Blackjack Negative Progression Betting

Negative Progressive Betting in Blackjack

In the game of Blackjack, it is not how many hands you win or lose, it's how much you have bet when you win or lose, that matters. A lot of people have a lot of ideas as to how to bet when playing Blackjack. Some base their decision on how much to bet on random, superstitious type grounds, some count cards and some try Negative Progression betting.

This type of betting is when you double your bet, after each loss. For example, you bet $5 and lose that hand, the next hand you would bet $10 and if you lost that hand you would put up $20 for the next hand, if you win that hand, you just won back all of the losses you just incurred, and then you drop back down to minimum bet of $5 per hand, regardless of how many hands you win in a row, you would never raise your bet, until you lost a hand and then you would start doubling your bet again, until you won a hand. There are some definite problems that can arise from this style of play. One bad scenario is, you lose enough hands in a row, to where you reach the table's maximum bet, once that happens, your negative progression strategy comes to an end. Let's just pretend that you found a table that has no maximum bet, you could surely lose a lot of hands in a row, with no real promise that you will win a hand, before running out of money to put out in the betting circle. Lets just say you are confident that will not happen, what if you lose so many hands in a row, that now your bet is in to the thousands, to add to this nightmare, you get a pair of eights again, now we are talking serious issues. Even worse than that, lets say you lose that whopper of a hand, that started out as a five thousand dollar bet, but after splitting and doubling down three or four times, in one hand, you lose like eight stacks of five thousand dollars, that's forty grand, in one hand, now you would have to place an eighty thousand dollar bet for the next hand. Keep in mind, with this strategy, when you finally win a hand, after all of those losses, what do you really win? Whatever your original bet was, at the beginning of the bad streak, five bucks! All of that excitement, for five dollars.

When using this strategy for betting, it is very important that you remember to be fully prepared for big money hands. Having the cash in your pocket before sitting down at the table, is a must. Most casinos will not let the game come to a stop, to give you time to go access more funds.

Bottom line about Negative Progression betting, if you find a table that has no maximum bet, where any bet is accepted, you are fully stocked on cash and chips, excess of a couple hundred thousand dollars, at least, then maybe you have a shot at not losing any money, but not making a whole lot either, with the potential of a whole lot of stress and chips tossing along the way. If there is a maximum bet on the table, Negative Progression betting is most likely not going to work out for you, financially.