There’s a right way and a wrong way to tackle your first trip to the casino. As it turns out, most beginners, unfortunately, choose the latter option.
- What To Do After Losing A Lot Of Money Gambling
- How To Feel Better About Losing Money At The Casinos
- How To Feel Better About Losing Money At The Casino Without
Feb 09, 2009 Coping with the guilt of losing money. By The Investor on February 9, 2009. I accept it’s normal to feel frustrated, angry, or even downright stupid when you lose money on your investments. But what about guilt? My portfolio’s fall from its peak value in summer 2007 to a low in October 2008 represents a big loss for a 30-something private.
Look, gambling is tough, and casinos are ruthless towards inexperienced, amateur gamblers. But that doesn’t mean you have to roll over and let the house take all of your money.
When you’re preparing to visit a casino for the first time, there are several things you can do to improve your experience. While your primary goal might be to make money, there are other things you should focus on as well.
To help you make sure your trip is a success, here are seven tips to help you dominate your first gambling experience at a casino.
1 ‒ Practice Like You Play
There are several differences between casual gambling and playing inside an actual casino.
That fact is often lost on newer gamblers who believe that they can carry over the success they achieved on their computer. Any experience you have will help you in a casino, but it will guarantee nothing.
The biggest difference between the two forms of gambling is simply the environment.
When you gamble in your home or at a friend’s house, you’re going to feel more comfortable than you will at a casino. Being the new guy with very little experience can make even the most confident of people feel quite small.
To eliminate the chances of you making these types of mistakes, it’s important to take informal gambling sessions seriously. It might seem unnecessary, but if you gamble loosely and sloppily outside the casino, that will likely follow you inside at some point.
Taking these games seriously will allow you to learn to play better and become a more intelligent bettor over time.
2 ‒ Act Like a Smart Gambler
At one point or another, you’re going to make a careless mistake. In fact, it’s more than likely that you’ll make several of these mistakes, and they’ll cost you money each time.
You’ll be faced with a choice in these moments of adversity. You can either react poorly and conduct yourself like the novice you are, or you can simply move on to the next hand.
Novices can have a bad reputation in casinos for several reasons. Because of this, you’ll already have somewhat of a target on your back and a chip on your shoulder.
The easiest way to avoid scrutiny is to act as if you’ve gambled for longer than you have. This might sound unfair to someone who might have no way of knowing how to do this. However, it’s actually quite simple.
A good rule of thumb is to maintain a cool, calm, and collected approach to gambling at all times. You should try to play consistently and treat losses just like you would treat wins.
There isn’t anything wrong with celebrating wins or reacting to losses; however, these reactions shouldn’t dominate the table.
3 ‒ Ditch the Credit Cards
The most common mistakes first-time casino goers make tend to involve money.
Casinos make it very easy to overspend at the tables and access your money once your initial bankroll is gone. However, this is the exact point when people ruin their first gambling experience.
Games move rapidly, and losses can pile up in no time at all.
If you repeat the same mistake that millions of gamblers have made before and lose all of your money, that should constitute the end of your first casino trip. However, many choose to ignore their better judgment and withdraw more money.
Don’t risk overspending during your first trip to the casino. Ditch the credit cards and set yourself up with a bankroll for the casino.
4 ‒ Don’t Model Your Behavior off of Movies
If you’re like me, you might be a big fan of some of the most popular gambling movies.
Those movies offered me a glimpse into a world that I would eventually come to know and love. Unfortunately, they were also a terrible influence on me.
You see, casinos are often nothing like the ones in movies. The truth is, if you did half of the things the protagonists in these films did, you’d likely be shown the door.
Instead of modeling your behavior off of popular films and television shows, try to gamble with a positive influence. This could be someone you know and trust or even a random veteran you meet at the casino.
These people have been doing it for a long time, and they know how to conduct themselves.
5 ‒ Play Games You Can Win
Beginners often play the games they’re comfortable with, or they think they know best. These might be the ones they grew up playing or options they have tried out online.
When you’re deciding on which casino game to play, there are a few things you should focus on.
While comfort is important, you should also find one that’s entertaining and offers you a good chance to win. One of the biggest mistakes new gamblers make is the games they choose to play. These games are often luck-based and don’t require any experience. But they can also offer the worst odds in the house.
Before you go to a casino, research which games you think will give you the best chance of winning.
6 ‒ Don’t Let Free Drinks Lead You Astray
If you’re going to a casino for the first time, it might be smart to take it easy on the free drinks.
What To Do After Losing A Lot Of Money Gambling
For those that aren’t aware, many casinos offer players complimentary beverages while they play. To unassuming, naive gamblers, this might seem like a nice gesture.
But if you think about it, it is anything but.
Casinos offer gamblers these drinks in order to get them out of their right mind and spend more money. First-time casino goers are a prime target due to their inexperience.
Not only do many first-timers have limited gambling experience, but a decent amount of them also lack much experience with alcohol. This creates an unfortunate situation.
Instead of falling victim to this ploy, don’t let one too many free drinks influence your decision-making.
7 ‒ Learn From Every Experience
Hopefully, your first gambling experience results in success. For many people, a successful gambling trip is profitable.
However, there’s a very good chance that you’ll leave with less money in your wallet than you anticipated. If you look at the odds, gamblers aren’t supposed to win money.
The knowledge you acquire and the experience itself will help you become a better gambler. You’ll likely find that the lessons you learned will serve you well down the road.
In Summary
If you’re hoping to dominate your first trip to the casino, there are a few things you have to do.
Before you start gambling, I would recommend trying to play a few casual games and learn the basic rules and strategies. Try to take these informal gambling sessions as seriously as possible.
Behave responsibly and act like a veteran instead of a novice. This will come easier to you over time. In the meantime, it’s crucial to keep your emotions consistent and try not to overreact to wins and losses.
One of the most unfortunate things beginners often do is spend more money than they initially planned.
If you want to win money, you need to play the games that give you the best chance to do so. In general, table games like blackjack and craps have much better odds than purely luck-based games like slots.
For those who plan on drinking, make sure to take it easy early on. Casinos readily supply those free drinks because they know how much they can impact a gambler’s performance.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but many (if not most) of the casinos in Las Vegas are opulent. The buildings are exquisite, the decorations are lavish, and even the smallest of details scream luxury.
They can only afford that kind of opulence because you always lose when you’re gambling there. But how and why do you keep losing?
My dad would tell you that it’s because the casinos cheat, but that’s misleading.
This post explains the real reasons why casinos always win.
1 – Losing Is the Price You Pay for Playing Casino Games
Of course it’s disappointing to lose money during a gambling session. What’s worse is sometimes you lose all your money faster than you expected to. It’s hard to not spend time at the bar, throwing down drinks, imagining what you could have spent that money on if you hadn’t lost it.
But everyone who gambles in casinos experiences this. If you’re realistic, you’ll understand that this is how it’s going to happen most of the time for most gamblers. Even if you’re a seasoned stock market or real estate investor, you face the risk of losing money.
In fact, any time you risk money with the hope of a reward, you face the possibility of losing that money. You only have three possibilities in these situations:
- You break even.
- You lose money.
- You make money.
Even if you put your money in a sock under your mattress, you’re going to lose money. Inflation will make sure that such money is worthless when you get it back out than it was worth when you squirreled it away.
Your job is to make sure you don’t risk money you can’t afford to lose. My advice is to set aside a gambling bankroll that you don’t need for any other purposes.
Scared money always loses, and if you’re losing a lot at the casinos, you’re probably gambling with money you can’t afford to lose (“scared money”).
I have friends who take their grocery money to the roulette table with the goal of doubling or tripling it. They usually come to me for a loan, a meal, or some groceries.
2 – Casino Gambling Is an Entertainment Expense
It’s normal to get mad or frustrated when you’ve lost a lot of money at the casino. If losing were fun, the casinos would have ALL the money instead of just a lot of it.
If you win, great, but always prepare yourself for the possibility of losing.
That’s the good news about casino games, too. Even though it’s entertainment, in the long run, you’ll lose your money. Sometimes, in the short run, you can come out ahead and win money. If that never happened, no one would ever gamble, and the casinos would go out of business.
If you only gamble with money you can afford to lose, you’ll limit the amount of frustration and guilt you feel after a losing session.
On the occasions when you win, you’ll feel even better because you won’t be thinking about how much money you’ve lost up until this point.
3 – Casinos Don’t Cheat, but the Odds Are Stacked Against You
Remember earlier when I mentioned that my dad thinks casinos cheat? He’s wrong, but he’s not that far off.
Casinos don’t cheat in the respect that they control which playing card you get next in blackjack. They’re unable to affect the outcome of a roll of the dice. They can’t decide which number comes up on the next spin of the roulette wheel.
The hypothetical casino has a game where you bet on a coin toss. You’re required to bet a minimum of $5, but you’re also required to post a 14 cent “ante.” When you win, you get $5. When you lose, you lose the $5. In either case, you lose the 25-cent ante.
In the long run, it’s impossible to win this game. Look at what happens to your bankroll after 100 statistically perfect coin tosses.
You win 50 times for winnings of $250. You lose 50 times for losses of $250. But you also paid a 25-cent ante on all 100 of those hands, for another $25 in losses.
You wagered $500 total, but you lose $25, or 5% of your wagers. This 5% figure is the house edge, and it’s built into every casino game you play. It doesn’t always take this form, although an ante is a popular type of fee charged by Oklahoma casinos.
4 – Most Casino Games Don’t Pay off at the Same Odds You Have of Winning
Roulette is one of my favorite games to illustrate how the house edge works because the math behind the game is so simple. Most people know that you can place a bet on red or black at the roulette table and win almost half the time.
But do you know how to calculate the actual probability of winning and what effect that has on the long-term house edge for the casino?
Again, you can just look at a statistically perfect set of results. A roulette wheel has 38 possible outcomes, so that’s your starting point.
For illustrative purposes, I’ll just assume that you’re betting $100 per spin. On a roulette wheel with 38 numbers, 18 of those numbers are red, 18 of them are black, and two of them are green.
So, a bet on black (or a bet on red) would win 18 out of 38 spins. That’s $1800 in winnings. But this also means you’ll lose on 20 of those spins. That’s $2000 in losses.
When you subtract the amount you won from the amount you lost, you’ve seen a net loss of $200 over 38 spins or an average of $5.26 per spin.
How To Feel Better About Losing Money At The Casinos
Since that’s 5.26% of your $100 bet on each spin, you can think of the 5.26% as the house edge for the game.
5 – All Casino Games Have an Edge and There’s No Way to Overcome It
Most of my readers know that some people gamble professionally. This doesn’t mean that a professional gambler can get an edge in every game in the casino. For the most part, most casino games don’t offer you any opportunity to get a mathematical edge.
Roulette is a good example. No matter what you do, it’s impossible to change the number of possible outcomes on the roulette wheel or predict where the ball is going to land.
Slot machines are another good example. The game has payouts for various combinations, and each of those combinations has a probability of coming up. The payback percentage for the game is based on those two factors, and no amount of skill can help you affect either factor.
Blackjack is one of the few exceptions. Card counters can get an edge at blackjack by changing the size of their bets based on the composition of the deck.
But what if when the ball landed on a number, that number was removed from play? Over time, the probability of winning a bet on red or black might change based on previous results.
In blackjack, when a card is dealt, it’s gone from the deck until the next deal. This has implications about what’s going to happen next in the game.
A card counter keeps rough track of this and raises the size of his bets when the odds favor him. This tilts the odds back in his favor.
Conclusion
Why do you lose when gambling in a casino? The answer is simple. The games are designed mathematically in such a way that the house always has a mathematical edge over the player.
How To Feel Better About Losing Money At The Casino Without
Any time there’s risk involved, you might lose. But with casino games, the odds are set up so that you’ll lose more often than you’ll win.