Sports Betting Money Mangement

Sports Betting - Money Management
by Jerald of Predictem.com

We have all seen it before, a capper who goes on a hot streak and then an ill-timed losing streak hits after they have increased their units. Has this happened to you? I am sure most of us can relate to this scenario. I feel that it is almost as important to implement good money management tactics as it is to pick winners. I know of one such handicapper that will bet as much as 10 times his normal wager on the Monday Night Football game just because it is the only game on. Let’s look at some ideas of how we can grow or preserve our bankroll with good money management techniques.

#1 – Know your starting bankroll. This may sound basic but many players do not know what they have to play with. Your bankroll should be discretionary money that you can live without if you should happen to hit that losing streak that wipes you out. Remember, do not bet with money you can’t afford to lose! It is not worth the stress or problems that will arise if you lose the rent money.

#2 – Once we have determined our starting bankroll we can set our amount that we will wager on for each bet. I suggest using flat wagers which means that you will bet a set % of your bankroll on each play. The amount is up to you but I personally use 2% of my bankroll for each play. This will help you withstand the inevitable losing streaks and keep you in the game for when the winning starts. After we have determined how much our starting bankroll is going to be we need to decide how much we are going to risk on each play.

#3 – Decide when you will increase or decrease your basic bet. You can adjust this amount daily, weekly or any time you wish. I suggest waiting until you have increased your starting bankroll by 50% before you increase your wager. I use a reduction of 25% to indicate that I should reduce my base wager.

Let’s look at an example;

Starting bankroll - $2,750
Betting unit - $2,750 * .02 = $55/game

We will assume that you are betting $55 on every game and at the end of the month you have made 120 plays. Your record on these plays is 72 wins and 48 losses for a very nice win percentage of 60%. Your bankroll will now have increased as follows:

Starting bankroll - $2,750
Wins – 72 * $50 - $3,600
Losses – 48 * $55 – ($2,640)
Net win - ------------> $960
New bankroll - $3,710

You have now increased your bankroll by almost $1,000 and may feel like you want to increase your base wager. The new amount that you should wager is 2% of $3,710. This would mean that your new base wager is $74. The other option you may choose to go with is to leave your wager at $55 because of the fact that 60% is a very high win rate and you may have a bit of a regression back towards a more normal win %.

The thing that we want to avoid is reckless wagering where we have a winning streak and increase bets and then lose a few games and because of undisciplined betting we have a nice win percentage but have a net loss and a decrease to our bankroll. Always remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint and the best way to grow our bankroll is to grind out profits over a period of time.

Related: How Much You Should Bet on Games.

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