Our previous sports betting guides should have taught you the importance of finding value in your bets, and which markets to bet on to maximise your profits. This article deals with how much money to spend on each bet
Once you know what sport you will be betting on, and which leagues within it you want to specialise in, it is time to decide how much you want to bet. Of course, the actual monetary value of each bet will depend on how much money you have at your disposal, but we want to talk universal strategy that any bettor can apply, no matter the size of their bankroll.
In this chapter, we will cover how to treat your betting bank, how to create your staking plan and what kind of staking plans you can use as well as the implications of different staking plans. This is the bankroll management section of our guide and we all know just how important bankroll management is in sports betting, so stay tuned and keep on reading.
Importance Of Betting Bank
Betting bank or bankroll is the term used for the money you have set aside for betting only. While punters will simply bet out of their pocket, keeping no track of their wins and losses and betting an amount of money based on how they feel, a professional bettor has to have a much better money management system than that.
I recommend keeping your entire betting bank in an e-wallet such as Neteller or Skrill and depositing it into various betting accounts from there as needed. You can keep a part of your bankroll in the bookie you bet most often, for example, Bet365 and can keep the rest in the e-wallet as you can’t know which bookie will offer the best odds for your next match of choice. When an opportunity arises with one of the other bookies, you will be able to deposit within minutes.
Keeping a betting bank separate from your spending money and your other potential business ventures is very important, especially as a way of tracking wins and losses and knowing the exact amount of your bankroll. Based on your betting bank, you will be able to change and adjust your staking plan, withdraw profits and know how you are doing at all times.
Creating A Staking Plan
Staking plan is the method in which you plan to bet. Some players will bet 2 – 5% of their betting bank per match notwithstanding the odds and probabilities, while others bet a number of betting units or points based on how big the odds are and how likely the pick is to win.
Let us explain in an example. Let’s assume your betting bank is $1.000. If you decide to use a fixed stakes plan, you will likely want to bet $20 to $50 per match. How much exactly will depend on your average odds. If you are betting markets where odds are commonly even money or less, you may want to go with approximately $50 per bet. If, however, you are commonly betting 5/1 odds, having only 20 bets in your betting bank will not be sufficient and you will have to bet smaller.
On the other hand, you can also split your bankroll into points and bet a number of points per bet. For instance, many players bet between 10 and 100 units per bet, each unit being 1% or 0.5% of their initial bankroll. In the above case, a unit may be $10 or $5 and you will bet anywhere between 10 and 100 of those units based on how sure you are your pick will come.
While the odds are very clear and stated by the bookie, the actual chance of an event occurring is what you need to determine. The way to do this is by asking yourself : if this match was to be played 10 times, how many times do I think this outcome will happen? If you believe your team will win once out of three times the match is played and the odds are 5/1, then this is a clear value bet and you should jump at the opportunity to place a hefty bet on it. Just remember, no matter how sure you are, never bet more than the preset maximum number of units you have chosen to bet.
Staking Plans And Variance
Variance is the mathematical concept that determines what we call upswings and downswings in gambling. The higher your average odds, the higher the variance will be, meaning you will have more good and bad runs and will need a bigger betting bank compared to average bet size in order to protect against going broke.
For instance, while it may be possible to use a $1.000 bank to bet on ½ odds on a regular basis, betting 10/1, this bankroll is unlikely to last you a long time at all and it is way more likely you will go broke than actually win.
It’s All In The Planning
Planning is the most crucial part of sports betting. Before you have invested a dime you will need to determine the size of your actual betting bank, the sport you will bet, the competition you will follow and the market you wish to bet within that competition.
Once this is all ready, you will know what your average odds will be and how big of a bank you will need in order to defeat the variance and maintain your bankroll in order to win in the long run. Of course, we can always hope to start with a good run, but the word hope is not a part of a professional’s vocabulary, so plan out your staking plan and stick to it.
