Having dealt blackjack for a while now, I've noticed that most players don't bring anywhere near enough money to the table. You can experience some pretty rough swings in blackjack, and if you're betting $25 a hand, $500 can get wiped out pretty quickly.

When I play blackjack, I usually like to keep 40-50 times my average bet in reserve for the table. That means if I have $500 available for one session, I won't bet more than $10 a hand. Too often I've played in games where I would be down to the last $100 of the $500, and then my luck would change and I would find myself up $200 by the time it was all said and done. If I didn't have the large reserves, I would have gone broke.

Any other blackjack players here? How does your bet size correspond to your bankroll?

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Back when I played a lot of blackjack, I played $5 tables. I would budget $100 per session and plan on 3 or 4 sessions per day. Theses were 2 day trips to Vegas. I never did a lot of math to figure out how well I did per session or day. My trips were either big winners or big losers. There wasn't a lot of breaking even.

This was several years ago when there were $2 and $3 BJ tables on the strip, so playing $5 downtown wasn't being a cheapo.

I'm a lot like JMT on this one. I used to play alot! Back then $10 avg bet was common for me, but I would slip into the $25 & $50 high end tables on busy nights, just to get away from the constant new players coming up to the table to buy in for one or two hands. I'm sure you see your share of those!
Have I ever lost $2500 in one session, yup, but back then that stung pretty hard. LOL I'd play the rest of the week at those $5 & $10 tables. LOL

Tim,

I'm not a blackjack player but I'll tell you that when I sit down to Play Pai Gow at $25+, I'll buy in for $300-500.

Yep! I call them "drive-by blackjack players". They'll come up to a $15 table mid-shoe with 50 bucks. Within 4 or 5 hands they've lost the $50, and move on to another table. The really fun ones, though, are the ones who play with a complete disregard for basic strategy. I had a drive-by once who split 3's against my King, doubled down on hard 13 against my 6, and stood on hard 14 against my Ace. In each of those cases I drew to a 21 and wiped out the rest of the table. Two of the other four players cursed, pounded on the table and got up and left in frustration. When the drive-by got up and left after about 6 hands, the rest of the table requested that floor person allow me to reshuffle the shoe early. Thankfully, she said yes.

In high-limits we have a little sign that we will gladly put up at the request of any player: "No Mid-Shoe Entry"

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Thanks, Tim and all!

I think that this is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked part of playing a successful game of blackjack.

I tend to advise that one only play the game with a bankroll of 50 times the minimum bet, but I often break that rule and sometimes go into a game with a bankroll of 20 times the minimum bet. And I agree that 100 times would be better.

For some strange reason, I tend to walk away with a decent profit on a two to five dollar table and more than likely leave a table with a $100 loss when I play higher minimums.

I think that the main reason for that loss is the fact that I don't start with a sufficient bankroll.

Thanks for the refresher course, Tim. It is appreciated.