Bankroll Management Guide

Bankroll management might not be the most exciting topic, but it is vital that you pay close attention to the subject. Craps players who use a solid bankroll management strategy typically do better at the tables, lose less money during bad days, and have more fun than players who neglect bankroll management.

Managing your craps bankroll involves setting loss limits, sticking to those limits, and knowing how to keep your gambling money separate from your personal finances. If you stick to a sound bankroll management philosophy, you will also be doing yourself the favor of closing off the paths that lead to problem gambling (such as chasing after losses).

Craps Bankroll

The amount of money you set aside for craps betting depends on the types of bets you like to make and how much you like to bet at a time. If you are a craps player who sticks with the pass line bet and only bets $5 per roll, you can get away with a pretty small bankroll.

As a very general rule, you will want to have a bankroll equal to 100 times your average bet amount. So if you like to bet $5 at a time, you should have a bankroll of at least $500. This way you can place all the $5 bets you want and never have to stress out when a few bets go wrong.

What I recommend you do is set aside a certain amount of money every pay period and add it to your gambling fund. When your fund reaches 100 times your average bet, take half that fund and visit the casino. Leave the credit and debit cards at home.

Loss Limits

The most important part of a craps bankroll management system is to set loss limits. It is a simple concept but is the one that gives craps players the most trouble. All you need to do is figure out how much money you’re comfortable losing, and then quit if you’re ever unlucky enough to hit that number.

The difficulty isn’t in knowing where to set your loss limits. You probably already know how much money you can afford to lose without getting in trouble. The difficulty comes from being able to stick with those loss limits. When you hit a bad day at the tables, it’s tempting to continue gambling in the hopes of getting even.

You absolutely have to resist the temptation to continue gambling after you reach your loss limit. It’s difficult but if you stick with it, you’ll make your life much easier. After a while, it becomes pretty easy to set loss limits.

One thing that might help is to choose your loss limits and then cut that in half. So if you think you can comfortably afford to lose $1,000, try instead setting your loss limit at $500. The sting always hurts more in real life than it does in your imagination. The lower loss limit helps reduce that sting and makes it easier to walk away.

Separate Gambling Money and Personal Money

Set aside a certain amount of money for gambling and keep it totally separate from your personal finances. No matter what happens, never use your non-gambling money to gamble. If you do, it’s a sign that you might have a gambling problem.

Always remember that gambling is just entertainment. It has a cost associated with it and there’s no reason in the world why you should spend your grocery money on gambling. I’m not saying you’re going to lose every time you hit the tables but the risk is always there. If you make it so that you can only lose your gambling money, the rest of your life can continue on without a hitch.

Practice Self Discipline

Bankroll management is easy to talk about, but practicing it is the hard part. Once you know how to manage a craps bankroll, the real battle is sticking to your bankroll. As soon as you start dipping into your personal finances or betting too much money at a time, you need to stop, take a deep breathe and remind yourself of your bankroll guidelines.