Actually I buy in for a lot more than I need. Feel like I need more to ride out the swings. From a math perspective, risk of ruin is much lower.

 

I completely understand this, and it made me realize an important bit I had left out in my post above. While I start with one-third of my bankroll, I'm almost always ready to buy in with the whole thing, but I just do it in segments. Psychologically, it's easier for me to bank a win with a lower initial buy-in, and I also take comfort knowing, if I bust on the initial buy-in, I can try to ride out the swings through what I'm holding back.

 

I have to get over trying to bank a 100 or 200% win. I have this thing about the odd numbers. If I buy in for $1000 and I'm up $960, I should just walk away. I need to just walk with smaller wins instead of giving some back.

 

I do this regularly now... I've grown perfectly content with having a wad of $10s & $20s when I pocket-dump each night.
Chasing that last 'increment' to end on an even-$100 increment has cost me so many times, I lost count.
A win is a win! +$440 or even just +$40 beats the hell out of "down $40" or "down $100".

 

That's the trick. How many of us have given back a chunk of profits simply because we were chasing a win of a certain amount, even when the table is turning?

 

This has cost me more than booze, hunches and bad rules combined! I have to get past the need for those round numbers, dammit.

 

I buy in for enough base bets to carry me through some bad shoes while having enough to raise when a streak unfolds..
I don't like to re-draw markers after a buy-in.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. The psychology of when to "buy out" is more important to me than how much I buy in for. I do a daily budget that I keep separate from all other funds, and I consider it lost money when I walk into the casino (at least in terms of my finances, I'm not the defeatist!). I'll generally buy into a table for 1/2 or less of my daily budget, depending on how I feel. For craps I like to buy in for 1/2 of that loss limit in the hopes that I can run it up quickly and not need to touch the other money. For BJ I'm more inclined to buy in for the full amount so I can play a longer session.

When it comes to buy outs, whenever I double my initial buy in, I pocket the winnings. I color up, take them off the table, and forget that I've won it as soon as it goes in the pocket. This locks in some winnings on a winning session, so even if I press too hard or hit bad variance, I don't have that sickening feeling of going from +200+% to zero. I continue to do this every time that I double, and keep my loss limit as the initial buy in. I've found that this helps limit losses while still allowing for a nice (and locked in) profit on lucky streaks.

My last trip I turned $40 into $250 in blackjack, and a $50 craps buy in into $100 and $30 into $90.

 

Some of my best overall trips have been from accumulating small wins each session, and at the end of the weekend, it has added up to a nice overall win. Very hard to hit one gangbuster win session where it is enough to book your win for the entire trip. yes, it does happen, but not as frequently as adding up the small wins into a bigger win

 

I'm a simpleton compared to you folks, but more power to you! I play in the evenings after business-meetings when in Vegas and am usually looking for 2-3 hours of entertainment. Yes... I hope I win. I'm a VP player at the .50 level. I drop $200 into a machine to start. I hope that's all I drop-in from my pocket. If I hit a few 4OK's or go on a decent run, I'll increase to the $1 level. I've had the $200 last me the whole session. I've also burned the $200 in relatively quick order. If that's that case and I'm enjoying myself otherwise, I'll put in another $200.

Seldom am I ever willing to burn over $500 for what I'm looking to do. If I'm playing that poorly, I'll get dinner and head upstairs. Every once in awhile, I'll get it up to $700-$800 on the initial buy-in and I'm pretty good about knowing when to get up and protect the win. As you all know, staying too long is generally an easy way to chase it right back to $0.