Chapter Plus Four

Money Management

Betting/Risk

I never liked the term “Money Management” as it suggests a progression betting system. And such systems always fail. So I will call this chapter Betting/Risk, two inextricably linked subjects.

We know that our advantage increases as the count increases. We know that we must get more money on the table when we have the advantage. One of the mistakes beginning counters make is to not ramp up the bets quickly enough or to a high enough level when the count increases. We play far more hands at a disadvantage than at an advantage, and therefore we must bet substantially more when we have the advantage. The second problem area is risk. Most counters over bet their bankrolls resulting in a higher risk than they realize. These areas will be discussed in this chapter.

Betting

Now that we have a standardized method of comparing circumstances, we can discuss betting strategies. There exist five aspects of betting:

Ø  What is your spread (ratio of min bet to max bet)

Ø  When do you increase your bets? (betting ramps)

Ø  Do you play during negative counts? (Wonging)

Ø  How many hands do you play at once?

Ø  What is your unit size (minimum bet)?