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Today, we’re putting prejudice to one side, with a cut-out-and-keep guide on how to be a successful gambler.
We’ll remind you of the pitfalls, the perils, and the perks, as we put our chips on the table, alongside a stack of tips, to help you turn your gambling action up to eleven.
When done right, gambling is fabulous entertainment – an adrenaline rollercoaster with highs and lows. You pay, you play, and you enjoy the ride – win or lose.
Are you ready to roll? Let’s shoot!
Fast Facts for Players
- Manage your bankroll wisely to play longer and avoid big losses. Betting systems help but don’t change the house edge.
- Choose games with low house edges like baccarat, blackjack, and craps. Poker and sports betting require skill and offer better long-term chances.
- Stick to a strategy, take breaks, and know when to walk away. Avoid chasing losses or making emotional bets.
- Learn the rules, understand probabilities, and use strategies in blackjack, poker, and sports betting to improve your odds.
- Treat gambling as entertainment, not income. Enjoy the game, use bonuses smartly, and never bet more than you can afford to lose.
The Fundamentals of Gambling
These are the basics. Follow these rules when you play at online casinos, and even if you lose when you gamble, it will never be by too much or more than you can afford.
Manage Your Bankroll
The vast majority of casino games are based purely on chance, if you want to extend your time at the tables, you’ll need to think about your bankroll management system.
Fortunately, there are many to choose from.
Betting systems are perfect for games where you’re betting 50/50 wagers. Typically, the colors and odd/even on roulette, pass line and come bets on craps, and player/banker bets at the baccarat table.
The systems tend to fail when you double down, split or hit a blackjack.
Here are some examples:
- Labouchère
- Martingale
- Kelly criterion
- Split martingale
- Anti-martingale
- d’Alembert
- Oscar’s grind
The systems all use math formulas to keep your bankroll alive and kicking for as long as possible.
The various methodologies are well documented. Most involve doubling your bet after a loss or win. This can be a problem on a losing streak, requiring pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench.
Although these systems will definitely focus your attention on your bankroll, none of them affect the house edge of the game you’re playing. But, if you adopt the right system, stick to it, and quit when you’re ahead, you will be a better – and possibly richer – gambler when the chips come home to roost.
Learn the Games
Practice makes perfect.
There are many different ways to gamble. You can bet sports, head to the casino, or enjoy poker night with your friends. If you want to get the maximum bang for every buck, you need to play by the rules and – more to the point – learn them.
The vast majority of casino games are based purely on luck. There is nothing you can do to change the outcome of classics like roulette, keno, slots, craps, or baccarat.
These games have no strategy. The house edge is bedded in and impossible to swing in your favor. All you can do is play, enjoy, and hope for the best. It’s all about bankroll management.
However, head for the blackjack table, the poker lounge, or the sports bar and strategy comes into play.
There is a mathematically proven way to play optimum blackjack strategy. But remember: even with perfect strategy, the casino still has a marginal advantage in the long run.
Poker and sports betting are different beasts. The fact that you can become a professional poker player indicates that poker is very much a game of skill, with a side of luck. You will never meet a professional roulette player.
Sports betting is also a space where knowledge can improve your performance.
You are basically competing against the people who set the lines. If you know more than them, you can win. It’s been mathematically proven that a skilled sports bettor will win a higher percentage of wagers than an average player.
In a nutshell: wise up for a better chance to win.
Stay Disciplined
If you want to improve your gambling, it’s important to stay disciplined. If you are serious about betting, you need to stay sharp, stay focused, and keep your emotions under control.
If you’re playing a game with strategy and operating a bank roll system, you have to stick to it. In case you don’t, you become the discrepancy between the mathematical house edge and the true Las Vegas house edge; the latter is a lot higher.
Here are a few tips to keep you frosty and on your casino A game:
- Take regular breaks
- Don’t deviate from your system
- Never chase losses
- Don’t be afraid to walk away
- Stick to game strategy
- Ignore that gut feeling – unless you’re hungry
- Go easy on the comped drinks
- Tomorrow is another day
Different Gambling Strategies
There’s no magic bullet that makes it easy to win, but these game-specific tips and tricks will help you play for longer and swing the odds slightly in your favor.
Play Games with the Best Odds
If your focus is sharp and your method disciplined, you already know you need to find the games with the best (smallest) house edge. It’s the smartest way to gamble.
There are scores of online articles that will tell you what games come with the best odds for you. Of course, you must play perfect strategy and be very disciplined. That’s the deal if you want to be a better bettor.
Low house edge casino games
- Single deck blackjack: 0.5% – 2%
- Craps: 1.4%
- Baccarat: 1.5%
- Three card poker: 1.5%
- Video poker: 0.5% – 5%
And don’t forget the odds bet at craps, also known as ‘taking the odds’. This is the only bet in the casino without any house advantage. It’s a side wager based on the point.
Arbitrage Betting
Getting value at sports betting is a fine art.
You are basically competing against fellow gamblers who just happen to work for a sportsbook. They set the lines and balance the books based on bets from both sides.
What to watch for: Occasionally, there is a glitch in the gambling matrix, and it is possible to bet on both sides and win, regardless of the outcome. This is arbitrage betting.
To do this, you need to wager with two separate books or at different times – assuming the line has moved.
Be warned: Sportsbooks hate arbing and will very quickly cap your limits if they know what you are up to. As long as you don’t wager too much, you should be ok.
Arbitrage is basically the sports betting equivalent of card counting. It’s not illegal but they don’t like it.
Know the Math Behind Gambling
Math isn’t a sexy subject, but knowing some basics can help you bet more sensibly.
Just imagine: you’ve flipped a coin 1,000 times. Every single time, it’s heads. Your gut is telling you it must be tails on the next flip.
In fact: it’s still 50/50.
It’s the same at the casino. The roulette wheel can hit red forty times in a row.
As freaky as that would be, it has absolutely no effect on the probability of black hitting on game #41; it’s still 50/50.
The urge to trust your gut, and not your head, is called the gambler’s fallacy.
The desire to succumb to it is both understandable and tempting. However, intuition and math don’t mix. Any winning betting strategy will ignore the pitfalls of the gambler’s fallacy
Sports Betting Tips & Tricks
In much the same way as a casino player needs to wise up on strategy and rules, a sports bettor needs to live and breathe the sport he or she bets.
Frank Rosenthal – famously played by Robert De Niro (Sam Rothstein) in the film Casino – cut his teeth betting college basketball. He subscribed to college newsletters, tuned into radio shows, spoke to team managers, and chased down whatever gossip he could on the game and its players.
His inside knowledge gave him the edge. He knew the point guard’s girlfriend was causing chaos at home and the player was off form. That information gave him the confidence to make bets and win.
If you want to bet sports, do your homework.
How to Get Better at Poker
One of the best games available either online or at the casino is poker.
In the past two decades, poker has crept out of the saloon backroom and into the mainstream. There are many variants, but no limit Texas hold’em remains the proverbial nuts.
It might be a cliché but it is true that good poker strategy plays the man – not the cards. For this reason, poker is a lot of fun – especially with friends.
If you want to really be a successful gambler, poker is a great option. It’s social. It’s intriguing. It’s fun.
Seek Out the Bonuses
What exactly is good gambling? Is it winning? Is it having fun? In the perfect world, it’s both.
In reality, if you’re smart, the only thing you can really guarantee is fun.
At a bricks-and-mortar casino, turning over chips usually leads to comps. It starts with drinks, moves up to dinner and a show.
If you’re really rolling at the tables, you could get a room for the night. The casino wants to keep you playing – time is not your friend.
If you enjoy a little online casino action, comps come in the form of bonuses, special offers, and reloads.
There are many online casinos and they all want your business. If you want to supercharge that stack, get those bonus bucks in your bank account.
Top tip: Most bonuses come with rollover terms and conditions. You have to bet the money in order to release the bonus.
This is where the smart gambler plays the low house edge games with perfect strategy. You can sit at home, with a hard copy of the strategy, and play the perfect game.
It’s the best way to rollover the bonus and claim that free cash without burning through your bankroll.
Mistakes to Avoid
There are endless platitudes about the whys and wherefores of gambling: it’s a ‘human tendency’, the attraction is ‘risk not reward’, and the ‘highest form of wisdom is to know when to play and when to stay away’.
Losing is never fun and the temptation to chase a loss is hard to resist, especially if you have the means and method to make that chase.
It’s critical to:
- Keep calm.
- Stay in control.
- Take regular breaks.
- Play for a set amount of time & stick to it.
- Don’t blow your bankroll.
The Bottom Line – Stay Grounded
What does it actually take to be a successful gambler?
The secret is to enjoy yourself. The best gambler in the room is the person having fun. Enjoy that free pina colada, pick your favorite numbers, close your eyes, and hope for the best. It hits – happy days. It doesn’t – no worries.
If you’re at the track and you pick some winners – what a great day. If you’re at the track and you back a few donkeys, it’s still a great day.
Gambling is about chasing dreams, adrenaline spikes, and a good story. It’s not a means to an end. If you want to profit from gambling, learn to be a croupier or open a casino. It’s the only way to be sure.
FAQs
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