Bank Roll management strategy

Good Morning,
Trip coming up very soon and I am interested in how people manage their gambling budget. That is probably a hot button issue as it is a pretty personal thing. I have seen some mention but never much discussion on the subject or I could just suck at searching.

I am thinking of sorting everything into envelopes for days and sessions so for each day:
morning slots
morning table
evening slots
evening table

Where I really would like to hear input and ideas is what you do if you win. Do you go till you bust, do you set a win threshold and bank it for the next day or tuck it away for home. This is money I have set aside to burn so if it's gone I can still pay my bills. Discipline comes into play and I think I would slowly just burn through it all as fast as possible if I didn't divide it up.

Cheers and good luck to all!

 

Whatever works for you. That’s how to plan. Try different systems until you get the one that works for you.
Personally, I could never deal with dividing up my vacation money, it’s all in one bankroll in the safe. I do divide it in half. If I start to dig into the second half before I’m halfway through the trip it’s time for some excursions. Las Vegas has a ton of excursions and so much to do outside of gambling so it’s never been a problem.

 

I divide it up into days, equal amounts. Let’s say all my envelopes have $500 in them for each day (5 days) - $2,500. I take Monday’s out, let’s say I win $200, I put $700 back into Monday’s envelope and open the $500 for Tuesday, the very next day. If I lose $200 I put $300 back into Tuesday’s envelope and start the next day with Wednesday’s $500. So on and so forth. It’s very OCD, but also a good way of managing your money.

 

I figure out how much I want my average (table) bet to be and then multiply that amount by 40 or 50. That's my ideal starting bankroll for the trip.

 

My Vegas bankroll management plan is a lot like EastCoastVegasFan! minus the envelopes. I decide what amount I’m willing to loose and divide by the length of stay. Whatever is left at the end of the day goes home with me. It works for me and keeps me from chasing losses.

Mark

 

I also used this method which I think is a very good way of managing the trips bankroll to ensure we don't bottom out halfway through the trip, lol!

Lately I modified my management where I continue to play on day 1 money until I have to open the next envelope. Sometimes I'm clear into day 4 before using day 2 allotment. For me it's a way of telling how well I'm doing as far as budgeting my daily gambling sessions.

Sometimes I feel like it was a win when I budgeted 5 envelopes for the trip and come home with 3 of them.

And of course there are the times when it is the last day of the trip and I'm on my last envelope.

But no matter what, at the very least there will always be money to play even though the gambling sucks!

 

That's too much like work! I go to the casino to have fun.

If I lose too much for my comfort in any timespan, I'll quit and do something else for a while. (Shopping, photo walk or drive, get something to eat, look for a bar with a band {dot dot dot}.)

 

I have daily budget - I bring one days budget in cash. If I run outlet of my days limit I’m done four the day. The next day I get the daily budget amount from LOC the cashier. The process is the same for each day. If I’m ahead, I decide when I want to quit. It’s mainly to stay within the budget. It’s money I won’t miss- I can make my budget double and it will not make a difference in the way I live. I already live below my means.

 

Although we don’t shop, take pictures, drive or seek out live entertainment, we do divert ourselves for a while to try and break the bad juju. Usually, being downtown, we will just move to another casino. As far as keeping envelopes, there is just one and that contains our trip BR. And no, we do not have it on us all at once. Most stays in the room.

 

I use the envelope system, with rising amounts as the trip goes on (so I can feel like a High Roller at the end). I use the same pot of cash for everything--gambling, food, drinks, cabs. I think my last trip's allocation was something like:

Day 1 (arrival day, more of a half-day): $600
Day 2: $700
Day 3: $800
Day 4: $900
Day 5 (departure day, just an hour or so of gambling in the morning: $200
Total: $3200

The first two days, if anything's left (there usually is--we're low rollers and end a session if it's going poorly) I push those funds into the next day's envelope. The third day, if there's anything left, half goes into day 4's envelope, half goes into the "next trip" envelope. Day 4, everything goes into the "next trip" envelope. As funny as it might sound, putting money in the "next trip" envelope is a lot of fun and a good motivator and it gets me thinking about the next trip!

 

My strategy is to play at limits where it's (nearly) impossible to go bust in the time I have available.

I see lots of people play far beyond their means and they either have a really great time or a really terrible time depending on their luck at the felt.

Never fun to run out of money before you run out of time if you ask me.

 

envelope system also - day 1 is usually my biggest gambling day so that envelope is thicker. Last 10 years I've made it a habit to over-budget every trip. I can afford to spend everything (that's why it's a budget) but I have never spent it all. I get the feeling that if I want it then just buy it (or go ahead and play in the high limit room for a couple of hours) - makes the vacation that much enjoyable. Not uncommon for me to budget 10k and come home with 5-7k and not feel like I missed out on anything.

 

My strategy gets a bit different and more complicated every trip.

I started with just a daily budget (for gambling only, spend was seperate), play as I want (which is less time than many on it), and anything left over from that day went into general spending, so it could be used for a splurge or brought home.

That has since evolved to be a bit more activity based (varying the daily budget based on where i expect to be and what I expect to play).

My issues with this budget type have been:

• Poker really has to be budgeted separately if you plan a fair amount of time playing those games and want to play right.
• For longer trips especially, while you manage losses very well, you also are capping wins very effectively, and playing very small increments of your total budget

With my upcoming trip, I have been toying with a system by which some of the budget gets rolled into general spend, and the rest gets rolled forward into the budget for the last few days in case I want to play a little bigger. But the siren song of break even will be pushing back on me if I try it (I am more likely to use rolled forward budget if I am down a couple hundred for the trip than up a couple hundred)

 

I budget X per day, I take that out day 1, rest stays in safe. I have never had to go into the safe again on day 1 to replenish.


Subsequent days I "top off" my wallet with the remaining so start day "even" This is an easier way for me to track losses/wins.

 

Outa my league, totally, fer-shure!

 

Budgeting? A combo of @dmr & @Nevyn is kind of where I am.

As gambling conditions have changed over the years (worsening odds and more expensive!), I've lowered my game selection to fit into my retirement budget. No more long crap and blackjack sessions and limited vp. I do play a lot of poker, both lower limit cash games (1/2 & 1/3) and tournaments. I can get my gamble on for hours.

I strongly suggest that my long tie Vegas buddy needs to implement an envelope system. He refuses and plays countless hours at craps and roulette always with a new, "sure fire" system. Then he plays the ATMs or cabs to a bank.

 

I do the envelope method and split it up between daytime and evening sessions for each day I am there. Daytime is usually about half of the evening amount and used on slots, VP, and some low limit craps if I can find it. Evening session is usually a bigger craps buy in but I will also use that money for BJ, LIR, and some higher denom slots as well, depending on how the daytime sessions went. What ever is left after each session is put in a separate envelope to go home with.

 

Don't do envelopes, generally bring a cash bankroll then have 2 sets of "reserves" on a fee-reimbursed(Ally) ATM card. Half the trips it seem I tap the Reserves.

I generally "hit and run" play rather than longer sessions. 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, walk around etc... Usually carry half the bankroll around, other half in hotel safe.

 

Well, my trip budget is peanuts compared to many here on the boards. And I usually wind up with about half of it in the "next trip" envelope, so for four nights let's say the total "cost" for my wife and I is usually $1600 for gambling, food, drinks, ground transportation, and shopping. Plus room (sometimes a low-tier CET comp, sometimes a splurged base-level room at Aria or Bellagio) and flight (generally paid for with accrued airline miles).

In general, at least in the past, Vegas has been a pretty inexpensive five day/four night escape from reality. It seems that (as Igor says in Young Frankenstein), the rates have gone up.

 

I have begun to think of bankroll management as a annual problem not a trip problem. I think trip bankroll management is fairly straightforward with even a modicum of self control.

Annually, it's a bit trickier. I don't chase tiers, because some of them are simply out of range (ie Wynn Black). But I want more than just the lowest tier. So, what to do after I've hit the tier I am likely to hold on to for the rest of the year? Do I book one or multiple trips to enjoy the tier benefits? It's not always as simple as "I have X budgeted annually for vacations, therefore I can only fit Y number of trips at Z per trip." What if I have a winning trip or a breakeven trip? Which happened this year. That's where things can change on the fly. Also, I find myself not feeling the degenerate pangs as much after hitting my tier. It's like I know it's pointless to grind more points, and any additional gambling will likely just result in losses only. There is still a little bit of the gambling as entertainment factor but not as much. I feel conflicted about additional trips: should I save some bankroll in a good year for the next year or do i spend it now?

Once the tier points reset and the new year rolls around though, I'm raring to go!