Guest post written by Paul Micelli
Sticking with your Bankroll
The temptation to increase your stakes during a winning streak can often prove to be irresistible. Even though moderate bets may seem a little mundane or boring, it’s still absolutely vital that you stay within the confines of your bankroll.
Losing streaks are an inevitable part of betting on a regular basis and effective financial control is the key to continuity and long-term profits. Staying in the game is the most important aspect of sports betting and it’s pretty impossible to do this if 75% of your bankroll has gone within the first few weeks of a season.
If you have a bankroll of £20,000 and your usual bet is £500, you’re probably putting too much money on an individual selection. If you have a stack of £2,000 and you’re betting £100 every time, you are still overspending.
Effective Levels of Bankroll Control
The size of your bets will ultimately centre on the size of your bankroll but the same laws apply irrespective of whether you have a starting stack of £100 or £50,000. On an average level, sports betting enthusiasts should only stake around 2% to 3% of their total bankroll and NEVER exceed the figure of 5% even for highly-fancied selections. Even if the chances of a profitable bet look extremely high it is still vitally important to remember that there is never any such thing as a sure-fire winner!
Effective bankroll control is the ONLY way to make consistent profits over an extended period of time. You may be armed with the best betting system in the world but if you lose your stack in the first few weeks of implementing your fantastic new method, it will still go to waste when there’s no money left to bet with.
It is important to note that individual bets should increase and decrease as your bankroll goes up and down. If you are betting £40 from your £2,000 bankroll and lose £200, you should adjust your stake accordingly to around £35. If your bankroll increases to £2,500, a typical wager should be increased to a level of around £50. Always be prepared to lower your unit stake for events which are clouded in uncertainty and NEVER exceed the 5% maximum irrespective of how confident you are.
Where should Bankrolls Apply?
Bankrolls should be employed in all forms of betting and the rules that apply to them can be implemented in many different ways. Some may prefer betting on horse races or sports events while other prefer to accumulate profits by playing poker or fixed-odds gaming machines. The actual medium doesn’t make any significant difference and the same limitations should be applied at all times.
Perhaps one of the best ways to control a bankroll is to establish unit bets for each event or game that you choose to participate in. If you are more confident about collecting a return on a particular event, your unit stake can be increased to the maximum 5% level. Accordingly, the rest of your unit bets could be classified as follows:
- A one unit stake is equivalent to 1% of your bankroll
- A two unit stake is equivalent to 2% of your bankroll
- A three unit stake is equivalent to 3% of your bankroll
- A four unit stake is equivalent to 4% of your bankroll
- A five unit stake is equivalent to 5% of your bankroll
If you follow the advice of horse racing tipsters on a regular basis, you will often find references to unit stakes. Even tipsters and betting professional operate within their bankrolls and when unit stakes are recommended, this offers an insightful reflection as to how confident they are about an individual bet.
