Background
A number of years ago when Stanford Wong and I first started talking; he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that I was under-betting my then-current skills by an order of magnitude that should be embarrassing if it weren't already so pitiful.
Now understand that I thought I was betting pretty large. In fact, my bet-spreads were much, much higher than most other skilled shooters, and I was pulling down some very decent annual income (and had been doing so for over a decade)...but to SW's mind, I was severely under-betting my skills to the point of near-revulsion.
Admittedly, for most player, disconnecting from the money, is problematic, and to a point it was for me too.
I apprehensively tried some of his bet-focusing ideas, and further refined them over a period of a few months as I gained confidence in betting at starting-levels that I had only previously reached after much big-hand pressing.
The result was that my average net-income per hand immediately doubled (and then doubled again soon after tweaking the approach even further). I ended up making twice as much money in half the time (as measured by the average number of hands I have to throw to make a given amount of money).
Stated another way, my profit per hand quadrupled, even though my shooting-skill stayed pretty much the same. In the ensuing years, I pumped up the value of my bets still further (in bet-tolerant stores).
PRE-Wong, my Passline bets were of fairly modest green-chip size, but I was always reluctant to take Odds beyond the Strip-typical 3x, 4x, 5x-Odds variety. In stores that offered higher Odds (like full-5x, 10x, and 20x) I would use a smaller base-bet on the PL in order to max out my Odds to the allowable limit. SW didn't have a problem with me taking max-Odds where possible, but he chastised me for not taking full-Odds ALL OF THE TIME, no matter what the table-minimum was.
That is, he reasoned that if I could afford to play at a $25 table in a house that offered 10x-odds; then I should be betting full-Odds whenever I shot. Keep in mind that I gave him full access to my in-casino roll-stats, so he wasn't just blowing AP party-line smoke up my skirt; he was basing his advice on real-world legitimacy.
POST-Wong, I seek out the highest-denom table in casinos that have multiple minimums or that offer high-limit gaming...and I ALWAYS take max-Odds, even at the 10x and 20x-Odds stores.
Wong also encouraged me to pump up the sperm-count on my best-advantage Place-bets.
PRE-Wong, my bets were typically spread over at least four, five, or six box-numbers. Their starting-values usually ranged from $110-Inside if I wasn't sufficiently 'warmed-up', to $220-Inside or $260/$270-Across when I was. If I was using steep ISR's, their initial starting-value was typically about twice those values, but they'd only stay there for three or four paying-hits before I regressed them to much lower levels.
POST-Wong, I start out with bets that are much more tightly grouped (typically covering no more than three box-numbers), and are of a significantly higher starting value. I don't regress nearly as much as I once did, nor do I reduce them by nearly as much when I do.
Currently, I don't press my bets nearly as often as I used to either. By starting with a much higher starting-value in the first place, and leaving them at that value for a longer period of time (and for a greater number of same-bet hits); I actually collect a larger net profit (on a dollars-bet/dollars-won basis) than if I agressively pressed them from the get-go.
In many cases, my first press may only come after my sixth or seventh winning-hit on that particular number.
So instead of starting small and hoping to press my way to bigger winnings on a long-duration-required hand; I am able to collect (and rack) bigger, early-stage profits instead of investing most or all of the early-stage earnings into bet-presses.
It makes a world of difference (to both your bankroll and your shooting-confidence) if you can turn 'ordinary' run-of-the-mill six-to-twelve roll hands into bona-fide money-makers.
Good Luck and Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
The Mad Professor
Copyright © 2007-2008
