Blackjack Bankroll Requirements

The subject of bankroll requirements and risk of ruin for sessions, trips and for your lifetime is covered in great detail in Don Schlesinger's book, Blackjack Attack, 3rd Edition. It is essential reading for any serious player. Instead, it’s less than tripled, at $450, while the bankroll requirement for 8-5 Jacks rises to $570. On the more volatile Double Double Bonus Poker, that $300 bankroll for a 5 percent risk or ruin for two hours rises to $885. That’s a big chunk of cash, but at least it’s not the $1,500 you get when multiplying the $300 by five.

Blackjack Guide

Applying the proper blackjack bankroll management system can make all the difference between having an enjoyable playing session or a disappointing playing session where at the end of it you are playing with limited money and you are unable to split hands or double up simply because you do not have enough money to cover the extra bets.

One of the easiest bankroll management systems is the Single Session Bankroll Management. As its name would suggest this system applies for a single session of play that will include many rounds of blackjack.

Predetermined Single Session Bankroll

Before you start a session of blackjack you decide on a fixed amount of money that you can afford to lose playing. You buy chips to the value of your predetermined bankroll and select a table with betting limits that suit your bankroll.

Another way to define your single session bankroll is according to time, by allocating a time frame in which you are allowed to play at a table with a table limit that is reasonable for your bankroll.

Let us assume you want to play blackjack for the next two hours at an average of 20 hands per hour so the total number of hands you expect to play in the upcoming session is 40 and you plan on spending $5 per hand. 40 hands x $5 per hand = $200.

However you might need to split hands or choose to double down on some hands so we would suggest that you add 20% to the $200 and start your playing session with $240.

In case you hit a run of bad luck and lost your session bankroll you need to stop playing for at least a few hours, but we would advise that you stop playing for at least a couple of days.

On the other hand if at the end of the two hours you are up on your initial investment you can continue to play using only your winnings. For example if you played for 2 hours using $240 bankroll and you find yourself up by $120 so your total bankroll currently stands at $360. Take the original $240 and remove them from play. Now you have $120 of the casino’s money to play with so even if you lose it you know that you will break even from this session as you already returned your original investment.

Table Limits

One of the key aspects of bankroll management is table limits. Many players play the wrong tables for their bankroll and therefore either lose it too quickly due to high table limits or earn very small amounts compared to their entire bankroll due to playing at a table with too low limits for their bankroll.

Below is a table offering recommendations as to which table limits you should play, depending on your blackjack bankroll:

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Blackjack Betting and Risk of Ruin for the Basic Strategy Player

Blackjack Bankroll Management Calculator

[Editor's note: Brother William's article about fluctuations in your blackjack bankroll when flat betting and playing basic strategy have a new relevance for players who are taking advantage of online casino bonuses or loss rebate plays. If you are a basic strategy player for any reason, study the article and chart below to get a handle on the normal fluctuations you can expect in your blackjack bankroll. --Arnold Snyder]

In the June 1995 issue of Blackjack Forum, I suggested that it would be helpful to basic strategy blackjack players to print detailed risk charts indicating standard deviation (fluctuation) for flat betting when playing basic strategy. I think there is a danger for players who are milking comps and promotions in not understanding these risks.

In an attempt to remedy this problem, I have created an all-purpose risk chart for the basic strategy player. I hope basic strategy blackjack players will study this chart carefully.

How to Use the Blackjack Basic Strategy Betting Risk Chart

Assumptions:

1. House advantage over the basic strategy player is 0.54% (which would correspond precisely to a 6-deck shoe game with Strip rules, but works pretty well for most games available anywhere, as the house edge is usually set around ½% over the basic strategy player).

2. 60 hands per hour of play. (This is pretty close to what you’ll average with a full table.)

3. Flat betting 1 unit per hand.

Regardless of what your unit size is, you may use this chart simply by multiplying. If you were playing $1 per hand, then all of the chart entries in units can simply be read right from the chart in dollars and cents. Example: betting $1 per hand for 16 hours of play, as per the assumed game conditions, you would have an expected loss of $5.18. You will be within one standard deviation (SD) of this expectation 68% of the time, which translates to an actual result between a loss of $39.27 and a win of $28.90. You will be within three standard deviations 99.7% of the time, which translates to an actual result between a loss of $117.80 and a win of $86.69.

Using a $100 betting unit, if you intend to play a total of 16 hours of basic strategy in this game and you’re willing to accept a risk level of three SD’s, simply move the decimal point two places to the right. You would expect to lose $518.00, but your actual result 99.7% of the time would fall between a loss of $11,780.00 and a win of $8,669.00.

So, if you can stand the thought of losing somewhere around $12,000 every rare once in a while in 16 hours of play, you can afford to flat bet this game with black chips.

The charts are very easy to use with flat bets of $1, $10, $100 and $1000, because you simply have to move the decimal point. For flat bets of $5 or $25 or whatever, just use a pocket calculator.

Note that the entry in the “expected loss” column can be used to estimate what you are actually “paying” for any comps your action buys.

Poker Bankroll Requirements

Again, I hope any basic strategy blackjack players out there will study this chart carefully. The bankroll you save my be your own. Good luck! ♠

Blackjack Bankroll Requirements

For information on professional gamblers' betting strategies for blackjack, see Arnold Snyder's Blackbelt in Blackjack.