (Bankroll) 1% Ruination

  Bankrolling Method 3 Maximum Bet = Total Playing Bank (Bankroll)/100 Mini-Bank = 10% of Bankroll 0.001% Ruination

  Method 3 is basically the same as Method 2. The difference is that the maximum bet is always held to 1% of the bankroll. For example, with a $2,000 Playing Bank, the maximum bet is $20, the same as Method 2. However, if the bankroll drops to, say, $1,900, the maximum bet becomes $19.

  Similarly, if the bankroll increases to $2,100, the maximum bet becomes $21. Mini-banks becomes 10% of the entire bankroll at the time they are used. A mini-bank from a $2,500 bankroll is $250, while later on in the playing session a mini-bank might become $300 (10% of $3,000). Because the bet size decreases if the bankroll is decreased, the ruination factor is a low 0.001%. This is the safest of the three methods.

  Methods 1 and 2 are significantly more risky (a calculated risk, not a gamble) than Method 3, and really should only be used by more aggressive players or those who wish to build up from a small bankroll as quickly as possible. Once a bankroll of one to two thousand dollars has been reached, Method 3 becomes more and more attractive.

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