To play both the Ante/Play and Pair Plus strategies simultaneously, we need to add some money management rules to help us win consistently and to limit losses on losing games.
Money Management Rule 1. You will play until you reach the level of your Power Number. The Power Number is equal to 20 times your Base Bet. If $1 is your Base Bet, then your Power Number will be for $20. If $5 is your Base Bet, then your Power Number will be $100.
Anytime you reach your Power Number, you will continue to play but will stop playing if either of the following occurs:
a. Because of a loss your winnings drop below the level of your Power Number, or
b. The loss of the next bet you would be called to make following the system would reduce your win below the amount of your Power Number.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how you use your Power Number to quit a winner. Let’s assume that $1 is the size of your Base Bet.
Example 1. Your winnings hit $22. You bet $1 Ante and $1 Play and $1 Pair Plus and lose. Your net win is now $19. You quit playing this game and walk away $19 ahead.
Example 2. Your net winnings reach $22. You will be called on to make an Ante bet of 3 and a Pair Plus bet of 3. These bets total $6 and could be as much as 9 if you make the Play bet too. You do not make the bets, but instead you call the game completed.
Money ManagementRule 2. After hitting your Power Number amount, you will continue to play so long as you don’t violate Rule 1. Each time your winnings grow by 50% of your original Power Number, you will consider this a new and higher Power Number and use the same rules to prevent losing your winnings.
Example 1. Your Base Bet is $1. You hit your Power Number of $20. In three more rounds your winnings hit $33. Fifty percent of your original Power Number is $10 (0.50 x $20 = $10). Each time your winnings increase by an increment of $10, you will set a new Power Number level. Using $1 Base Bets, these levels would be:
Original Power Number $20 Level 2 Power Number $30 Level 3 Power Number $40 Level 4 Power Number $50 Level 5 Power Number $60
Your Level 2 Power Number is $30. If your winnings fall below $30 or if the loss of the next wager in the system would cause your winnings to drop below $30, you will wrap up the game and walk away with your winnings.
I want to clarify a point here. When you call a game over, you need to physically leave the table if you are in a casino or leave the computer if you are playing online.
For land-based play you should cash out, record your winnings and then take a walk, grab a cup of coffee or take a nap. Do not immediately start playing again.
The exception to both of the rules above will occur when you have very short games, have had a winning game, and longer play fits your game plan.
Let’s say you plan to play about an hour in your favorite land-based Three Card Poker game. You hit your first win in ten minutes. You decide to keep playing. What you should do is remove your winnings from the rest of your chips, skip a couple of rounds and play and then resume playing counting the continued play as a different session.
Much the same procedure applies to online play. So long as you have a winning game and you have more allotted time to play, by all means do so. However, make sure to reset the software so that you will be starting a new game.
If you have a losing game, I strongly recommend that you take a break even if you had originally planned to play longer. The psychological aspects of losing are strong enough to influence your play negatively, and you will do better if you quit playing as a way to clear your head.
The next two Money Management Rules deal with controlling losses.
Money Management Rule 3: Whenever you experience a losing game with a loss greater than two times your Power Number level and then have a winning round which eliminates all or at least most of the loss, you will call the game completed, even if your win is less than the Power Number level.
Along with a Power Number level you should also set a Loss Limit for each level of play. If you hit your Loss Limit, you will quit playing and take a break.
Money Management Rule 4. Each level of play has its own Loss Limit based on both the size of your bets and the amount of your prior winnings. If your Base Bet is $1, you will have a lower Loss Limit than if you make $2 or $5 your Base Bet. When you reach a Loss Limit for your level of play or if making and losing the next round of bets would cause you to exceed your Loss Limit, then you must quit playing this game and depart immediately.
Setting and controlling the size of your bankroll as well as setting Loss Limits is so important that we will dedicate a whole chapter to it. You will also see an example of how we applied the Loss Limit concept to limit our losses in one of the example games we present.