Let’s start with the basics. There are three things you need to look at.
Number 1
The size of your bets.
Number 2
The size of your bankroll
Number 3
The size of your personal wealth
Now compare the size of your bets to the size of your bankroll and then to the size of your personal wealth. I don’t need to give you any figures, you will know if your bet size is TOO big compared to your bankroll and your bankroll is too big compared to your current personal wealth.
The goal of managing a successful bankroll is taking as little risks as possible, keeping a consistent plan in place with set amounts for different types of bets and then reviewing each ‘type of bet’ in your spreadsheet together, and by individual bet type to try and eliminate rouge bets that are costing you money.
Risk
The majority of punters start out betting more than they should be when they start out, we were the same. It was hard to accept that we had to half our bet size due to the size of our bankroll at the time, but it’s something we had to do and you have to consider right now. Think long term, you are not looking to make $1000 a week (even though that would be nice – your bankroll doesn’t allow it), you would really be happy with a $150 profit every week right? That is close to $8000 tax free in a year.
Let’s start with an average size bankroll of $1000. Your current bankroll is 100 units with 1 unit being $10. $10 is your standard size bet. If you instantly want to tell me I’m joking about only $10, then you need to try and rethink your betting strategy. We are not just trying to make you profitable, but profitable in the long term.
Bankrolls are all about finding what works for you. I know many people who will bet a % of their bankroll (generally 1.2-2.5%) on a single bet (sports normally.. less on horses) so no matter if they have lost or won their previous bets, they are always betting a certain % of their bankroll instead of a set unit price. I personally don’t agree with this strategy but each to their own, there are many profitable pro-punters out there using this method.
Increasing your average bet
So you had a massive weekend on the punt and turned your 100 unit bankroll into 150 units thanks to Eagle Falls being tipped up at $30 on an awesome website and Psychologist at $20 in the final race of the day also. So what to do with that extra cash? Do you instantly up your average bet? The answer is no. Overconfidence creeps in to the mind of most punters once they have a very profitable week. If you go back through our tips, you will see a pattern where we have a monster week and on occasion, have a shocking week after that. It has become less often recently as we have identified the problems in our system, caused by overconfidence in tips after a big win. The same applies for a bankroll. Don’t act swiftly. Give the bankroll two weeks to settle. If you continue to grow your bankroll, you are on the right track and a 25% increase in unit betting may be what you want to do. It is always better to raise your betting unit size by less than what you are thinking you should instead of more. After all, you are trying to build your bankroll in the long run and if you have a sound profitable strategy in place and that involves not putting your bankroll at risk.
Bankroll Bet Types
Once again, a very grey area. It all depends on how you work and think.
Here is a basic setup of our Horse Racing bankroll betting amounts.
Maximum bet: 3 units
Maximum E/W: 2 units
Average Bet: 1 unit
The above looks pretty obvious… well think back to the past months. How many times have you bet more than 3 times above your ‘average’? It happens, it is learning. You need to set a maximum limit you are willing to bet on any decision, regardless of how ‘sure’ it is.
Measures available to you
Self control is essential when managing a bankroll. We have all gone and put a crazy bet on in the get out stakes. Get out stakes no longer exist to you. Remove this sentence from your vocab. There are measures available to those who don’t have the proper self restraint to control their bet limits. You may say this is a cop out, but people need limitations when they are betting for themselves and have a lack of control. A large majority of the big bookies online, such as SportsBet (Betfair doesn’t have this facility) will allow you to limit your maximum bet size. I think, even if you are in control of your betting, this is a brilliant function to have turned on. Especially for when you may have had a few too many brews and the Premier league is about to start at 2am at the pub. It is about limiting ‘losses’.
Record everything
You can’t do your tax without reporting all your financial transactions and purchases to your tax accountant and managing your bankroll is the same. Start up an excel spreadsheet of your own. If you need inspiration, have a look at the spreadsheet posted after every race meeting by the guys at Red Belly Sports – www.redbellysports.com.au – It not only keeps them to account in house, but also shows any visitors how they are performing.
