One of the lesser known “tricks” of online blackjack strategy and blackjack card counting is to realize and accept the fact that you’re going to lose more hands than you’re going to win. When counting becomes useful is when you want to take the risk – the opportunity – to maximize your bet to capitalize on a favorable deck situation. So whereas you might lose 10 out of 15 hands where you’re only betting $10 to $25 a hand, this will all be part of the strategy if you up your bet to $10 to $150 when the deck is “hot” and when you think the cards are in your favor to win.

Of course, you’ll probably want to vary your bets more than that throughout your session so as not to make the casino suspicious of your intentions.

This is all part of proper blackjack money management. It’s vital, because without it, and without enough money to really make the odds sway in your favor, all you have left is luck. That won’t be enough over the long haul, because as we all know, the odds are in favor of the casino. Even without making mistakes, and even with disciplined strategy, you have to have a strong money management plan and stick to it if you really want to walk away from the table with a nice profit.

So what goes into this? Risk assessment for one. How much are you willing to put up vs. the potential reward? Are you someone who’s planning to apply money management strategy over a long weekend on holiday in Vegas, or are you coming back over the course of weeks or months? That, too, will determine how much risk you should take so as not to leave yourself with nothing left for future trips if you happen to lose.

Either way, you’ll want to start with at least 40-50 times the minimum bet when you play at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Leave yourself enough to sit for a few hours and not have to get up regardless of how well you’re doing. And set markers for returning to your base bet – whether that be every XX hands or after each cut of the deck, whatever works for you. Could be every time the waitress comes back.

Have a plan, strike with higher bets when you think it’s in your favor and leave yourself enough leeway to play through ups and downs and you’ll be in good shape every time you sit down.