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Money Management
Keep it Simple
There are many different ways to manage your bankroll as a sports bettor with each having their own pros and cons, but over my 20+ years of betting on sports, I’ve found the most effective method for me and what I advise for clients is a simple flat betting approach. You will find other handicappers offering all sorts of enticing options for how much to wager on games, 10 Unit Dime Lock, 100 Unit Whale Play, 500 Unit Game of Year, etc., etc. Their intent is to create confusion and make it virtually impossible to track their plays with any certainty with every release having a different name and unit size. I take the exact opposite approach and make things as simple as possible. I find a bet that has an edge, and I risk the same amount on each bet game after game over the course of an entire calendar year. Like anything, the most effective plans are the ones you can stick to, and the easiest plans to stick to are simple.
Implementing the Plan
Step 1
Establish your sports betting bankroll. Your bankroll should be money that you have allocated specifically for betting on sports. If you have an edge, it could be looked at as an investment, if you don’t have an edge, it should be looked at as entertainment money.
Step 2
Establish your unit size. I suggest your unit size fall between 1%-3% of your bankroll. Anything less than 1% will limit your upside potential, and anything more than 3% will subject you to significant fluctuations, which can be difficult to manage psychologically and lead to poor decisions.
Step 3
Increase your bet amount in line with your unit size percent only as your bankroll grows. If you choose a 2% unit size, you could choose to increase your bet amount once the initial unit size has been reduced to 1.5% of your bankroll.
R51 System
R51 will start with an initial bankroll of $10,000 and I’ll be risking 2.2% per bet. 2.2% is a comfortable unit size for me as it provides a solid rate of retrun based on my winning percentage while not hurting too bad when I go through the inevitable losing streaks. Every bettor is different and should find which unit size between 1% – 3% suits them best, but the most important part is sticking to your number once established. I’ll increase my bet amount as my bankroll grows, but always stick to the unit size of 2.2% when I reach a new gate.