Money management is easily one of the most critical aspects of sports betting. In fact, experts place it right next to sports handicapping in the hierarchy of importance. It is an important element behind the long term success of sports bettors. One of the main reasons that most punters fail in their attempt to achieve long term profits is poor money management. Of course, the main key to the success in sports betting is getting more winning picks than losing picks in the long run.
There are quite a number of money management systems that you can use in your sports betting activities. And your primary concern is really to establish a sports betting strategy that is fundamentally sound and sticking to the strategy regardless of what happens. You will have a fair share of losing streaks, all sports bettors do, even the most successful ones. You are going to handicap games that are 100 percent sure and you might be easily tempted to chase the game in order to recoup your losses. Believe me, this is the last thing that you should do if you want to be a successful sports bettor.
There are times that you would have to veer off the ‘right path’ and push your money management system by the wayside. Don’t ever stray away from your money management strategy, for this is the main reason why a lot of people fail in their sports betting activities.
I cannot stress enough the importance of having a solid money management system. It is imperative that you find one, stick to it like glue and you will surely get into sports investing endeavors that are profitable and rewarding.
In this article, we will examine the money management system that has been used by some of the most successful sports bettors of our time. This is not actually a unique management template. It is actually a collection of the best practices that have been used and proven effective by seasoned and successful sports betting aficionados.
If you still don’t have your money management strategy, then there is no better time than now to formulate one and unlock the true potential of your sports investing venture.
The importance of choosing a solid money management system
You need to adopt a logical method for the handicapping and picking of games in order for your money management system to work to its full potential. No amount of effort in executing a money management strategy will make you succeed in your sports betting activities if you have more losing picks than winning picks.
There are some sports bettors that do their own handicapping of the games while others hire professional sports handicappers or use sports betting services with a proven track record. Both options are fine but it would be best for sports bettors to prepare a list of the sides that they are going to wager on for the entire week or weekend and the amount of wager before the start of the games that are scheduled for the day.
Once you have prepared the list, it is important that you stick to it. You must not deviate from what is indicated in the list even if you are doing poorly or well at the game’s get-go. The result of your sports betting activity last Wednesday will not have any bearing or influence on the games that you will be betting on the following day, or even the amount of your wager.
Seasoned sports bettors are fully aware that there are a lot of ways by which one can lose big time even while they are having a winning run during the current season. Everything boils down to the money management system that one is using in their sports betting activities. In order to survive in the highly competitive world of sports betting you need to have discipline. This is what matters most when picking winners and the implementation of a solid money management system is critical in converting those winning picks into a financially rewarding season.
The main problem of a lot of sports bettors is that they cannot maintain their focus and they lack discipline when it comes to their choices and the amounts that they are wagering. A couple of winning picks or losing picks is all that is needed for them to abandon their money management system, and this is where most sport bettors get into serious trouble.
6 key elements of smart money management
In order to achieve long term profits, you should have proper money management skills. The main aspects of that are listed below.
- Set up your bankroll. Sports bettors must establish a bankroll that is representative of the amount that you can comfortably afford to lose for the entire duration of the current season. The amount should be at a level where you can still enjoy the kind of lifestyle that you have even when the entire bankroll is wiped out. The bank should be dedicated to betting. You have to treat that money as forgotten and not real. They are only there as an investment to gain profits from betting.
- Establish realistic expectations. Sports bettors should set up their expectations on the number of games that they expect to wager on for the entire duration of the upcoming season. In addition to this, sports bettors must also determine and establish a winning percentage during the entire run for the upcoming season that is realistic. For sports bettors who have a not so good track record, 50 percent is an acceptable and realistic winning percentage target.
- Establish a fixed or constant unit of wagering amount for the entire season. You must set a constant unit of wagering amount for each play, regardless of how well or bad your run is in the current season..
- Adopt a proven records management system. You must follow a solid records system so that you can keep track of your bets. This is essential when it comes to the implementation of a solid money management system for your sports betting activities.
- Have long term goals. You should not put pressure on yourself to achieve profits every day. That will force you to make wrong decisions. Every betting session is not the same and there will definitely be losing days. You should measure your success long term.
- Good money management requires patience and discipline. You will definitely harm your bank if you are overbetting or chasing loses. You can read more about the correct betting mindset here.
3 key elements of poor money management
On the opposite, the main characteristics of poor management are listed below.
- Betting without a specific plan or strategy. You must decide what are the matches you want to bet well in advance and not making last-minute betting calls.
- Staking with different sizes every time. This is something that most punters do. Once you have found an event that fits your strategy you must stake as you would with every other bet you place for that strategy. When it comes to trading that means not having predefined exit strategies. That leads you to stay in losing trades more than you should.
- Not evaluating a diary. Without that, you will not know where your betting bank stands at any time and what you have to do in order to protect it. You can read more about the importance of bet tracking here.
The 2 stages of a proper money management system
Money management can be broken out into two stages:
- Setting up a dedicated bank. This your initial investment. You should treat that money as money that you have not access to. This amount should only be used only for betting purposes and not for paying bills or any other needs you may have. It should never be more than you can afford to lose.
- Setting up a staking plan. You should choose a specific staking plan and stick to that. This should be based on your risk aversion and your betting goals.
1. Setting up a bankroll
Most money management systems would highlight the importance of setting up a bankroll exclusively for your sports betting activities, and this money should not be drawn from sources that are intended for other purposes, such as bills payments, retirement contributions, etc. The importance of setting a dedicated bankroll is that it helps with the discipline aspect of betting. It prevents you from making irrational decisions either after a losing run or after a winning streak. By setting money aside only for betting purposes helps to take out the anxiety of losing that money.
You can go about establishing your bankroll by carefully considering the amount that you are willing and can afford to lose. Of course, you don’t want to set aside an amount that can burn you in the event that you go on a losing run during the season.
It cannot be denied that even the sharpest and most seasoned sports bettors have had their share of losing streaks. Thus, it is imperative that you determine the amount that you can afford to lose without driving yourself and your family into a serious financial fix. Once you are able to determine the amount, then you can consider it your maximum bankroll for your sports betting.
If you do have a sufficient amount of money that you can set aside for your sports betting, then you can just determine the amount that you want to invest taking note of the possibility that you will lose a significant portion of that amount.
2. Setting up the wager amount
Once you have established your bankroll, the next thing that you must work on is the setting of realistic expectations on the percentage of winning wagers as well as the number of wagers that you expect to make. The importance of a setting up a staking plan is tο eliminate the possibility to wipe out the bank. Through a sensible and rigid staking plan, it is unlikely that you will lose your capital.
The main idea is to harness relevant data and information to ascertain the wagering amount for each game that has the smallest chance of depleting your bankroll. Several sports betting gurus peg the odds of burning your bankroll at 0.2 percent.
Sports bettors are better off if they take a very conservative mindset when estimating the percentage of winning picks. Even if you have attained 62 percent in the previous year, this target percentage of winning is unrealistic if such an event is not your usual norm in the past years. Most sports bettors should set their winning percentage as close to 50 percent as possible. This is what we mean when we say that you should be very conservative in your target setting. In this way, you leave the smallest chance of ever hitting the bottom for the entire season. And if you have been properly maintaining your records for the last 4 seasons and established a relatively stable winning percentage, then you may use this winning clip in estimating your average wagering amount for the current season.
It is also important for sports bettors to determine their ideal number of wagers for the upcoming season. This variable is a critical element of money management since the number of games played by sports bettors is directly proportional to the total variance.
So the first option is to calculate the wager based on varying percentages of expected winning bets at various numbers of wagers that the sports bettor is expected to make during the season.
On the other hand, there are various money management systems that advocate variations or changes on the standard wager which are based on a fixed percentage of the bankroll for each bet.
Thus, sports bettors that have started the season with a $10,000 bankroll and a wagering amount corresponding to 5 percent of the bankroll on every game would be opening the season by placing a $500 bet per game.
If you won $1000 in the first bet, then you would be betting 5% of $11,000 ($10,000 + 1,000) or $550 per game for the following bet. On the other hand, if you lost $1000, then your wagering amount is equivalent to 5% of $9,000 or $450. Thus, the betting unit per bet changes based on a fixed percentage as the bankroll of the sports bettor rises and falls after each bet.
Finally, there is a money management strategy that has been gaining wider acceptance among sports bettors. This management system is a composite of fixed betting unit and progressive betting amounts per game.
Conclusion
The majority of punters do not pay much attention to proper money management. But if you can stick to a specific betting plan and have discipline in your staking that will pay dividends in the long run.
You will not be able to harness the full potential of your money management system if you fail to keep great records of your sports betting activities. It is extremely important that you keep track and monitor each of the bets that you make. You will not be able to determine how well you are doing if you are not keeping complete and detailed records.
When you maintain records of all your sports betting activities, you can readily refer to them when you need historical data or determine any trend from previous results, and use them when you make your betting choices and decisions. You have to remember that you will have a general idea on where you are going when you have a complete grasp and understanding of where you have been in the past.