The House Edge is not the only thing that can kill your bankroll

[Dogedegen]

I have been thinking, a lot of gamblers focus on the house edge, but I think bet sizing deserves just as much attention. The house edge determines the long-term expectation, but how much you risk on each bet also determines how much variance your bankroll has to survive.

For example, if you keep putting 10% of your current bankroll on every wager, five losses in a row would leave you somewhere 59% of where you started. That kind of drawdown can happen too quickly, that happens even when you're playing a game with relatively low house edge.

This is why I think bankroll management is less about trying to predict when you'll win but more about making sure a normal losing streak doesn't put you out of the game. Personally, I think two simple rules make sense on this: keep individual bets small relative to the bankroll you are prepared to lose and don't increase your stakes just because you're on a winning or losing streak.

I need to know how others approach this. Do you actually calculate your bet size as a percentage of your bankroll, or do you choose a stake based on the game and how you're feeling at the time?

You need to start actually with why you are gambling today or overall. If you want to play as long as possible with the same budget, then you should do calculation of bet size in relation to your bankroll. But if you just want to have some fun, I don't think this is necessary and it can make you lose some of the fun. I just play for fun, so when I log in to play a bit I just cast a few bets or spins based on how I am feeling at the time. It does not matter if I burn the budget quickly today because that is also its own variance. If I burn the budget too fast on some days, on some other days I will play with it much longer than the average time because that is how the outcome of these events balance itself.

For as long as it's inside the budget(bankroll) that we have set for gambling all day or in a specific period of time, that's all what the circumstance requires us with.

That is the important starting point, and I would not recommend people to obsess over stretching a budget as long as possible. That kind of behavior supports developing an addiction and eventually the budget will be increased or broken to accommodate some more playing, and things start going worse and worse from there.

[uneng]

Question: who will win at roulette in the long run? The player or the casino! The correct answer is the casino (although the casino has no mathematical advantage in this scenario).

I think your analogy is not totally correct here. It could go either ways, just depends on the kind of gambler (If he is an addict or not), coupled with luck. Provided that a casino is fair (ie not a scam casino), if the chances of winning is 50/50 it remains so. I am looking at a scenario where the gambler who is involved is not an addict. Assuming the first five games are in his favour (ie winning streak), he wouldn't mind to call it off for the day as a reasonable gambler. Unless it is an unlucky day, where he goes on a losing streak from the beginning of the game till his cash is exhausted, then he might end up losing. The scenario you cited works mostly for addicts in my opinion, because they don't usually know the right time to walk away.

The winning chance is never 50 to 50 with 2x odds. In roulette, besides reds and blacks you also have the green "0" house, which ensures the casino has an edge of advantage against the gamblers. Therefore, it can never go either ways, rather it always go on the way which favours the casino. At same time, it doesn't mean the casino is a scam, because it's part of the rules that casinos have the advantage and everyone knows it works this way, or at least should know before playing.

[EluguHcman]

Do you actually calculate your bet size as a percentage of your bankroll, or do you choose a stake based on the game and how you're feeling at the time?

All of the above bro. Lot of logic and arithmetics are conducted in there and psychological terms are also involved.
Most times we don't look at the bankrolls but our confidence on or doubt determines the wagering amounts.

Of course our confidence fails and that is the  main reason why we should always consider to wager according to our bankrolls which long term playing stability should be found a better strategy just in case of lost because winning streak would not be guaranteed.

Also note that the house edge will give us very little privilege to win otherwise, lucks is still inevitable that we don't have to wager too greedily so that we can play for a long time.

[Hispo]

Do you actually calculate your bet size as a percentage of your bankroll, or do you choose a stake based on the game and how you're feeling at the time?

All of the above bro. Lot of logic and arithmetics are conducted in there and psychological terms are also involved.
Most times we don't look at the bankrolls but our confidence on or doubt determines the wagering amounts.

Of course our confidence fails and that is the  main reason why we should always consider to wager according to our bankrolls which long term playing stability should be found a better strategy just in case of lost because winning streak would not be guaranteed.

Also note that the house edge will give us very little privilege to win otherwise, lucks is still inevitable that we don't have to wager too greedily so that we can play for a long time.

I find it to be interesting how people allow their feelings to dictate how much of their money are their willing to risk during a gambling session, even though the person is perfectly aware their feelings means nothing to the casino, which is mathematically ahead of the gambler at every step of the session, thanks to the edge of the house.

I believe if gamblers were less emotional and more mathematical, they would not lose as much money to their bad luck and there would not be as much gambling addiction as there is nowadays.

[Darker45]

There seems to be many factors to be considered, but bankroll management is very important if you want to stretch your gambling fun as long as possible without refilling your balance.

Especially if you're playing slots, the minimum bet is enough. Such kind of game is basically burning money away. When playing blackjack, however, I go for a certain percentage of my bankroll. But when it comes to sports betting, depending on what's left in my wallet and the specific game I'm betting on, I could even go all-in.

[Julien_Olynpic]

It's already been written here that the house edge isn't the most important factor in losses. Controlling your bet sizes is also important, but that's something that's relatively easy to do. Controlling your bet sizes doesn't require you to be a math professor; everyone understands it. The only thing that gets in the way is destructive emotions. But there are things that can quickly destroy a bankroll—long, random losing streaks, which are impossible to protect against.

[famososMuertos]

:://:::

For example, if you keep putting 10% of your current bankroll on every wager, five losses in a row would leave you somewhere 59% of where you started. That kind of drawdown can happen too quickly, that happens even when you're playing a game with relatively low house edge.

:://:::

You’re approaching the concept the wrong way; your bankroll is sacrosanct—it should never be depleted or even put at risk. It is literally your lifeline in betting. Therefore, the 10% figure you mentioned is a poor strategic choice for a single wager. Instead, you should allocate that 10% to a specific casino, for instance, and then determine your bet size based on that portion—specifically, 5% of that 10% allocation.

E.G.:
If your bankroll is $1,000, you set aside $100 (10%) for Casino X. Then, at that casino, you place $5 bets (which is 5% of that allocated amount); that is an appropriate bet size. If that doesn't feel exciting enough, you can adjust the percentages, but that is how simple bankroll management works—though the specifics can vary depending on your strategy.

[Outhue]

Your mindset can kill your bankroll, your feelings and emotion state can kill your bankroll, most of the time gambling is all about how you feel, you want to make money? Gambling is probably not for your kind, because you wanted to make money and this is enough reason as to why you will keep trying too hard, if you are lacking money why not go and find a job? Why must it be gambling? If gambling never existed will you not survive? People take gambling too seriously as if they would die if they don't gamble and make money, that's a  bad way to get into gambling and the only set of people that can say it's a good way are the ones running the business, when you plan to make money from gambling in every way you become desperate and reckless.

[TheUltraElite]

Distribute your bakroll into smaller bets that you can manage and would not overwhelm you when you lose it.

The people who are playing everyday know this much that suddenly you end up losing a huge amount that could have been divided into smaller bets with different outcomes for year. Cumulative results might have been different.

Keep an algorithm to decide your bankroll and how you play, dont overspend just because the house edge is lower, you will still lose money at the same rate.

[sebiesz]

the house edge is only part of it chasing losses and poor bankroll control can hurt just as much.

[sebiesz]

a bad session and poor bankroll control can hurt more than people think

[Perfectbaby]

I have been thinking, a lot of gamblers focus on the house edge, but I think bet sizing deserves just as much attention. The house edge determines the long-term expectation, but how much you risk on each bet also determines how much variance your bankroll has to survive.

Most gamblers that I know that are not on this forum or the other forum do not know house edge. I have asked some people questions about it before including my friends, most of them do not know what it is, although they know that the house has the edge over gambling. They know that the gambling sites are making money from people.

The most important thing is to focus on bankroll, but there are weeks that I use 100% of my weekly gambling money to gamble at ones and there are weeks that I use just little part of it to gamble and I put the bet on auto play. So it depends on how I prefer it to be during the week.

But I do not go beyond little amount of money.

One thing that I understand is that when gambling, if you are only focusing on casino games it would be considered but for those that are doing bet, I mean those doing sports betting may not consider it much because most of them wouldn’t because they are strictly betting with lower odds. For instance they may decide to gamble with smaller odds that would only end up either 1-4 matches which could be easier for them to win and at this point they wouldn’t consider the house edge that much while gambling but for those on slot games could actually do that since winning is on a chance basis or do I seat it is a random based.

[EugeniaX]

the house edge is bad enough but chasing losses and betting without a limit can drain your bankroll even faster

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Your mindset can kill your bankroll, your feelings and emotion state can kill your bankroll, most of the time gambling is all about how you feel, you want to make money? Gambling is probably not for your kind, because you wanted to make money and this is enough reason as to why you will keep trying too hard, if you are lacking money why not go and find a job? Why must it be gambling? If gambling never existed will you not survive? People take gambling too seriously as if they would die if they don't gamble and make money, that's a  bad way to get into gambling and the only set of people that can say it's a good way are the ones running the business, when you plan to make money from gambling in every way you become desperate and reckless.

In any give day, our mindset, or house edge can kill our bankroll. Our emotions too, and even if we try to distribute our bankroll, it might not be enough if our mind says otherwise. That's why we really need to control what's inside of us, otherwise, we will be swept by gambling itself.

Although it's good that we have a set of rules and set of money to start with. But sometimes, because of our mind telling us otherwise, we can go beyond and then think that we can recover our losses, but it's not. We became desperate and that will get us rekt in the long run.

[Africolo]

Bet seizing or good bankroll management can only prolong the length of time you will keep betting without being burned out, I don't think it actually stops you from losing all your bankroll when you are consistently playing and losing more than what you get in return. I'm not saying it's bad to consider bet seizing but it also depends on what the bettor wants. Sometimes, I could just deposit $20 to try my luck and also have fun, I just want to do it fast and get out, so what I do is stake or wager with $5 in each round. Although I don't bet in such approach all the time but my approach depends on the mood of that day and how long I also want to continue playing without being burned out. If I am playing crash, I am usually inconsistent with sizing, I play every round with different amount but I always increase my bet size if I feel that the next round will be profitable.  Good bankroll management can help you play for a longer time but doesn't prevent losses, so we are still up against the house edge.

I totally see reasons with your perspective on bet seizes prolonging the length of time that the gambler will keep betting untill he runs out of cash, having a bankroll Management doesn't mean that one would no longer encounter looses or be on a long term loosing streak but it only saves the gambler from betting recklessly without have limits to the funds he has for betting and in a way it curtails betting activities and keeps one in his limits if only he sticks with the bankroll.

Some people usually have a huge bankroll Management not for betting and making profits but just to have fun in their quiet time but I don't subscribe to having a good amount in your bet wallet and instead of using that money to make profits you Intend to catch fun with it, I don't like house edge because it makes one loose more than being on a bankroll though it's better to stick with the one that works for you.

[iv4n]

This is why I think bankroll management is less about trying to predict when you'll win but more about making sure a normal losing streak doesn't put you out of the game. Personally, I think two simple rules make sense on this: keep individual bets small relative to the bankroll you are prepared to lose and don't increase your stakes just because you're on a winning or losing streak.

It's possible if you have discipline & patience... but not many of us do, or at least we do, but we lose it in the heat of the moment. I always point out one thing: not all gambling games are the same. Slots are a good example... Do you think you can have this approach when you play slots? And after losing hundreds of normal spins, will you continue to play? Will you try a bonus buy? The game will put you on fire at some point... It's the same with many other luck-based games. So just relax, give it a try... and you will see the result.

[suzanne5223]

I think it's how the gambling platform makes the house edge their number priority, playing a huge role in how house edge gets all the attention of some gamblers, despite how bet sizing is what actually decides whether the gambler will survive long enough. This is the reason why a lot of gamblers who are into playing games like blackjack or dice with a low house edge still go broke because they are risking 5–10% of their bankroll per single betting session.

Therefore, it is better for gamblers to always decide the total amount they are willing to lose in a session with their bankroll and how long they want the game to last.

[goldkingcoiner]

Do you actually calculate your bet size as a percentage of your bankroll, or do you choose a stake based on the game and how you're feeling at the time?

I would say the first one because it is easier and faster. Which, really, is the thing that most people go for: comfort and convenience.

But if you do choose a stake based on the game that does not guarantee you will hedge yourself against losing. No matter the house edge, you still need to prepare a plan beforehand, especially concerning how much of your bankroll you want to lose and what to do next after that. Otherwise you can just as well gamble your entire fortune away on a moments decision...

[ImGenius]

I think this is an interesting topic! 🙋

Yes, we can conduct a thought experiment: a player is playing roulette against the casino. This roulette wheel has no zero sector (meaning the casino has no mathematical advantage). The player's chances of winning and losing are equal: 50 percent/50 percent.

Question: who will win at roulette in the long run? The player or the casino! The correct answer is the casino (although the casino has no mathematical advantage in this scenario).

Roulette games are not 100% accurate to begin with; each machine has a margin of error. That is why some numbers are comparably shown more times than any other. So it is not always a casino built to favour them. It is we who gamble without any limitation, and in the end, we do lose.

I think in slots games, it is easy to create a high house edge, a simple math formula, and you are gone with nothing. That is why I prefer sports gambling. You can gamble according to your skills, and if you lose, it's completely your fault for losing the game, nothing else.

[Myleschetty]

I need to know how others approach this. Do you actually calculate your bet size as a percentage of your bankroll, or do you choose a stake based on the game and how you're feeling at the time?

As a seasoned gambler, I calculate my gambling strategy after making a deposit, taking into account the possibility of receiving a free bonus or spins from the casino. As you mentioned, the house edge is not the only factor that destroys a gambler's bankroll; the same is true for betting size, which falls under risk management. Gambling psychology is something else I think we should include in order to avoid chasing losses and to know when to give up the gme for another day.