Successful Online Gambling Money Management

One of the most important areas to master if you're going to walk away a winner, on balance, is the art of money management. The simple truism is that the art of winning money gambling online is about not losing too much.

Setting aside the lucky streaks or the occasional big win, successful online gambling is largely about winning a bit here, losing a bit there, and coming out ahead at the end of the session. Poker players call this 'grinding it out'.

Keep your head

Avoid blowing an hour's worth of carefully accumulated winnings in 2 minutes of irrational betting. We all know these scenarios - you've been playing for a while and have won a little money - enough to make the evening worthwhile. Then you decide to bet a little more on a hunch, or get an unlucky card at the blackjack table and try to make up the loss on the very next hand. And it doesn't pay off. Almost in the blink of eye, you've lost what you painstakingly gained, and a winning session has become a losing one. Keep your cool and stay rational.

Only play with money you can afford to lose

Decide beforehand on the total amount of money that you can currently commit to your online gambling in a given month - effectively, money that you can afford to lose and not feel an impact in your budget. Call it an entertainment allowance. Keep it separated from your other money (your casino account is obviously a perfect place), and use it as your limit. If it runs out before the month ends, then that's your gambling entertainment for the month. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to add to it, because that's when things become murky, and you start to risk more money than you should.

Set a loss limit

If you have trouble stopping a session when you're losing, and you tend to lose more than you wanted to in trying to make up for your losses, set a specific loss point. Decide on a maximum amount you're prepared to lose in a session and when you reach that, shut down the casino. Tomorrow is another day.

Don't play when you're tired

Part of money management is making sure that you're always alert and that you avoid making otherwise avoidable mistakes because you're bored or tired. So if you start feeling bored and tempted to add some extra excitement by increasing your bets, or you find yourself making silly bet decisions because you're feeling fatigued, just stop. Boredom and fatigue are bankroll killers.

Play with the odds

Streaks aside, again, you are more likely to lose just after you've won, so decrease your next bet after you've won. If you keep your betting constant, you'll lose more, because on average you can expect to win twice in a row less often than not. By halving that next bet, you're still losing, but not as much. Remember, money management is about minimizing your losses.

Don't play catch-up

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to immediately try to make up for a loss on the next couple of bets. Many players double up when they've lost to try and quickly recoup their loss. Just because you decide that the next bet is the one you're going to win your money back on, doesn't mean that the gambling gods agree. More likely, you'll just lose more. The way to recoup your losses is through patience and shrewd play, not by hoping for a lucky hit.

These few tips should go a long way in helping you manage your bankroll more successfully. One final thing - the virtual nature of online gambling means that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that each click represents real money - you're not even handling chips. Stay in the moment, and treat that number on the screen for what it is - your own real cash that you're playing with.

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