{"id":121778,"date":"2021-09-25T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121778"},"modified":"2021-09-28T06:27:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T13:27:58","slug":"colin-jones-s2-e2-a-brain-and-a-little-br","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-s2-e2-a-brain-and-a-little-br\/","title":{"rendered":"Colin Jones (S2 E2): A Brain and a Little BR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his book The 21st<\/sup>-Century Card Counter<\/em>, Colin Jones talks about bankroll requirements. On page 81, in the chapter \u201cDo I have What It Takes? The DNA of a Card Counter\u201d he says this: \u201cA card counter needs only two tools: a brain and a bankroll.\u201d When I read that sentence, I almost threw an apoplectic fit. I thought, \u201cHere it comes, this guy is going to perpetuate the myth that the main weapon of an AP\u2014maybe even the defining characteristic\u2014is a bankroll.\u201d To my pleasant surprise, he then went on to dismiss that fallacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He writes that you need a brain, but he already dispelled the MIT Myth earlier in the chapter (as I did on page -3 of Exhibit CAA<\/em>). You don\u2019t need a great brain\u2014me and my little brain will do just fine. Same with the bankroll. You don\u2019t need $10k, he says\u2014a little BR of $2k will do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would quibble with that precise amount. CJ admits that he got lucky with his original $2k, so I\u2019d say $5k is a more realistic starting point. I\u2019ve always said that a player with skill and $10k in his pocket can do some damage. You could start with the $5k, and grind that until you double it to the Perfect 10 (you should be hearing Also Sprach Zarathustra at this moment), which is the first major milestone for most APs. And once you reach $10k, you\u2019ll probably have smooth sailing to $100k, and then there\u2019s no looking back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, it might not be smooth sailing if you\u2019re counting cards. If you have only $5k or less to start, grinding to $10k will require you to wong, wong, wong. And there might be some sleeping in the car and piss jugs. Wait, I thought I just heard you say, \u201cI didn\u2019t sign up for that!\u201d Um, yes you did. It\u2019s in the Terms & Conditions when you signed up at BJA, and their strict KYC policies confirm it was you. At least those PJs are made from entirely recyclable material and they have a stylish BJA logo and come in three colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you start with $5k and lose it, then you just take a break for a bit and save up from the day job, then resume play in a few months. The game goes on, and if you\u2019re playing it right, your graph will go up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the easier hand, if you hook up with a team, you wouldn\u2019t even need the $5k. Working with a skilled team, you can save up that $10k in a jiff. So while we might quibble with the actual starting number, I think CJ and I agree: if you do it right, it doesn\u2019t take much. A little BR is enough to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking that a big BR is the key to an AP\u2019s success is yet another cart-and-horse, correlation-causality fallacy. Having a big BR is the result<\/em>, not the cause, of an AP\u2019s success. There are players who constantly use \u201clack of bankroll\u201d as their excuse for failure. Usually it comes from dealers as their excuse for why they don\u2019t quit dealing to try professional AP play. \u201cYou gotta have a bankroll,\u201d they say. One floorman who claimed he could count cards also said, \u201cIf I had a bankroll, I\u2019d go over to Drift on Inn [a defunct hole in the wall] and crush their Pairs Plus.\u201d Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These dealers believe that the casino\u2019s main advantage over the players is that the casino has a big bankroll. And casinos protect themselves from facing an individual with a bigger bankroll (like a Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett) by imposing table limits. Many casino bosses think you can beat any game with a big bankroll and money management. The gameplan: play the game, bet more when the table is \u201chot,\u201d less when it\u2019s \u201ccold,\u201d weather the storm using your big bankroll, then quit when a hot streak puts you ahead. Trivially simple, but you gotta have money to make money. Riiiiggggght.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been the beneficiary of that idiocy. In multiple venues where I became a local hero, part of my success was attributed to the fact that I apparently had enough bankroll to patiently wait out the cold streaks. APs should jump on that fake news. More than once I\u2019ve heard the story of an AP admitting card counting to a dealer he is attracted to. The rationalization is always: \u201cBut she already knows that I don\u2019t have a day job and I\u2019m a professional AP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might be true, but it is also true that the dealer might think that being a professional AP just means you have a big enough bankroll to gamble, and wise money management makes you a winner. A lot of them really believe this garbage. And they also don\u2019t necessarily attach any stigma to gambling, or gambling in a negative game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They conflate responsible gambling with professional gambling. If, by virtue of your big bankroll, you are able to gamble within your means, then you are not a problem gambler. And, if you\u2019re gambling responsibly, you can consistently come out a winner, and hence be a \u201cprofessional.\u201d \u201cBet with your head, not over it.\u201d Those supposed \u201cResponsible Gambling Councils\u201d should be sued for this false advertising. They\u2019re perpetuating the myth that the problem that degenerates have is betting too much, whereas the real problem is betting a negative game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even APs succumb to the Bankroll Fallacy. I know some APs who constantly call you up and say, \u201cWe\u2019re on a trip and we need a reload. Can you come with a 10-pack?\u201d You don\u2019t even need to listen to the entire sausages-and-laws story about how they got into this predicament, but let\u2019s just say that they think appropriate bet sizing is 3 x $2000 with a trip bankroll of $20k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you actually show up and dig them out, it reinforces their belief that the key value added was the money you brought. They never wise up that the key thing you brought to the table was skill. A skilled sniper does need a bullet, but just one.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book The 21st-Century Card Counter, Colin Jones talks about bankroll requirements. On page 81, in the chapter \u201cDo I have What It Takes? The DNA of a Card Counter\u201d he says this: \u201cA card counter needs only two tools: a brain and a bankroll.\u201d When I read that sentence, I almost threw an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1979,134,559,2049],"yoast_head":"\nColin Jones (S2 E2): A Brain and a Little BR - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-s2-e2-a-brain-and-a-little-br\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colin Jones (S2 E2): A Brain and a Little BR - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book The 21st-Century Card Counter, Colin Jones talks about bankroll requirements. 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