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Cant
Win For Losing
(read part I
here, or part II
here ,or part III
here)
HOW WOULD YOU CASTRATE OSAMA BIN LADEN? That got me to thinking about what will
happen to him when he dies. Lets peer
into the future and take a look. Osama bin Laden has a heart attack and dies.
He immediately goes to hell, where the devil is waiting for him. "I don't know what to do here," the
devil says. "You're on my list, but I
have no room for you. You definitely have to
stay here, so I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I've got a couple of people here who
weren't quite as bad as you. I'll let one of
them go, but you have to take their place. I'll even let YOU decide who leaves." Osama thought that sounded pretty good, so
the devil led him into the first room. In it
was Manuel Noriega and a large pool of water. He kept diving in and surfacing
empty-handed, over and over and over. Such was his fate in hell. "No," bin Laden said, "I don't
think so. I'm not a good swimmer and I don't think I could do that all day long." So the devil opened a third door. In it, bin
Laden saw Bill Clinton, lying on the floor with his arms staked over his head and his legs
staked in a spread-eagle pose. Bent over him was his girl Monica, doing what she does
best. Osama bin Laden stared in disbelief and finally said, "Yeah, I can handle
this." The devil smiled and said,
"OK, Monica, you're free to go." What
we ASSUME that we already know, sometimes endangers our well-being. In the casino context, what we assume that we know
often endangers our bankroll. Survival of our
playing-stake is the only way we can ever be in a position to turn a profit off of
Precision-Shooting or someone elses lucky rolling. Most
people will tell you that you need a sufficient bankroll to weather losing streaks. This is correct, but it is only part of the
picture. First,
you have to add up all of the bets that you usually have on the table. Even if they are hedge bets that
offset some of your other bets at the same time, I want you to add them into the total. Heres an example:
Total action so far is $105. Second, I want you to add in all of the
bets that go into one entire SERIES of bets.
All
told, this player will usually have about $130 in action on most hands. Thats a lot of cake to have in play, dont
you agree Ill
tell you this. If the guy that bets that way
has a $500 buy-in, then hes generally going to be a loser almost ALL of the time. Why, because he will almost NEVER be in the game
long enough to get anything going. Even if he
is disciplined, and always walks away from the tables if he loses three major hands; he is
almost always going to be playing from behind. Its
a hole that is too big to forever be digging himself out of. The average amount of money that he has in play
is too high of a percentage of the buy-in. It
will also consistently keep the average player in a negative-winning mood. That is, he will have difficulty making the right
moves and bets when the good-roll does eventually come along. If
your bankroll is short, then you either make moves that are TOO risky in relation to the
remaining size of your stake; or you are too apprehensive to bet it up when
the right time and opportunity comes along. Either
way, it usually spells disaster. Was
it Dantes Inferno that had a sign on the gates of hell? It said, Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter
Here. Without a realistic Loss Limit,
you can pretty much abandon all hopes of ever consistently succeeding at this game. The slot machines are over there, sir. Or as Clarke Griswolds dealer would say,
How about you give me half of your bankroll, we go out back, Ill kick you in
the nuts, and well call it even. So
lets get back to basics. Your
session bankroll should be AT LEAST ten-times the TOTAL of your bets per complete
hand. If you are making bets before the
Come-Out roll, more bets once the Point has been established, and even more bets after
another series of events within that same hand, then I want you to add them all together. That will give you the total amount of money that
you have in play during one hand. It is that
figure that I want you to multiply by ten. If
that sum is more than your usual buy-in amount; then there is a very good chance that you
are over-betting your bankroll. Oh,
you dont have to change the way that you play just because the Mad Professor
suggested it. But if you are tired of losing,
and you are tired of losing too much; then consider these suggestions.
Join me for Part Five, which is begins the
"D'ya Wanna Win or D'ya Wanna
Gamble?" series where we continue our trek on the way to casino profit. Ill show you how to maximize whatever
bankroll you have to work with. Until then
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in
Life. The Mad Professor
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