What's your usual bankroll?

Pardon me for asking what some of you may consider to be a personal question, but after reading a post where beachbumbabs says she's been a Caesar's Diamond level for 16 straight years, which is longer than since I first went to Vegas, and comparing that to the fact that, maybe, I'll gamble $300 in a four-day stretch (the only reason I'm even Platinum at Caesars is, I charge quite a bit to my Caesar's Rewards Visa), I am wondering; what is your "usual" gambling budget in a single session? Not for an entire year, but when you go somewhere, how much do you intend on betting?

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If it takes $5 of slot play to earn a point, you'd have to play $125,000 worth of credits to get to 25,000 points (within a calendar year).

Does that mean I'd get a point for every $5 Pass Line bet?

I take the position that all liquid assets are considered a persons bankroll and we all only ever play one session. But I can still understand what you're asking (don't think many people like to give specifics, but I don't mind):

For blackjack: wait until +3, go from $5 to $50, then keep raising the bet so long as the count stays on the good side, then leave after showing a +$100 bet. For this, a buy in of $200 covers most trips. Have to pull out another $200 on occasion. Like to have at least $1,000 in my pocket for those rare double/split with a max bet -- but sometimes I don't have that much when I sit down to play.

Video poker: On $1 machines put a $100 bill into the machine and play until it's gone. If I hit a big hand and have a nice profit, I play until it feels like a good stopping point. This is with a marginal edge of about +0.005. Last good game I played (+0.02), I went with the intention of losing up to $1,000 -- ending up with a small profit after the promotion bonus. On 25-cent machines, do the same, except with a $20 bill. And if I'm not too bored after losing that, might put another $20 in.

Sports: Willing to play however much I can so long as I can find good bets. If I'm finding good bets, usually about $600 each place, and I'll stop at no-fee ATM if I need to -- then it just depends on how many places I go to. If I'm not finding good bets, might bet $10 or $20 on something marginal that I have a good feeling about and move on.

I usually play Pai Gow. I'll take the my average bet (which is easy because I'm a flat bettor) and multiply by 40. That's my total bankroll for the trip. Or I'll do the opposite; figure out how much money I have saved to gamble with, then divide by 40. I usually buy in for 12-15x my average bet per session, and that sustains my play for several hours, easily. If it's close to the end of my trip, and I'm ahead or about even, I might increase the average bet.

In the old days, before I took a decade long or so break from play, my credit lines (read my blog post on Casino Credit) were almost all $20K (I had some $25K ones and one $50K one). But if I lost $20K at one casino I would often promptly run across the street or limo ride to another, and try to win it back immediately. There were many trips where I'd lose $20K at a casino, pay it with winnings from another casino, lose it again, pay it, lose it again, pay it. Usually this sort of manic play worked well, but I had a couple of trips where I started to lose a few lines in a row and gave up and flew home. I also had trips where I would lose multiple lines and come back to an over all massive win. Back then my average bet was a few thousand a hand, often playing $15K table limit hands.

After taking a long break I decided that I wasn't as interested in playing to make money as I had thought, I didn't need the stress, so now I just play for comps and fun. I still try to win, that is the goal, but I'm not willing to chase a loss the way I used to.

Nowadays my lines are $50K each but I stick to one casino at a time, meaning that if I am staying at Cosmopolitan, I play at Cosmopolitan. My average bet nowadays is more like $300., with my bets maxing around $2K. I try not to play all the way into my line, the deepest I have gone since returning to play in 2018, is around $35K pulled out. When I've had $35K pulled out I've been down as much as $15K for that session, with $20K of ammo sitting by me.

So far this new relaxed play has worked out for me. I haven't had any losing trips.

I think the most important question bankroll wise, is not just what your bankroll is, but what your average bet is. This is what TigerWu is talking about. As I look back at the days when I would wager $15K in a single hand, with only a $20K line, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Of course, I wouldn't do that right off the bat, and when I did it I was almost always playing with the house's money that I was up with, but still, I think betting 75% of your line in one bet, seems lopsided. Nowadays my average bet of a few hunny with a $50K line gives me well over 150 hands to blowout. I also have room to vary my bet, which is essential to table game winning.

As I look at these guys who arrive at the black chip minimum tables with $500. or $1000. I just wonder about them. They try to bet 200 - 300 per hand, which means 2 - 5 hands to blowout, doesn't seem so smart.


I don't agree with TomG that your entire life is "one session" or that your bankroll is your net worth. If I start losing, I have the option to quit. I quit while ahead about a decade ago, and visited Vegas and Tahoe dozens of times without playing a penny, and since returning to play after a decade or so break, I may quit now if I like too.

In order for the "one session" "bankroll is your net worth" premise to ring true, you'd have to be unwilling to stop and willing to wager everything you have. I don't do that.

I never really had a structured bankroll but I would set stop-loss daily limits for myself. When I was playing high stakes video poker I would always quit when I was down $10k for the day and then start over again the next day.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

Pardon me for asking what some of you may consider to be a personal question, but after reading a post where beachbumbabs says she's been a Caesar's Diamond level for 16 straight years, which is longer than since I first went to Vegas, and comparing that to the fact that, maybe, I'll gamble $300 in a four-day stretch (the only reason I'm even Platinum at Caesars is, I charge quite a bit to my Caesar's Rewards Visa), I am wondering; what is your "usual" gambling budget in a single session? Not for an entire year, but when you go somewhere, how much do you intend on betting?

A couple of those years, I didn't get there often enough to make Diamond, but it carries over into the next year, so I remained Diamond.

BR varied, because several times I did DIAD or in 2 days using bonus points to reach the threshold. I don't think I've made 25k more than once. But diamond is 15k points, even this year, and only recently have they upped the point total for DL entrance.

I've only come out ahead for the entire year once in actual cash earnings for about 4k, but if you included the RFB used, most years I've been even or lost less than 1k. One really bad year a few years ago, I lost 15k company-wide, but that was an exception.

I generally expose 50k-100k, which is the figure they seem to use in determining tier level. I rarely gambledo more than 10 days a year until the last couple, but this past year I've slowed down again with my caregiving responsibilities.

I have always played CET as entertainment, and felt I was getting my money's worth in nearly every year (except the one year with the big loss). My results have improved considerably since being a member here, I have to say. Thanks all around for the education, especially the Wizard.

Quote: TomG

I take the position that all liquid assets are considered a persons bankroll

As an AP I have been saying this forever. It's not like if I somehow lost whatever bankroll amount I had set aside that I'm suddenly going to go get a real job and stop being an AP if that money were gone.

I'm not saying AP's shouldn't have a set bankroll, it's just not for me. For the most part, I play way under my bankroll anyways. Normally, the biggest decisions I have had to make when it comes to deciding if something is over my bankroll or not usually comes down to... IS THE CASINO GOING TO F***K ME ON THIS PROMOTION OR NOT!!! I'm very risk VS reward oriented.

I think everyone's situation is different and there are a lot of factors. Such as, do you have kids you have to feed? You are just starting out and giving AP a try. Perhaps you have tilt issues and you play over your head.

My BR is whatever I need plus your mother. If it's not enough, I won't play.

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The pool?

Pools are meaningless to me, but whenever I run into out of town friends kids, all they talk about are the pool parties.

Nowadays I am a super low roller IMO. Just spent 4 days in Vegas and my bankroll was 1k for the 4 days. I like to have 500 per day but this trip that didnt happen. Bankroll depends on what I want to play.

Bj I buy in for 200
craps 300
VP 200
slots 100

Quote: ChumpChange

Become a Las Vegas VIP
When you spend $10,000 in a calendar year, you’ll receive unlimited VIP access in Las Vegas for the following calendar year, which includes*:

VIP Line Access at participating restaurants
VIP Line check-in
VIP Line for taxis and entertainment venues
Preferred entry into participating Las Vegas nightclubs
Pool access at all Las Vegas properties

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The pool?

Where is my VIP treatment? Only treatment i get is I get the pleasure of being personally escorted off the premises and threatened to not come back.

Does getting the boot for sneaking into the buffet for

Quote: ZenKinG

one big meal

a day, count?

Quote: ChumpChange

GET MORE WITH CAESARS REWARDS https://www.caesars.com/total-rewards/benefits-overview

Per footnote #10:
You will find Diamond Lounges at the following Caesars Entertainment properties:
https://totalrewards.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/553/kw/diamond%20lounge%20locations?_ga=2.144968563.614992958.1559096742-610729453.1559096742

Photos for Diamond Lounge https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/diamond-lounge-las-vegas-3

If it takes $5 of slot play to earn a point, you'd have to play $125,000 worth of credits to get to 25,000 points (within a calendar year).

Does that mean I'd get a point for every $5 Pass Line bet?

No a tier credit is roughly $0.50 of theoretical loss for table games, just like $5 coin-in on a slot.

My usual bankroll is about $100 a day.

Quote: ZenKinG

Where is my VIP treatment? Only treatment i get is I get the pleasure of being personally escorted off the premises and threatened to not come back.

ZenKinG,

Yeah... I've gotten the same VIP treatment myself :-(

Dog Hand

Quote: DogHand

ZenKinG,

Yeah... I've gotten the same VIP treatment myself :-(

Dog Hand

for playing what game?

Poker Bankroll Tracker can save your poker sessions to get an overview of your bankroll.

Quote: Karice

My usual bankroll is about $20. :)

Do you work at Walgreen?

Quote: TomG

I take the position that all liquid assets are considered a persons bankroll and we all only ever play one session.

I am glad someone bumped this thread because it is a topic that very much interests me. A member from the BJ21 forum, Kim Lee (long time professional player) had a similar perspective on the subject as TomG above. Actually Kim Lee went even further and thought that ALL assets including real estate, should be considered the players bankroll. I always had a hard time wrapping my head around THAT one.

I think back to my own blackjack career and when I was starting out at age 20, with $4300, which at the time, WAS all my assets, no doubt, all my assets WERE my bankroll. But once I made some money and started buying real estate, I simply can't or won't consider my home as part of my bankroll, because I am never going to feel comfortable betting my home. ;/

I separate out my BR, beginning every year with 100k. And I have the funds to replenish that 100k, if some how I lost that, which I have never come close. But after I replaced the BR a second time, if I were to lose that, I would need to start liquidating assets, including my residence and I don't think there is anyway in hell I would do that. I mean first, if it got to that point that I had lost 2 BR's, something is VERY wrong. Maybe Chinese pre-packaged cards or SOMETHING....but something is wrong at my level of play. LOL

But just for the sake of argument, lets say a player were to buy into this concept and was playing higher stakes than I do and his playing limits, spread and max bet were calculated using all his assets (including real estate). ???? I am back to not being able to wrap my head around this concept. Is any player literally going to bet the (his) house? That is pretty hard core gambling and I am not a gambler, so maybe that is my issue. ???

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