The real question isn't "how much should I bring." It's "how much am I okay losing." Answer that honestly and the rest is arithmetic. Here's a simple way to land on a number that lets you play long enough to have fun without the night turning into a problem.
Every other number flows from one thing: the smallest bet you can make. A typical table minimum runs $5 to $25 depending on the casino, the day, and the hour (weekend nights run higher). The cheaper the table, the further any bankroll stretches, which is why finding a low-minimum table is the most underrated trip skill there is.
Here's the planning number experienced players use: bring roughly 40 betting units for a session. A "unit" is just one minimum bet. Why 40? It's enough cushion to ride out a normal run of bad hands without busting in the first ten minutes, but small enough that you're not hauling a fortune to the floor. It's not magic, just a sane middle.
| Table minimum | Session bankroll (~40 units) | Rough play time* |
|---|---|---|
| $5 | $200 | 2–3 hours |
| $10 | $400 | 2–3 hours |
| $15 | $600 | 2–3 hours |
| $25 | $1,000 | 2–3 hours |
Want the math tuned to your exact plan instead of a rule of thumb? The What Should I Play picker sizes a bet to your bankroll and shows the cost per hour, and the bankroll calculator estimates how long a given stake is likely to survive at a given table.
A weekend isn't one session, it's several. So decide a per-session budget, then multiply by how many times you actually plan to sit down. If your comfortable session bankroll is $200 and you picture four sessions across a Vegas weekend, that's about $800 set aside for gambling, kept in its own envelope, separate from money for food, shows, and the room. The trick is deciding the trip total before you go, and treating it as a ceiling, not an opening bid.
The amount you bring should equal the amount you've decided you can lose and shrug off. Once that's set, two habits keep you honest:
Once you've set the budget, how long it lasts is mostly about what you play. A low house-edge game at a slow pace bleeds your bankroll far more gently than a fast or high-edge one. Blackjack with basic strategy (~0.5%), baccarat Banker (1.06%), and craps Pass Line with Odds (under 1%) are the cheapest seats in the house. Steer clear of the worst bets and your $200 stretches into a real evening instead of a fast goodbye.
Bring what you can afford to lose, size it at about 40 minimum bets, keep the ATM card in the room, and pick a low-edge game. Do that and the money question is solved before you walk in, which means you can spend the night actually enjoying the table instead of doing nervous math at it. The house has an edge no matter what; your job is just to buy a fun evening at a price you set in advance.
Free, no signup. Enter your bankroll and time, see the game that fits and what it costs per hour.
Start from the table minimum and your play time. About 40 betting units per session is the rule of thumb: roughly $200 at a $5 table, $400 at $10, $1,000 at $25. Bring only what you're fine losing, set it as your limit, and leave the rest out of reach.
Pick a per-session budget and multiply by your number of sessions. A $200 session bankroll over four sessions is about $800 for gambling, kept separate from food, shows, and hotel. Decide the total in advance.
Cash, and only what you've decided to risk. Casino ATMs carry high fees and make chasing losses too easy. Leaving the card in the room is the best bankroll-control move there is.
Play a low-edge game at a sensible bet size. A slow, low house-edge bet costs less per hour than a fast one at the same edge. Sizing each bet near bankroll ÷ 40 gives it a fair chance of surviving the swings.