Hit and Run Strategy vs Stop-loss
Hit and Run gambling strategy
The hit and run gambling strategy is pretty much what its name suggests. Once you hit your target, you run by leaving the game. To apply the hit and run casino strategy you first need to have a realistic budget in mind. Please note that you should never play with money needed more urgently elsewhere.
As soon as you know your budget for this session, it is about time to create a target. The target equals the overall winnings you want to achieve in this session. Here it is also important to stay realistic. If your budget is $100, your hit target will be lower than it would be with a budget of $1000. A rule of thumb is to multiply your budget by 3-5 and voilà here is your target.
Now start playing and sum up all the winnings you receive. Once you hit your target, it is time to stop. This ensures that you a) will not spend more than your budget allows and b) your winnings will not be gambled away. Of course, should you run out of funds before you hit your target, this also indicates that it is time to stop.
Games suitable for the hit and run strategy are those that allow you to potentially reach your target after only one spin/round. This means slots with medium and high volatility, such as Dead or Alive 2, are equally suited as table game bets with high returns.
| Type | Game |
|---|---|
| High Variance Slot | Bonanza (Big Time Gaming) |
| High Variance Slot | Immortal Romance (Microgaming) |
| High Variance Slot | Book of Dead (Play N Go) |
| High Variance Slot | Dead or Alive (NetEnt) |
| High Variance Slot | Jurassic Park (Microgaming) |
| Medium Variance Slot | Koi Princess (NetEnt) |
| Medium Variance Slot | Game of Thrones (Microgaming) |
| Medium Variance Slot | Guns N Roses (NetEnt) |
| Medium Variance Slot | Golden Ticket (Play N Go) |
| Medium Variance Slot | Energoonz (Play N Go) |
| Roulette | Single / Double bets |
| Blackjack | Stakes that are 20% of bankroll |
| Craps | Hard ten / hard eight bets |
Stop-loss gambling strategy
Another bankroll management tool is the stop-loss casino strategy. It is basically the opposite of hit & run, where you set a target of winnings that indicate the end of your game. With the stop-loss gambling strategy you stop playing when a certain amount of the losses has been accumulated. It could be your overall budget or a more sophisticated stop-loss.
Prior to thinking about which kind of stop-loss strategy you want to use; it is important to set an overall budget. It could be for the entire month, week, day and/or for one session. I would strongly advise you to set up budgets for all these timeframes. Now that you know your maximum spending amount, it is time to decide which stop-loss gambling strategy you want to apply to your game.
The most popular method is the session bankroll stop-loss. Divide your budget into several sessions you want to play on a particular day. Now start playing and stop once your budget for this session is used up.
The other method is called rolling stop-loss and it is a bit more complicated than the bankroll stop-loss strategy. This method allows you to prolong your game should you receive any winnings. Therefore, you first need to decide on a “sliding window”. For example, you want to place 100 bets and your sliding window is 50 bets. This means that, once you have achieved 50 winning bets, they are added to your remaining bet count. Should you lose 100 bets, however, you stop playing.
Hit & Run or Stop-Loss, which one should you choose?
First of all, I would like to mention that it is not a question of either or. You can, of course, combine both gambling strategies. Whether you do this or decide to go with either one of these, is up to you.
Both the hit and run gambling strategy and the stop-loss strategy have their advantages and are suitable to players with a variety of needs and temperaments.
Only because your best friend prefers to play using a stop-loss it does not have to mean that you will not enjoy the hit & run more. Use the strategy that suits you, your budget, and your game play best. There is no right or wrong, as long as it works for you. Plus keep in mind that there are always alternative strategies such as progressive betting.
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