Can you be a winner living paycheck to paycheck?

OK, I am just wondering why everyone says that you NEED a bankkroll to be successful at blackjack. I do not happen to have thousands of dollars sitting around so I have a theoretical situation I want to get supported or rejected:

Lets say I spend $100 every week on blackjack. If I lose, then the money is gone, but if I win I put the money into a jar. I keep doing this every week for 1 year. If I am a good player and do have an advantage, then most likely at the end of the year the money in the jar will be more than $5200. Is this the same thing as starting off the year with a $5200 bankroll?

When invest, you need capital, which is, bankroll. I don't understand what do you mean by spending $100 a week? You mean you play until you lose $100 then quit for the week? If that is the case, how much you start with? $100? How much you win you will stop? By $? By hours played? $100 means you can't spread much, your money will be grinded by the basic minus ev so you will end the year with perhaps close to 0. You still think BJ CC as gambling... it is not.

> Is this the same thing as starting off the year with a $5200 bankroll?

No.

Assuming red chips, a 6D game, and a 1:5 spread (ugh!), you have 20 units and only 4 max bets. The problem is variance. If you start off on the negative side, you'll be gone in 5 minutes. You don't have enough one time staying power to work through the short term flucs or enough to split or double properly.

On another site Don S. recently told a poster he should have apprx 40 units for a one hour session; more would be better; that you need to be able to split or double any potential bet you make.

Were I you, I'd save and play once a month, or better yet once a quarter and hope you get off on the positive side.

If you waited 52 weeks from now, practiced in the mean time, and then set your game up properly .. you'd probably never lose that $5,200.

But where is the fun in that, right??

:)

I guess I shouldn't have used such a small example in terms of money. I understand that a max bet should sometimes be $60, and then you can't double it. I was just wondering on the theory behind my idea.

So your question really relates to the concept of a lifetime bank, with bigger session BRs. The lifetime bank concept is a good one.

I to would like to hear from others regarding the specifics of applying a lifetime bank.

Generally, if you assume your lifetime bank is $50K .. but you only have $100 in your pocket, your probably not ready to go.

If my lifetime bank is assumed to be $50K, and my risk tolerance is to play to 167 lifetime max bets, and I possess $5K in my pocket now .. I assume my max bet next weekend would/could be appx $300.

If I played $20 units, I could spread 1:15 while holding 250 units (17 max bets) right now.

Now, if I just owned a simm machine I would know that ROR!

can certainly make extra money playing blackjack with a very limited bankroll if your living expenses come from another job. If you attempt to live off of your blackjack profits without re-investing a large part of them back into your bankroll, you will go broke with almost 100% certainty unless you have a huge bankroll and play to a small kelly fraction.

You can begin optimally betting with as little as $4.

(of course, you may need some coupons)

If you are interested, please read this ... uh ... classic:

http://www.bjrnet.com/archive/BlackjackTherapy.htm

However, if you want to create a bankroll from nothing, it`s very difficult to beat the return off NL low stakes Texas Hold `em online poker. The limit form is a bit too much of a grind, (reminds me of BJ) but limit Omaha Hi-Lo is also pretty lucrative ... relatively speaking.

Throw in some bonuses, and you should be sailing in short order.

Best,
Syph

(One more bit, try not to get too limited in your approach to advantage play. BJ can be remarkably lucrative, under certain conditions, but I wouldn`t bother with about 90% of the games out there ...)