Bankroll Management in Blackjack – Learn How It Works

Blackjack is a game of skill as much as it is a game of luck. However, no matter how skillful or lucky you are, you’re not going to perform well if you don’t manage your blackjack bankroll.

A bankroll is the amount of money you decide to use for playing games that require placing bets, including blackjack. Managing your bankroll means taking control of how much you bet and knowing how much money you have left.

Every blackjack bankroll strategy revolves around making bets. They will usually tell you how much to bet in certain situations.

But if you really want to know how to manage your blackjack bankroll, you also need to pay attention to your emotional responses during the game. In other words, bankroll management isn’t about what to do. It’s also about what not to do.

Confused? Let’s take a closer look at how bankroll management in blackjack works. 

Choose Your Bankroll Amount

First of all, you need to decide how much money you’re willing to spend on playing blackjack over a certain period of time. For example, you can set your bankroll to be $100 a week. 

The amount of your bankroll depends mainly on your income. It should not affect your everyday activities or stop you from paying taxes. Your blackjack bankroll should consist of the extra money you’re willing to spend on playing this popular card game.

Make Optimal Bets When Playing Blackjack 

Once you set your blackjack money aside, you need to make sure that you’re making optimal bets with it. In other words, if your weekly budget is $100 and you play blackjack five times a week, you don’t want to spend your entire bankroll on your first day. Instead, you want to spread your bankroll to cover all five days. After all, you’ll get to play the game longer if you determine your optimal bet.

You’re probably wondering whether there’s a way to set your optimal bet when it comes to blackjack bankroll management. It’s actually not that complicated. Just make sure to determine your minimum and maximum bet before you start and incorporate them into your blackjack strategy.

Speaking of strategies, you should make a difference between a bankroll management strategy and a blackjack strategy. Let’s check these out.    

Blackjack Bankroll Management Strategies

There are two types of bankroll management strategies that tell you how to bet — flat and progressive. Flat strategies usually start with the idea that your bets will remain the same throughout the session. For example, if you decided to bet $5 on blackjack, you’ll keep betting that amount as long as you’re playing.

The other type of betting strategy is progressive betting. Essentially, you’ll have to adjust your betting amount based on the outcome of the previous hand. There are positive and negative progressive betting strategies. The positive ones suggest increasing your betting amount when you win, while the negative ones suggest otherwise — increase when you lose.

Perhaps the most important strategy for bankroll management in blackjack (and in many other casino games) is the Martingale strategy. It suggests doubling your betting amount whenever you lose a hand. And, as soon as you win, you should reset to your starting bet. For example, if you bet $1 and lose, you should increase to $2. If you lose again, increase to $4 and then to $8. However, if you win after that, you should go back to $1.

Apart from the Martingale, other popular blackjack bankroll management strategies are:

• 1-3-2-6
• One half up
• The Paroli
• D’Alembert
• Fibonacci

Each of these strategies comes with a set of rules about placing bets and tips on when to increase/decrease them. Due to these systems’ nature, it’s always a good idea to select a blackjack table that accepts low minimum and high maximum bets.

Although many players believe that these can help them improve their chances of winning in blackjack, that’s actually not quite true. These systems are there to help you bet properly and manage your bankroll.

On the other hand, blackjack strategies can help you increase your chances of winning, so let’s check them out.

Combine Your Bankroll Management With Blackjack Strategies

If you stick to blackjack strategy charts or decide to count cards, you can lower the house edge and improve your odds of winning. Every professional blackjack player knows strategy charts by heart and is quite experienced in card counting. Most importantly, they all use blackjack bankroll management to have complete control over their bets. 

Final Thoughts: Know When to Stop

To sum up, learning how to manage a bankroll is essential for every blackjack player. As long as you stick to it, you will be on the winning side, no matter the outcome. As soon as you cross the line and bet more than you initially planned, you’re joining the losing side.

In other words, after you master bankroll management, make sure to recognize and understand your emotions when playing the game. That way, you’ll be able to be in control of your bets and your session length.

FAQ

• How to manage your bankroll?

  Stick to some of the bankroll management blackjack strategies described in this article.

• Is there a bankroll management app for blackjack?

  While there might be some useful apps for bankroll management, we advise you to try and learn bankroll management systems by heart, as you’ll not be able to use apps all the time — especially not in land-based casinos.

• Does bankroll management work in online blackjack?

  Absolutely. You can use bankroll management strategies in online blackjack too as it is not much different from land-based blackjack. However, you can find many variants of this game on the web, so make sure to stick to the one you know how to play.

• Can I use bankroll management systems for other casino games?

  Yes, some bankroll management systems, such as the Martingale, are quite universal and can be applied to many other table games in casinos. It works exceptionally well for online roulette.