11 Quick Tips for Amateur Gamblers

It’s tough to win when you’re an experienced gambler. It’s even tougher to win when you’re a new gambler. Often, the best strategy for an amateur gambler is to minimize their losses instead of trying to figure out how to win.

Once you figure out how to minimize your losses, you can start working on ways to win. And if you want to know some of the best ways to do this, I’ve put together a quick study guide.

Here’s a list of 11 quick tips that every amateur gambler needs to know.

1 – Why Are You Gambling?

I know this sounds like a silly question, but take a minute and try to come up with a truthful answer. If your best answer is that you want to win, you need to take a hard look at what you know about gambling. I cover this in more depth in a later section, but the odds are good that if you really want to win, you’re not doing what you need to do.

If your answer is that you want to be entertained, that’s definitely a more realistic answer. Being entertained usually costs some money, and most gamblers are paying to play.

It doesn’t matter why you gamble, but you should have a realistic answer when you think about this question before you decide to visit a casino or an online gambling site.

2 – Don’t Play Slot Machines

The number one thing that most new gamblers do that costs them too much money is play real money slots. You might not like this tip, but you should stop probably playing slots immediately and never play them again if you want to make realistic profit.

If you don’t know why slot machines are terrible, you need to start your education right now. Slots have a very low pay back percentage and the gameplay is a lot faster than any other option in the casino. This means the casino is taking your money as fast as it possibly can with as little payback as possible.

In fact, if you stayed home and lit fire to a $20 bill every hour, you’re probably going to come out ahead in comparison to playing slots. The odds of winning a big slot jackpot are slim to none.

3 – The Lottery Is a Killer

Do you want to know a gambling activity that’s even worse than slot machines? Lottery games are much worse than slot machines. In fact, some lottery games are 10 times worse than slots.

The payback percentage on some lottery games is as low as 10%. And even decent lottery games don’t usually pay back more than 50%.

You should never buy another lottery ticket if you think buying into it would equal a win. And you shouldn’t play lottery-like games in a casino either, including keno.

4 – Do You Really Want to Win?

Almost every gambler claims that they want to win. But none of them are doing what they need to do in order to win. Something about these two statements doesn’t add up. But they’re both true.

The fact is that if you want to win playing casino games, you can certainly learn how to do it. It’s going to be a long and painful journey, and you’re probably going to have to miss some entertainment and family time as you learn. But there are definitely ways to be a winning gambler.

If you are, then start learning everything you possibly can about advantage gambling. You’re going to learn a little more about the gambling activities you need to focus on later in this article.

5 – Control Your Losses

Instead of worrying about winning, the first thing you need to do as a gambler is learn how to limit your losses. You can use many different tactics and strategies to limit your losses, and most of them are simple.

The first step is to play a game that has a high payback percentage. The next step is to limit how much you risk when you gamble. Limiting your risk is a combination of placing fewer bets and placing smaller wagers.

You can use stop-loss limits and time limits to lower your losses. Set a budget when you gamble so you keep your losses manageable.

6 – Secure Wins When You Can

When you’re gambling, you often get ahead. But then you keep gambling and end up behind. And if you’re not careful, you end up risking and losing more than you intended because you’re chasing the feeling you had when you were ahead.

But there’s an easy way to avoid all of these bad outcomes. If you’re a new gambler, set a win limit. I recommend setting it at $50 on your first few trips to the casino.

If you ever reach $50 in profit during your gambling session, stop gambling. Put your money in your pocket and save it until you come back to gamble again.

7 – The Smart Video Poker Player

Smart video poker players know how to find machines that offer a high return to player percentage and they know how to use the right video poker strategy to lock in these rates. But most players play the wrong machines and use the wrong strategies.

If you’re interested in playing video poker, start studying the most popular game variations. Learn about the pay tables and how to use strategy. This is one of the best ways to reduce your losses as an amateur gambler

8 – Baccarat Is Better Than Most Games

Baccarat is one of the easiest games to play well, and it has a high return to player percentage. All you have to do is stick with the banker bet option and you’re playing with an almost 99% return to player number.

This makes baccarat a great choice for new gamblers. You don’t have to learn any advanced strategy and you can get lucky and win sometimes because of the high return percentage.

9 – Gambling on Sports

Now, you’re going to learn about three gambling activities that give you a real chance to make money as a gambler. Just remember that it takes a lot of work to learn how to make a profit; sometimes, it takes years.

The first option is betting on sports. Smart sports gamblers can make a great deal of money if they have a big enough bankroll.

You have to learn how to evaluate teams and players and predict outcomes of upcoming games. This is hard to do well enough to make a profit, but you can learn how to do it.

10 – Texas Hold’em Poker Profits

The next option for gamblers that gives you a realistic shot at profits is poker. The most popular form of poker right now is Texas holdem, but other forms are also available including Omaha and Seven-Card Stud.

When you play poker, you’re playing against other players instead of competing against the casino. This gives you a chance at profit if you’re better than your opponents.

It takes a long time to become a winning poker player. Some players never figure it out, and some players take five to 10 years to figure it out.

Even if you’re smart and are willing to put in a lot of work, expect to spend at least a year learning how to be a winning poker player.

11 – Blackjack Might Be the Best Game

Blackjack is the best option for many gamblers because you can learn how to win in less time than it takes to learn how to be a winning sports gambler or poker player. But you face some challenges that the other two options don’t have.

The steps are simple if you want to be a winning blackjack player, and the information is readily available in books and online. You just have to put in the work.

Learn about blackjack rules, master the basic strategy, then learn how to count cards. This is all you need to become a winning blackjack player.

The main challenge you face is getting barred from the casino. If you’re counting cards you need to be careful not to get caught and get kicked out.

Conclusion

Now you know some simple strategies to help you limit your losses as an amateur gambler. And you also know which gambling activities that you should focus on and which ones to avoid.

The sooner you start learning how to master one or more of the right gambling activities, the sooner you have a realistic chance to win more than you lose. Don’t be like most gamblers and stick with losing games forever.

If you want a recommendation and have the time to invest to become a true master, poker is the game for you. But if you need a faster path the profits, become a master blackjack player.