The Core Koncepts are the foundational principles on which winning the game of casino gambling are based. Notice that we are not trying to win the game of blackjack, roulette, baccarat or slots. We are trying to win the game of casino gambling. That is a very different game. Before I dig into the Core Koncepts in written form, allow me to share with you that I did an audio course on the Core Koncepts as a playlist on YouTube. It is called BootKamp, and you can find it HERE.
Here are the Core Koncepts.
1. Learn a game with a minimum house advantage.
The house advantage on a particular game or wager, is the amount of money the house expects to win per one hundred dollars wagered. The player wager in baccarat has a house advantage of 1.24 percent, and the banker wager has a house advantage of 1.06 percent. That means that for each one hundred dollars wagered, the house expects to win one dollar and twenty four cents and one dollar and six cents respectively.
In the game of roulette, if the wheel has two zeros, the house advantage is 5.25 percent for the even, odd, red, and black wagers. On each of these the house expects to win five dollars and twenty five cents for each hundred dollars wagered. The house advantage for the Don’t Pass wager on the craps table per wager made is 1.36 percent.
Depending on the bet resolved, the house edge amounts to 1.40 percent and drops to 0,40 percent when calculated per roll. The house expects to hold between forty cents and one dollar and forty cents depending on how the house decides to calculate it’s advantage and how a player prefers to evaluate the wager. The house advantage for the primary wager in blackjack using correct basic strategy is between .30 and .40 percent depending on the other rules in place, excluding blackjack tables where a blackjack pays 6-5 instead of 3-2.
There are plenty of other wagers that can be made in a casino, but this is the menu from which to select a game to learn. Baccarat is the easiest to learn game with the lowest house advantage, either wager will work, and all you have to learn is to put the money in the wagering spot on the felt. Blackjack is a complicated game to learn, until you understand that you are allowed to take a strategy chart with you to the casino and use it while playing. Then it becomes a very easy game to play with a very small house advantage.
2. Learn a wagering system that includes progressive and regressive techniques.
Progressive wagering is increasing your wager after a winning wagers or a series of winning wagers. Regressive wagering is increasing your wager after a losing wager or a series of losing wagers.
I have developed, tried, and tested, a variety of wagering systems over the years, many of them failed during the testing phase. Two of them proved profitable on a monthly basis, and a third is a useful addition to either of the first two system. A
ll of those systems are discussed at length in various episodes of our Casino Kombat podcast. The simplest one is discussed and explained at length in the BootKamp playlist on YouTube.
3. Have a bankroll of money you can afford to lose that is large enough for the size of wagers you choose to make.
Your bankroll needs to be money you can afford to lose and do not need to pay your bills. This is money that you might use to play golf, or go hunting.
The minimum bankroll for using the Core Koncepts is calculated as follows, the size wager you are going to make, multiplied by ten is your table buyin amount. The table buyin amount times three is your minimum bankroll.
If you are going to play ten dollar blackjack, ten dollars multiplied by ten is one hundred dollars as your table buyin amount, one hundred times three is three hundred dollars which is the minimum bankroll needed to enter the casino and gamble. If you have less than this amount, attempting to beat the game of casino gambling is more difficult and the risk of failure increases.
4. Get a player’s card from the casino.
This is the easiest of the Core Koncepts. Players cards are free and given out by the casino to anyone who is old enough to gamble and has proper ID. A players card should always be used when gambling, and in most casinos, when making a paid, as opposed to comped, purchase.
The casino tracks these activities, and assigns tier points and rewards points to each players account. Tier points determine the players level in the rewards system. The players level determines the automatic benefits the player receives from the casino, things like free parking, waived resort fees, shorter lines for attractions, etc.
Rewards credits are called by a variety of names by a variety of brands, but regardless of what label is used, this is free, tax free, imaginary money that can be spent in the casino like real money.
5. Have the discipline to win a set small amount of money and leave, or lose a small amount and leave.
This is perhaps the most difficult of the Core Koncepts to master for most people. Every player needs to decide these amounts for themselves, but I recommend leaving the table if seven out of ten wagers from the buyin amount are lost.
I recommend preparing to leave the table if an amount equal to the original buyin amount is won. Since sometimes, a winning streak can continue, prepare is the operative word here. Once ten units are won, continue to make wagers using your chosen wagering strategy, until three of the original ten bets has been lost, then leave.
Sometimes you will continue to play for hours and add significantly to your winnings before those three bets are lost. In this context, leave can mean the table if you are on a gambling trip or vacation, or it can mean leave the building if a casino is close to where you live. The bankroll is calculated as it is to allow you to lose a small amount, and still have plenty of money available to play at another table.
6. Try to win the month, not the table or the day
..and if you lose the month, make it up with comps and gifts from the casino.
No one is going to leave every table with more money than when they started without cheating. Even a skilled player will have some losing months over the course of a year. For me, if you lose one hundred dollars over the course of a month, and the casino gives you free hotel rooms, meals, and gifts totaling one thousand dollars in value, you won the game of casino gambling. It is also highly probable that you won more than one hundred dollars the month before or the month that follows.
One final thought:
The Core Koncepts are foundational principles for winning the game of casino gambling, but as such they are the bare minimum koncepts needed for success. Various Casino Wisdoms expand on and enhance these koncepts providing the basis for discipline, money management, emotional management, and decision making.
The Book of Casino Wisdoms, as developed by Inner Circle Member Keeper of Wisdoms can be downloaded HERE. The Book of Casino Wisdoms provides a list of all the Casino Wisdoms and the podcast episode in which they were first presented and discussed.
As always, if you have any questions, I’m just an email away. You can reach me via trg@casinokombat.com.