No matter how good your betting abilities are, there's absolutely no way to consistently make money from sports betting, if you don't manage your betting bankroll the right way. If you're planning to wager all your betting money every time, you just need one loss to get bankrupt. This is obviously an extremely exaggerated case. Still, people tend to think more about winning money then preserving their bankroll from evaporating quickly. Absolutely, undoubtedly you need to learn money management, since it should be the fundamental element of your pro betting strategy. It's money management making the primary distinction between gambling on sports betting and making a betting investment. Below there is a handful of simple tips that ought to help you with finding the right approach.
What's Your Betting Edge?
If you are just starting out, this is simply not possible to estimate. When I began betting on my own predictions, I assumed I probably had no edge at all. While I hoped I could make money, there was no way to be sure. I knew there was a chance I was going to break even or lose money in the long run. I wanted to have a safe betting bankroll, that would let me not to be afraid of losing it all. I decided to only bet on one football (soccer) league (because you should focus your betting, don't bet on everything), probably one to three bets each weekend. I multiplied the mid figure (two) times the number of rounds for the season, which for the league I bet on is thirty. So I ended up with an amount of sixty bets. To have a cushion in case I end up just getting it wrong a lot, I decided that a betting bankroll of fifty (50) units, which is essentially 2% per bet, should be enough. I ended up making a profit but it was extremely comfortable knowing I'm not exposed to too much risk.
If you have an amount of bets to analyze already, you are able to calculate your betting edge without much work. Just take your Return on Investment (ROI) figure and that is it! Let's say it's 15%. That merely means there is a 15% edge over the bookmaker in the long term that you have. Obviously, the greater the sample of wagers, the greater the precision of the figure. Fifty bets is a good point to start looking at your ROI, as it should have some significance already.
Do not worry if after that many bets you are down money or breaking even. With time you'll gain experience, your skill will develop and your betting edge will increase. First focus on managing you betting money and risk, so you can stay in the game and enjoy your betting.
Odds are Important
Next thing you should take into account are the average odds for your picks. It's different if you bet on a soccer team to win at 2.00 odds and if you bet on a long shot golfer to win a big tournament at 20.00. In the second case, a larger bankroll is needed to withstand likely longer losing runs. On the other side, if your bet is a winner then you win a nice amount.
Moving back to our betting edge estimation, let us have a look at two good examples in which you have 10% Return on Investment over a pretty big sample of bets:
1. Betting on football, average odds: 2.00
2. Betting on horses, average odds: 20.00
It's rather easy to see, that with the first scenario one would (statistically) hit a win a little more often than in one of two matches. While in the latter case it's once in roughly 18-19 wagers.
You could obviously change your stake if you bet on a wide range of odds. I'll show you an example to make thinks a little bit clearer. I generally bet on odds around 1.75-2.80 region but occasionally, if I spot a very good value opportunity, I take longer odds (5.00 or 6.00). If that's the case, I only stake half of my normal amount. So I essentially use 2 stake sizes: 1pt and 0.5pt. There are guys out there that like to vary that even more than me. And you can consider that too if you bet on wide odds range often.
Loss Tolerance
This is individual for each person. It's all about deciding how much of your betting bankroll you are (potentially) willing to lose without hurting your confidence (and life balance as well).
I look at this by a percentage (%) figure. I said before that when I was just beginning, I decided to set my bankroll on 50 units. I considered my potential losses when establishing this amount as well. If my edge, so ROI at the same time, appeared to be extremely negative, minus 30 percent or so, during a run of 60 wagers (whole season) I would lose 18 units. That would be around 35 percent of my whole capital. 1 unit was a really small amount in monetary terms back then. I was only starting my betting adventure, so didn't really want to put too much at stake that fast. And losing this much (35%), was my absolutely worst case scenario. Unlikely to happen as I really expected to not be as bad. Still, I loved that I was well secured and could have focused on my betting entirely.
Do Not Start Too Big
I would simply like to remind you once more that you should perceive your betting as a long run investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's truly tempting to start big and take your chance of winning a lot of money right away. Believe me though, that's not a good idea. You don't have any idea how big your edge is, if there even is any. So why risk too much at this point? Start betting with smaller amounts and go bigger as your skill and experience level rise.
Gain experience and learn as much as possible early on. And use the pro betting principles I mentioned on ProBettingBlog website - do your analyses, research, put your work into each pick. No matter the stakes, I guarantee you'll feel great when the team (horse, player, etc.) you backed wins. You'll feel disappointed if it loses. And really anxious and sometimes mad during a longer period of losses. That could be an awesome chance for you to experience all the feelings that comes with pro betting, while at the same time not be under too much pressure (because the money lost or won isn't too much at this point). I personally started with really tiny stakes, $5 a point or so, and I remember how real these emotions were. I loved it! With time and experience you'll raise your stakes.
Why Shouldn't You Chase Losses
In a few words - never increase your stakes during a losing period! This may look logical to you, because this may let you get your money back faster. Regrettably, this is not often the case. It's more probable that you lose your whole betting bankroll by doing this. Especially as feelings get in the way and your skills may not work as they should. Many times you'll feel a deep need to bet more and more, immediately value starts appearing at every corner. This is something many punters face sooner or later, but you absolutely have to overcome those temptations on your way to success. This sounds easy enough but believe me, it is not. Using tips I described in this document will help you with making correct decisions. Remember, your aim is to invest in betting and not gamble your money away.
Don't Bet More Than You Can Afford to Lose!
It's likely obvious to you by now, but I just want to write it once more as we wrap up this article. Never use cash you need to buy food or pay rent with for sports betting. This could only end up really bad if you start losing. I advise you to have a separate amount for your betting only. It is a simple, but very sensible advice, remember it at all times. I want you to have fun with betting just like I do, not gamble on your life!
What's Your Betting Edge?
If you are just starting out, this is simply not possible to estimate. When I began betting on my own predictions, I assumed I probably had no edge at all. While I hoped I could make money, there was no way to be sure. I knew there was a chance I was going to break even or lose money in the long run. I wanted to have a safe betting bankroll, that would let me not to be afraid of losing it all. I decided to only bet on one football (soccer) league (because you should focus your betting, don't bet on everything), probably one to three bets each weekend. I multiplied the mid figure (two) times the number of rounds for the season, which for the league I bet on is thirty. So I ended up with an amount of sixty bets. To have a cushion in case I end up just getting it wrong a lot, I decided that a betting bankroll of fifty (50) units, which is essentially 2% per bet, should be enough. I ended up making a profit but it was extremely comfortable knowing I'm not exposed to too much risk.
If you have an amount of bets to analyze already, you are able to calculate your betting edge without much work. Just take your Return on Investment (ROI) figure and that is it! Let's say it's 15%. That merely means there is a 15% edge over the bookmaker in the long term that you have. Obviously, the greater the sample of wagers, the greater the precision of the figure. Fifty bets is a good point to start looking at your ROI, as it should have some significance already.
Do not worry if after that many bets you are down money or breaking even. With time you'll gain experience, your skill will develop and your betting edge will increase. First focus on managing you betting money and risk, so you can stay in the game and enjoy your betting.
Odds are Important
Next thing you should take into account are the average odds for your picks. It's different if you bet on a soccer team to win at 2.00 odds and if you bet on a long shot golfer to win a big tournament at 20.00. In the second case, a larger bankroll is needed to withstand likely longer losing runs. On the other side, if your bet is a winner then you win a nice amount.
Moving back to our betting edge estimation, let us have a look at two good examples in which you have 10% Return on Investment over a pretty big sample of bets:
1. Betting on football, average odds: 2.00
2. Betting on horses, average odds: 20.00
It's rather easy to see, that with the first scenario one would (statistically) hit a win a little more often than in one of two matches. While in the latter case it's once in roughly 18-19 wagers.
You could obviously change your stake if you bet on a wide range of odds. I'll show you an example to make thinks a little bit clearer. I generally bet on odds around 1.75-2.80 region but occasionally, if I spot a very good value opportunity, I take longer odds (5.00 or 6.00). If that's the case, I only stake half of my normal amount. So I essentially use 2 stake sizes: 1pt and 0.5pt. There are guys out there that like to vary that even more than me. And you can consider that too if you bet on wide odds range often.
Loss Tolerance
This is individual for each person. It's all about deciding how much of your betting bankroll you are (potentially) willing to lose without hurting your confidence (and life balance as well).
I look at this by a percentage (%) figure. I said before that when I was just beginning, I decided to set my bankroll on 50 units. I considered my potential losses when establishing this amount as well. If my edge, so ROI at the same time, appeared to be extremely negative, minus 30 percent or so, during a run of 60 wagers (whole season) I would lose 18 units. That would be around 35 percent of my whole capital. 1 unit was a really small amount in monetary terms back then. I was only starting my betting adventure, so didn't really want to put too much at stake that fast. And losing this much (35%), was my absolutely worst case scenario. Unlikely to happen as I really expected to not be as bad. Still, I loved that I was well secured and could have focused on my betting entirely.
Do Not Start Too Big
I would simply like to remind you once more that you should perceive your betting as a long run investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's truly tempting to start big and take your chance of winning a lot of money right away. Believe me though, that's not a good idea. You don't have any idea how big your edge is, if there even is any. So why risk too much at this point? Start betting with smaller amounts and go bigger as your skill and experience level rise.
Gain experience and learn as much as possible early on. And use the pro betting principles I mentioned on ProBettingBlog website - do your analyses, research, put your work into each pick. No matter the stakes, I guarantee you'll feel great when the team (horse, player, etc.) you backed wins. You'll feel disappointed if it loses. And really anxious and sometimes mad during a longer period of losses. That could be an awesome chance for you to experience all the feelings that comes with pro betting, while at the same time not be under too much pressure (because the money lost or won isn't too much at this point). I personally started with really tiny stakes, $5 a point or so, and I remember how real these emotions were. I loved it! With time and experience you'll raise your stakes.
Why Shouldn't You Chase Losses
In a few words - never increase your stakes during a losing period! This may look logical to you, because this may let you get your money back faster. Regrettably, this is not often the case. It's more probable that you lose your whole betting bankroll by doing this. Especially as feelings get in the way and your skills may not work as they should. Many times you'll feel a deep need to bet more and more, immediately value starts appearing at every corner. This is something many punters face sooner or later, but you absolutely have to overcome those temptations on your way to success. This sounds easy enough but believe me, it is not. Using tips I described in this document will help you with making correct decisions. Remember, your aim is to invest in betting and not gamble your money away.
Don't Bet More Than You Can Afford to Lose!
It's likely obvious to you by now, but I just want to write it once more as we wrap up this article. Never use cash you need to buy food or pay rent with for sports betting. This could only end up really bad if you start losing. I advise you to have a separate amount for your betting only. It is a simple, but very sensible advice, remember it at all times. I want you to have fun with betting just like I do, not gamble on your life!
About the Author:
If you want to find out more about betting money management and learn more about how to make money betting, you should definitely visit my site - just google Pro Betting Blog.
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