How Much Should You Bet In Blackjack

Here are the facts on the flat betting blackjack strategy. If you bet say $5 on every hand in a standard multiple deck game the house will have an edge of 0.5% against the skilled basic strategy player. That means you will lose on average 0.5% of every wager you make. That also means you’ll be fine at a low-limit table to start, because your top bet is likely to be just $50. Overall, you’ll enjoy your blackjack most when you are comfortable, and while it should go without saying, it’s up to you to decide where to sit.

• If you've never gambled before, you'll want to figure how much you can afford to bet on each round of blackjack, craps, roulette, or slots for your playing session. You'll have to make sure you can afford at least the casino minimum, which is never less than $5 on the Vegas Strip and downtown, but $10, $15, or $25 at many casinos.
• How much should you bet in blackjack? If a $10 bettor uses a 1-2-3-5 betting progression, his average bet will $20. Over an hour he will average $20 times 80 hands or $1600 worth of bets. The casino’s expected win is 0.5% of $1600 or $8. In other words, a $10 progressive bettor stands to lose twice as much per hour as a $10 flat bettor.

Most people have a general idea of what a bankroll is, but for a post like this, we need to get a lot more specific.

Your bankroll is the amount of money you’ve set aside to gamble with.

You might have specific bankrolls for various games based on various goals. If you play games where you’re satisfied with a negative expectation, the size of your bankroll compared to the averagesize of your bets is what determines how long you’re able to play a specific game.

If you’re a professional gambler, though, you’re probably more interested in avoiding going broke in the short run. Gambling is based on random chance, and even if you have a long-term advantage,you can still go broke in the short run because of variance.

Here’s a simple example of how that might work.

Suppose you’re playing a simple gambling game with a buddy where you have a 52% probability of winning, and she has a 48% probability of winning. She’s willing to bet you straight-up, too — ifyou win, you get $100 from her, and if she wins, she gets $100 from you.

Suppose you only have a bankroll for this game of $100.

Can you see how you’d have a good probability of going broke even though you have a distinct mathematical edge?

In the long run, your results should resemble the mathematical, theoretical prediction, but in the short term, anything can happen.

The goal of having a large bankroll relative to your bet size is to avoid going broke while you’re waiting for your long-term edge to kick in.

But that only applies to gamblers who have an edge.

How Should You Bet In Blackjack

If you’re playing a negative expectation game, you’ll eventually lose all your money. The trick is getting the most entertainment for your money while you’re doing so.