Don't Lose Control

This is the  most valuable piece of advice I can give you.

I know you are all intelligent and disciplined people. You have to be to do what we do, working independently and meeting deadlines. But even the best of us can be caught off guard and lose control when we fall into some of the casino traps.

The casino is a place of glitz and glamour. The excitement of the sounds and the general atmosphere help to add to a fantasy world. Many people get caught up in the excitement. When this happens it is easy to get carried away and gamble more than you should. This is exactly what the casinos WANT you to do. Casinos are a business, BIG business. Their primary business is separating you from your money and making you think you're having fun while they do it. They do this in a few ways.

1) They convert your cash into chips at the tables. You find yourself looking at the chips and seeing red and green tokens. You lose the sense that this is really money. This leads to over betting.

2) Dollar slot players use but Tokens for the machines. Once again these lose their value. If you were using silver dollars you would hesitate a little more before randomly dropping them into machines.

3) They supply you with FREE drinks while you are playing. Nothing like a few cocktails to loosen up the inhibitions. One gambling writer I know calls free drinks "Chip Remover!"

4) Finally the pace of the casino is fast. The dealers try to deal at lightning speed. They have dollar bill receptors in the slot machines so you can keep hitting the spin button as fast as you can.

Keep these subtle ploys in mind while you are in the casino. Counter act them by slowing down. Hands feed coins into the machines and if you do drink while playing, use moderation.

Now here is the best advice I can give you. If you follow this you can avoid losing control and come home with money.

Before you leave for Las Vegas decide exactly how much money you will spend for gambling. This is going to be separate from your other spending money. This must be money that you can afford to lose. If you need this money for something else don't take it to gamble with. This is you gambling Bankroll. You will use only this money for playing. Now divide this money by the number of days you will be there. This is your daily Bankroll. You will not gamble with any money other than that day's bankroll.

Here is an easy way to control this. It sounds simple and some of you will scoff at the idea as being almost juvenile but it works. I was given this advice the very first time I visited Las Vegas it works. In all my trips to Las Vegas, I have never come home without some of my money. Here is an example of what you will do.

Let's say you decide you have $200 that you can allocate for gambling. You are going to be there for four days. You divide the $200 by 4 and you have a daily bankroll of $50. Now get 4 envelopes. Put each days bankroll in a separate envelope. At the beginning of each day you will take the money out of that days envelope. You keep this separate from your other money. Divide this into the sessions you want to play for the day. Don't use it all in one sitting. At the end of the day, take all the day's bankroll including any winnings and put it in the envelope. Seal it and don't touch it again. The next day you start with the envelope for that day.

If you can do this you will more than likely bring home money. Let's say you have a couple winning days and a couple losing days. It's possible that the wins will offset the losses. That is why you seal up all the money.

One thing that turns winners into losers is the notion that once they win they are playing with the casino's money. Once you win, that is YOUR MONEY. Don't give it back. When you get ahead take half you winning and put it in a different pocket.

It's easy to leave the casino when all your money is gone. It takes discipline to walk away when you are ahead. Discipline and control is what separates winners from losers.