Your Trip Kit Planner

Remember: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
—Yogi Berra, baseball player, coach, and philosopher

I. Game Choices for This Trip

Choose the game or games you’ll be playing and, no matter how good a player you are, practice them before going. Once you’re at your casino destination, it’s a good idea to do a warm-up session in the hotel before playing on the casino floor. Make sure you’ve practiced and are competent with each of the four steps for learning and practicing casino games.

» Review the four key steps for learning casino games in Chapter 5.

II. Create Your Flex Schedule.

Begin creating a flex schedule by making a list of everything you want to do at your casino destination. Once your activities list is complete, answer the following questions:

How many sessions do I intend to play?
How long will my sessions be?
Did I give myself at least a one-hour break between sessions?
Which of my activities must I do or be on time for?
Which activities are not time sensitive?

Once you know the answers to these questions you are ready to create your flex schedule.

» Review Chapter 6 on creating a flex schedule.

III. Your Money Plan

Creating a solid money plan means doing everything listed below before your trip:

Decide what your trip bankroll will be: Your trip bankroll is the total amount of money you’ll set aside to play casino games on this trip and must be a sum you can afford to lose and still have a good time.
Determine your session amounts: Your session amount is the amount of money you’ll risk each playing session.
Define your buy-in amounts: A buy-in amount is the amount of money you’ll risk at each location.
Establish your betting unit and maximum betting unit: A betting unit is an amount you bet each time a play is made in a game. A maximum betting unit is the largest bet in any single play, unless a betting strategy calls for more.
Set your stop-loss goal for each playing session: This is usually equal to the session amount.
Determine your stop-loss goal for each location: This is usually equal to the buy-in amount.
Decide what your stop-win goal is for each location: This can be somewhere between a buy-in amount and half a buy-in amount.

Practice playing with chips and play money using a stop-loss and stop-win goal in the games you’ll be playing.

» Review Chapters 8 and 9 on money management.

IV. Practice and Warm-Up Items

Bring practice items, such as dice, cards, chips, etc., and use them in a few warm-up games before playing.

The practice items I’m bringing are:

V. Study and Review Materials

Bring books and/or study materials to review. This could include basic strategy cards, charts, etc.

The study and review materials I’m bringing are:

VI. Recordkeeping Materials

Bring all the materials you’ll need to keep records.

The recordkeeping materials I’m bringing are:

» Review the simple method for recordkeeping by answering the four key questions in
Chapter 7.

VII. And don’t forget…

»Review Chapter 10 and practice discipline and patience before your trip.

Have a fabulous casino adventure!

» Download a PDF of the Trip Kit Planner