Sure you want to win, but how much? And how much are your prepared to lose? Have you walked into a land-based casino and hit the ATM and took out the maximum amount you were prepared to lose (or the maximum you were allowed to withdraw in a 24-hour time period anyway)? The necessity to cap your initial purse for gaming is no different online, with one highly notable exception: the far greater access to cash. Typically you can pull from both your debit or multiple credit cards and even a slew of other payment options if your financial institutions allow and/or the online gaming destination is saavy enough. And the next you you know, instead of walking out of a casino down $400, you could be logging off from your computer down $4,000.

The key to avoiding the rush and addiction to gambling is to set limits on your spending of course. If you find that you have memorized several credit card numbers that's a flag. Avoid cards with high balances and, as with gambling in real casinos, avoid drinking too much while playing. When you play in a controlled environment you'll have more fun and eliminate fears of losing, so long as you lose no more than you intend to. You can look at your initial deposit as the amount you are comfortable losing. Perhaps start with a larger amount and cap it there, so you are not tempted to continue adding more if you do lose it.

But what if you win? Andy R., a U.S. player and a friend of mine, called me all excited after hitting a straight flush in Caribbean Stud Poker. He won nearly $8,000. He called me immediately and said he was treating to dinner and that he'd come by to pick me up in two hours. At dinner, I asked him what he planned to do with his newfound eight large.

"You mean $4,000," he said.

It turned out that between the time that Andy had first won and called me and the time when he actually picked me up, he hit the tables even harder.

"I figured it was house money," Andy said. "So I started laying down some larger bets, a hundred a hand. But all the tables were cold and I gave back $4,000 in no time."

This begs the question that all gamers--online or otherwise--face when sitting down to play. How much are your prepared to win? Are you out to have fun and break even, pick up $100, double your winnings, or more? Personally I attempt to double my winnings as my ceiling with the floor (if I were to lose) of no more than my initial bet. Double or nothing. Of course, if you start with $300 and find you suddenly have $600, you will be very tempted to double that. Don't. But you don't necessarily need to pick up your chips and run either (and if you got up big quick it might be tough to leave). When this happens, you should first take a break. Then maybe bet small a little while longer. What I do is re-adjust my winning ceiling and loss floor, while firmly establishing that I am to walk away up something. In the event of doubling from $300 to $600, I might re-establish my losing floor (the amount I must stop and walk away at) somewhere around $450. It's always good to think in intervals of 50 rather than a 100 incidentally. Makes you respect money a bit more while drunk with happiness at money and prone to valuing it less. And if $450 is my new floor, maybe $900 is my new ceiling. And so on.

You might even break your goals by table game for that matter. If you have $400 and a group or a spouse that wants to bounce around, maybe you budget $100 for Black Jack, $100 for Three Card Poker, $100 for Roulette, and $100 for Texas Hold'em poker.

By taking control of your financial ceilings and floors you are no means grounded to small play. You could set your win goal as high as 500% or more. More important is setting your loss floor, and taking time to re-adjust both as you move from table to table. As with investing--which is gambling in its own way--you can also view each game or session as another asset in your portfolio. How are you going to manage your fund? If you do it well, you'll have many more funds in your portfolio as you're walking out of that casino or logging off from your computer.

Key tips to keep in mind: