Here’s a bumper-sticker that is gaining popularity:
“IT’S GOD’S RESPONSIBILITY TO FORGIVE BIN LADEN. . . .
. . . . . . . IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ARRANGE THE MEETING.”
A woman came home just in time to find her husband in bed with another woman. With super-human strength borne of fury, she dragged her husband down the stairs to the garage and put his penis in a vise. She then secured it tightly and removed the handle. Next she picked up a hacksaw. The terrified husband screamed, “Stop! Stop! You’re not going to…to…cut it off are you?!” The wife, with a gleam of revenge in her eye, said, “Nope. You are. I’m going to set the garage on fire.”
Sometimes the choices that we have to make are not easy ones.
In Part II of this article, we talked about how you have to limit your losses, so that your winnings outpace your losses. I’m not just talking about winning 85% of your sessions, but still losing more money than you win. I’m talking about severely limiting your losses, and at the same time, increasing your wins-to-loss ratio.
Is it easier said than done?
Of course it is.
Can most players learn how to do it?
Yes.
The problem is, that even though we know that something is good for us, most of us continue to do what IS NOT good for us.
Some people smoke, even though they know that it’s unhealthy.
Some people order “heart-attack on a plate” type foods even though they can hear their arteries scream in protest as they choke with cholesterol.
Some people use drugs, or engage in unsafe activities that defy logic and reason.
I’m not here to talk anyone out of it. It’s a free country, and everyone can pursue life, liberty, happiness, agony and death to their own delight.
Winning at craps is not easy. Making a consistent profit at craps is not easy. KEEPING your profit is even MORE difficult. The first step to getting into the promised-land of casino profit is to limit your losses.
How did I become so successful playing craps?
Well Precision-Shooting had a lot to do with it. In fact, I can attribute most of the profit that I make to Precision-Shooting. However, KEEPING that profit has nothing to do with Precision-Shooting, and everything to do with Discipline and Money-Management.
To me, the most important element in Money-Management is to impose a rock-solid, no-compromise Loss Limit.
Everything that my Precision-Shooting generates in the way of profit would be at high-risk if I didn’t put a will-not-falter Loss Limit in place.
Listen, I STILL battle and struggle with my own Loss Limit every time that my shooting is not up to par. Whenever that happens, my bankroll is at risk if I “bend the rules” or try to rationalize putting a little more of my bankroll at risk.
I can tell you this. I have been keeping very accurate records for the past ten years of casino-life. EVERY time that I have bent my own Loss Limit rules, I have only staged a comeback about 7% of the time. That means that I have a 93% losing rate when I don’t follow my own advice.
If that isn’t compelling enough of a reason for you to impose tight Loss Limits on your own bankroll; then I don’t think that I can be of any help to you. Better that you should take your casino-stake and donate it to a worthy charity, because it isn’t going to do YOU any good.
Oh, by the way, those sessions where I broke my own Loss Limit rules resulted in some of the most horrific losses of my entire casino history. Thankfully, I haven’t had an idiotic-episode like that in a long, long time, but I can assure you that the memories are as fresh and clear as ever. Time hasn’t dulled those memories, just the pain. It would appear that the most excruciating lessons are the ones that leave the deepest, most long lasting impressions. I sincerely hope that you do not have to go through such tough experiences to improve your game.
I want you to put loss limits in place so that 75% of your sessions are WINNING ones. Once we reach that level, we’ll have something significant and profitable to work with. Currently, I’m running in the 95% session-win category. It’s taken a LONG time for me to get there. You should be able to shave significant time, pain and money off of that learning-curve.
You have to believe in yourself and have a single-minded determination to pursue consistent profitability in this game. If you are a half-hearted player, whether it be in football, baseball, golf or craps; then your results will also be half-hearted. You have to stay focused and not bend or break your Loss Limits.
There is a way to do all of this properly, and I am going to show you how.
Whether you are looking for some casually entertaining casino action, or looking at making Precision-Shooting a part-time revenue-generator; you cannot jeopardize your bankroll.
You have to set a loss-limit that you can live with. It has to give you the best opportunity for winning, while reducing your loss-risk to an absolute minimum. To determine what an effective Loss Limit would be, we first have to take a realistic look at your Bankroll.
We’ll do that in Part Four of this article. Until then…
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
The Mad Professor
