Thoughts on Video Poker Bankroll Management

Bankroll Management

The importance of bankroll management cannot be stressed enough. Your bankroll is what fuels your gambling career. Screw it up and you mess up your whole work. Make no mistake about it: professional gambling necessitates responsible money management. Yes, it may seem ironic that we speak of gambling and money management in the same breath, yet that is the reality of this job. It may be risky business, but it is business nonetheless and your bankroll is your capital.

Financial Security

People who gamble for a living will play only those games they know they can win, games like video poker and blackjack. But no matter how susceptible such games are to advantage gambling techniques, they are still not quite "safe." All gambling entails some risk; without risk, it would not be gambling.

Who Can Gamble?

The point we are driving at here is that playing video poker (or any other game) for a living isn't for everybody. If you are not quite financially secure; if you have debts to pay; if you have family that may be affected by the monetary beatings you'll be dealt; then you need to rethink about gambling.

Gambling is best left to people who are financially stable and reasonably well-off. You don't have to be rich, but if you're anything less than comfortable financially, you shouldn't b gambling. Above all, your family must be supportive of what you do in the casinos or you'd only set yourself up for problems you don't need.

Further, a video poker player will big money to get started in their career. It is necessary to weather the storms of gambling - those prolonged losing streaks that befall everyone. A royal flush will hit approximately once every 40,000 hands. At normal playing speed for a few hours each day, that will take about a month. But there will be times when you will just keep on losing. You need to have ready for monetary fluctuations like that and have the money for it.

Gambling and Wealth

Now here is a revelation for you: Your bankroll doesn't end with your gambling budget. It extends to your whole income, assets and liabilities.

You can earn small from gambling, but if you save big in other areas you will be a big winner still. And if you win a jackpot in video poker but buy a luxury car, you get a nice car—but your money is gone and now you need more for regular car detailing.

The point? Well, to some the richest person is not the one who earns the most, but the one who SAVES the most. If you win $10,000 in a casino in one night and gamble it away on another night, does that make you a bigger winner than someone else who wins $200 and keeps it? No, it doesn't.

Of course you might say that wealth lies in the spending; if we don't enjoy our money, what use is it? This is a valid point of view also. Indeed it is very difficult to make generalizations about money and how it should be spent. Some want to earn money and spend it right away, as if they were stamps that serve no purpose if not used. Others prefer to save for a rainy day. It is an individual's choice to make. But the message here is the real measure of your winnings goes beyond your bankroll, but to the rest of your finances as well. It's not just what you win, but what you spend and do NOT spend that make you rich.