Gamblers-Aid -- How to make a living gambling in the casinos

	Welcome
	For a general look at gambling, click here.
	This site is dedicated to winning at casino games, sports betting and poker. As other twelve step programs teach one to survive without liquor, drugs or gambling, we teach you to survive without losing. But first a disclaimer; If you cannot pass up a game of chance, if you regularly gamble with money your family needs to survive, in other words if you are addicted to gambling, you have come to the wrong place. You need Gamblers Anonymous. Here we teach the discipline to only take the bets that are most likely to win. Sometimes the only winning bet is not to bet and this is one thing that the compulsive gambler can't do, therefore, we cannot help you. For the person who enjoys gambling, but can walk away from a losing situation, you have come to the right place. Sermon over, let's get started.
	Step One
	Gambling is fun and it's exciting to win. On the other hand, it can be hard work and boring. This is one of the main reasons that few gamblers are consistent winners. So the first thing you need is discipline. Mike Kiro used to teach discipline by having his poker students go to a public poker room, buy into a $1.00 draw game (the cost of a minimum buy in is $20.00) and ante every hand, and fold each hand after looking at your cards, until your buy in was gone. That's 80 hands that you will be dealt, look at and fold, without betting or drawing any cards (that's every hand, good or bad). This little exercise is meant to teach you that you can walk away from any bet or situation and the world really won't come to an end, the sky won't fall and you won't feel guilty. It's amazingly effective and well worth the $20.00 and about an hour and a half that you will have to invest. Try it!
	Step Two
	Get yourself a pair of casino dice (you can substitute a good computer craps program) and roll them, on a carpet against a pillow, 360 times. Log every roll. You will be amazed how close to true probability the totals come! For 360 rolls the numbers should come out: 7 - 60 times 6 & 8 - 50 times 5 & 9 - 40 times 4 & 10 - 30 times 3 & 11 - 20 times 2 & 12 - 10 times These are the true probabilities from which the true odds on craps are figured. If you clock 3600 rolls instead of 360 the numbers will be even closer to "right", at 36000 the difference is so small as to be invisible. Now, if you compare the "true odds" with the casino payout on any given bet, you begin to understand what you are bucking. This should teach you further that: Over the long haul there is no way to win. Therefore it is important that we place only bets that have an extremely small chance of failure, and quit while you are ahead!
	Steps Three
	Choose your favorite game and learn everything that you can about it! For that matter, never put real money on any game that you don't fully understand! There are volumes written about every game imaginable, Many are available through our bookstore or at your favorite bookstore.
	Step Four
	Be patient! Learn to grind! The Casino turns it's self into a consistent winner by first structuring the game so that the odd's favor them and second by applying the principal of large numbers. You must learn to do the same, insofar as it is possible. You can't restructure the game, but by study you can learn the best bets (those that give the Casino the smallest percentage) and use them relentlessly to help you manufacture a win.
	Step Five
	Devise the best possible money management plan for your situation and stick to it! Don't fall prey to either side of the "losers lament". 1) My luck has been so bad, it's bound to change. I'll just get more cash (read this as; write a check, arrange a increase in my credit line, hit the ATM) and stick it out, it's bound to change. Eventually it will, but probably to late for you. If your having a "bad run", go home, if your run's been this bad, you should have gone home long ago! 2) My luck's been great! I'm winning so much I can soon pay off my mortgage. I'd be a fool to quit when things are going this well! It's time to quit and go home, the odds will even out and you have become a prime candidate to become stuck in the first part of this cycle. Go home now, and make a extra house payment, or add to your kid's college fund!
	Step Six
	Don't ever, ever, ever play with money that you can't afford to loose! I spend most of the time preaching against "luck" and for "the odds". Well,this is one time that both apply! You as a player at a Casino are constantly bucking a negative expectation, and luck being the whimsical lady that she is will pick the time that you can least afford it to do you dirt. There is a scientific explanation that goes; When you are facing a greater than average loss, you will become distracted and will have a more difficult time making those decisions that will lead to success. But I like it better the other way.
	Step Seven
	Step six is so important that it bears repeating, so I will: Don't ever, ever, ever play with money that you can't afford to loose! I spend most of the time preaching against "luck" and for "the odds". Well,this is one time that both apply! You as a player at a Casino are constantly bucking a negative expectation, and luck being the whimsical lady that she is will pick the time that you can least afford it to do you dirt. There is a scientific explanation that goes; When you are facing a greater than average loss, you will become distracted and will have a more difficult time making those decisions that will lead to success. But I like it better the other way.
	Step Eight
	Learn when to stop. In any contest of chance there is a point that the player finds himself "ahead" this is the time to cash in and go somewhere! Go to your room for a nap. Go to the pool or the golf course. Go to the candy factory. Go to a show. It doesn't matter where, just get away from the Casino!
	Step Nine
	Learn to "work" the Casino comp system. The Casino's spend untold amounts of money to attract your business, take advantage! If you qualify, the Casino will pay for your room, your meals, and most anything else. If you don't have the means or fortitude to qualify, the Casino will still offer you all kinds of "special deals", freebie's and discounts. They don't do this out of the goodness of their hearts, they do this because it's good business! How often have you gone to a specific Casino, not to play, but because you wanted to eat in their restaurant, or see their show? And how many times have you left that same Casino without making at least one "lay down" bet? It's a statistical fact that you will play 60% of your play in the place where you sleep. The Casino industry spends huge amounts of money each year tracking the play of their "guests", and even more devising ways to take advantage of this information. This isn't in any way "sneaky", it's simply good business. All I'm saying is take advantage of every edge the Casino gives you, if there willing to pick up your room, that extends your usable bankroll by the price of a few nights rent. If there willing to entice you to eat in their restaurant by giving you a free meal, or offering a 2 for 1 coupon, that too extends your bankroll. The Casino writes off all this expense as advertising, so why are you paying? We have several sections, and our newsletter, which are specifically devised to help you take every advantage of these promotional offers, Click Here for a special "comps" menu.
	Step Ten
	Be prepared to quit, at any time for any valid reason! The Casino is as close to eternal an anything that you or I are ever subject to encounter. So the game will be there when you come back, weather it's ten minuets or ten months the dealers will still be standing at the table pitching cards or calling the craps game. If your not doing well, take a walk, if you're hungry, go eat something, if you have to go to the bathroom, don't let anything stand in your way! If you've just won a fist full of money, take the next plane out of town! The point is; The biggest advantage that the house has is to keep you standing at the table gambling. The law of big numbers and the odds will ALWAYS win out in the long haul! So however your doing, good or bad, it is always most healthy for you to be someplace else (the only exception to this is when you're winning slowly and sticking absolutely to a strategy that requires you to "grind" out a win).
	Step Eleven
	Don't drink! Don't do drugs! Gambling requires your undivided attention, the decisions that you make at the gaming table involve real money! Don't, under any circumstances, put anything in your body that will affect your ability to make these decisions! I don't care what sort of a drinker you are (I don't even want to get into drugs, any drugs you take alter your perception, I won't even take antihistamines and gamble) if you are a "social drinker" who only has a couple "to break the ice and get relaxed" (gambling isn't a social event, if your personality stinks without a drink, they'll learn to live with it) or if your a binge drinker who isn't happy with the evening until he's propped in a corner puking down your shirt. Alcohol in any amount alters the way you think (why else would you take that first one "just to loosen up"?) anything that interferes with your ability to make decisions at the gaming table is a bad thing. If you drink you can't make the decisions necessary to win, so, IF YOU DRINK AT THE TABLES YOU WILL LOOSE!
	Step Twelve
	Believe that there is no such thing as a winning system, There are individual bets that, paired with a system of money management, will generally be profitable. There are scientific systems to track the "condition" of a deck (or several decks) of cards, which, when paired with money management, will invert the odds on blackjack (card counting is science verging on an art form and will be discussed in the blackjack section) but there is no power on heaven or earth that can turn a negative expectation into a positive one. The approaches discussed on this site are based on a statistical probability of winning over the short term. The most valuable lesson is one that I can't teach you, that's when to quit. If you are winning, you must develop a feel for when to walk away from the game a winner and be satisfied with your win. Greed turns more winners into losers than anything else . If you are to win consistently you must learn to control the urge to "break the bank", You can't. The casino has a virtually unlimited bankroll and, given enough time, always has the odds on their side. If you are losing, you must learn to leave as soon as possible. Don't stay with the conviction that the odds will turn in your favor, they won't. Remember you are always on the short end of the odds, so take only the absolute best bets and , if losing, get out immediately. If winning, quit while winning.

	A Note About Games Of Skill
	There are some games that are strictly skill contests, notably poker and sports betting. These are offered by the casinos and each have their own structure to assure that the casino profits. We will discuss them in their individual sections.