Control is a cornerstone of every responsible gambling strategy, but managing your emotions isn’t the same as managing your money. Bankroll management is only possible with emotional control, but you can’t rely on that alone. In fact, conflating the two can cause you to make poor decisions and take unnecessary risks.
That’s why experienced gamblers, from slots players to poker pros, understand the difference between emotional tolerance and bankroll management. Perhaps more interestingly, understanding the relationship between emotional control and our tolerance for risk is crucial in life.
Psychologists have studied the links between tolerance and risk. Pawel Sleczka and Ulla Romild surveyed over 6,000 adults over a two-year period to investigate the stability and progression of gambling problems. Using the Problem Gambling Severity Index, Sleczka and Romild measured various risk factors, including tolerance.
They concluded that four factors, chasing, tolerance, excessive gambling and guilt, contributed to problem gambling. Of those factors, tolerance and chasing appear to “increase the risk of progressing to more severe gambling problems.”
Emotions Impeded Our Ability to Think Clearly
This suggests that emotional tolerance may increase our appetite for risk, which seems to conflict with advice often given to gamblers. Namely, that a lack of emotional control (i.e. tolerating discomfort) impairs our ability to act rationally. That, of course, isn’t bad advice. Emotions can affect our decision-making abilities.
As Jared Tendler writes in his book, The Mental Game of Poker, our brains contain an emotional hierarchy. When we’re on tilt, our emotions prevent us from accessing the rational part of our brain.
This forces us to play instinctually, rather than logically. The result is a reduction in our ability to make sensible decisions, which often causes us to take unnecessary risks. Tendler’s message to poker players, as well as gamblers in general, is that we need to control our emotions, so they don’t block our ability to play.
Emotional Intelligence is the Key
Sleczka et al and Tendler approach emotion from different angles in their works, but the two parties aren’t as misaligned as it might seem. What both are suggesting is that you need to understand your emotions. Put simply, you need emotional intelligence.
This ties in with bankroll management, which is basically your ability to control risk. When it comes to gambling, decision making, and bankroll management, you need to be aware of your emotions but not controlled by them.
However, you can’t mistake your ability to tolerate losses for a well-structured risk management strategy. That’s why a two-step process is the only way to balance emotional tolerance and risk management. The first step is defining emotional tolerance, its benefits, and the problems it can create.
The Benefits and Potential Pitfalls of Emotional Control
According to Matthew Tull, a professor of psychology at the University of Toledo, emotional tolerance, also referred to as distress tolerance, is “a person’s ability to manage actual or perceived emotional distress.” Developing a high level of stress tolerance has the following benefits in gambling:
- You don’t react negatively to losses.
- Frustration doesn’t cause you to make rash decisions.
- You feel less inclined to play when you’re feeling low.
- The risk of acting on impulse is reduced.
- You give yourself the best chance of making logical decisions.
Those are desirable qualities in gambling and life, but that doesn’t mean you can take emotional tolerance to the extreme. Being numb to your emotions can be just as damaging as impulsive decisions. Here are some of the problems gamblers can run into when they overregulate their emotions:
- Blunting the pain of losses may impair your perception of money and its value.
- It’s harder to notice changes in your mood that subconsciously affect your play
- You stop enjoying the game you’re playing.
- You become robotic and forget that emotions are part of the decision-making process.
- You appear cold and uncaring, which may cause others to assume you have a problem.
Knowing the potential pitfalls will help you avoid them because there are benefits to controlling your emotions. It’s also worth pointing out that emotional control doesn’t completely protect you from making basic mistakes. For example, you could wager more than you can afford to lose on PlayOJO Canada’s top slot, Big Bass Bonanza, whether you’re happy or sad.
You can also play too long and chase losses without displaying signs of emotional distress. Controlling or suppressing your emotions can help you think clearly, but that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll make the best decisions. That’s why you need a bankroll management strategy built on established principles.
How to Build a Bankroll Management Strategy
Seasoned gamblers often debate the nuances of bankroll management when it comes to asset allocation and percentages. Some prefer to use all their money for one specific game, while others prefer to spread their risk. Similarly, some players will take up to 10% of their bankroll into a session, while others won’t go above 5%.
Debates on the peripheries aren’t the issue here. What’s crucial when it comes to bankroll management is the framework. To build that, you need to know its purpose. Here are the fundamental elements of a responsible bankroll management strategy:
- Separate your wealth from your disposable income. A bankroll should only consist of money you can afford to lose.
- Bankrolls are liquid assets, meaning their value changes over time. This means you have to adjust your play in line with your bankroll’s current value.
- Your bankroll must be split into sessions and bets. You allocate a certain percentage of your bankroll to a session. That percentage gets broken down again to determine your bet amounts. For example, a $1,000 might break down into $50 per session, which might give you a bet amount of $2.50.
- A bankroll is the money you have available to spend. It doesn’t tell you when to stop playing. Therefore, you need to implement take-win and stop-loss limits. For example, you might stop if you win/lose over 15% of the money you started with.
With those rules in place, you shouldn’t make the mistakes inexperienced gamblers make, such as risking too much and playing for too long. These rules also reduce your chances of getting too emotional. Spikes in positive and negative emotions come from winning and losing. Operating within a clear framework makes it less likely you’ll experience massive emotional swings.
Combining this with the ability to control your emotions and limit distress is the goal. Gambling, from casino games to poker, should be fun. The only way to make it enjoyable is to manage your emotions and play according to set rules. Do those two things, and you’ll get maximum value from every session.