Follow @BetNHLA couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on Bankroll Management talking about how to manage your sports betting bankroll.
I received a ton of great feedback. For some people – it was too simple, and too slow paced. Understandable.
I wanted to use a recent example to expand on this topic and get into slightly more advanced bankroll management that is still easy enough for the casual sports bettors.
For a quick refresher – I suggested splitting your bankroll into units of 100. So if you had a $1000 bankroll, your betting units would be $10. If it was $100, you’d bet $1. Then you’d raise or lower your units depending on your bankroll. $102? You’re betting $1.02.
There are a lot more advanced methods when it comes to betting and how much you wish to wager. Weighted units depending on the edge you feel you have or the win percentage, different unit betting for different odds, using the Kelly Criterion is a very popular one.
From conversations I had with a lot of you – most of you didn’t have any bankroll management going at all. So going on from the previous article I’m going to explain a simple, but slightly more advanced way to bet.
It’s actually the bankroll management system I use these days and it’s a great combination of casual betting while aiming to maximize your profits. It also factors in “taking a shot” and taking risks to get that blood flowing – all within a controlled betting system.
I have 3 different bets I will make. One is for 1 unit, one is for 2 units and another is for 5 units.
1 unit bets are for bets with less confidence or just a casual bet. For example on the weekend, the early game was Jets vs Capitals. We didn’t have a tip on it but I was watching it, so I decided to bet on the Jets. My reasoning was simple: I’m watching it, and I’ll enjoy it more if I have a bet on it. I also sorta think the Jets might win although I didn’t think the odds justified it. Not enough to actually tip it – but hey if I blow a unit on this no big deal.
They’re also good bets if you’re not feeling too confident. For example – the last week in tips for us has been a bit rough. So you may not be as confident in our bets and want to wait till we have a nice 3-0 night or whatever to jump back on. But you still trust us – so there’s a good opportunity to bet 1 unit.
2 units are bets I make when I feel really good about the bet. I feel very confident in it. I’ve researched it and everything points to this being a winning bet. The odds are good, and I feel very confident with the bet. A recent example was the Leafs vs Blues game. We both felt very good about the Blues. They had an off night and got destroyed but that’s a good example of a 2 unit bet. (Practically every bet on BetNHL would be a 2 unit bet FYI).
5 unit bets are the ones where I feel so insanely good about, it’s all I can do not to bet my house on them. You know the sort of bet right? You look at it and it blows your mind that not only can you bet on it – but the odds are just SO SO good.
These bets don’t come along fairly often. And when they do it feels like free money.
That’s where you need some sort of level of control. Because even though you feel that way – they don’t always win.
This week for example – I really believed in the Washington Redskins. I was insanely confident that they’d demolish the Cowboys even with Bryant back. I could go on and on about it and why I felt the Redskins would cover the spread – but they didn’t. They didn’t even win.
If I didn’t have bankroll management in place – this would have been a DISASTER. Because it’s the type of bet where as time went on I would have been convincing myself more and more – especially when the line jumped from -3.5 to -1.5 to a PK.
Not only could I have bet more and more – but then when I lost, I could have easily went on tilt. I could have went absolutely mental and turned around and bet a ridiculous amount of money trying to chase my losses and betting purely on emotional.
But thankfully with proper bankroll management, I didn’t. I lost 5 units. It sucks but that’s okay – I simply lower my bet size and move on with life.
To me – that’s the ideal bankroll management system I would(and do) use.
I have used this bankroll management strategy as well for a quite long time, works perfectly for me.
Btw it would be great if you guys could post how much units you wager on these NHL tips you provide, so we could know your confidence level for these games.
We’d rather not get into a whole multiple unit system for tips at this stage as we’ve just got so many casual bettors etc. It’s something we’re considering though.
I found this extremely informative and helpful. Though I’m more than familiar with bankroll management, I haven’t implemented any system yet other than betting my house on games like Columbus at Philly on the 5th of December, Which u tipped, and I knew would hit. Worked out that time, but goes without saying, that it doesn’t always..
Professional sports bettors know better, though I’ve yet to learn my lesson, I have financial goals for this Winter and spring that does not allow for a %5 betting system. #where I’m at
Yeah honestly sometimes you need to “learn your lesson”. You could hear 100 personal experiences of people going bust, or going on tilt etc – but sometimes it actually does need to happen to you for it to sink in. (Although don’t use that as an excuse to not work on implementing bankroll management!)
When I bet on the horses (England not US) with a system I use, the bankroll technique I found works best is based on the square root of your total bankroll divided by the bets you do a day on average. For example I try to find 4 horses a day, so if I had £100 it would be £2.50 per bet (square root of 100 = 10 and 10/ the 4 bets = 2.5). I find this works better than a flat % system, as when you are on a losing streak, although you are lowering your bet, your bet becomes a bigger % of your bankroll so it recoups more a loss when you finally hit a winning bet and on the flip side when you are on a winning streak, the amount you bet grows but is less of a % of your total bankroll so it protects your profits.
If your bankroll is very large, the square root becomes small, so you would probably not divide it by the number of bets, but maybe keep it as the square root per each bet or some other demonination. e.g. Square root of 1000 = 31.62. You might use 31.62 as 1 unit or as 2 units. Instead of 4. The principle remains the same though.
I like it Tony. I think in a future article I’m going to cover various bankroll management systems. Not because I think it would be beneficial for the readers as much – but more because I’m a geek for that sort of stuff and I love reading and hearing about different systems people use.
I found it easier
With a 1000$ bankroll
And $10 units
Great piece and definitely something I need to work on. Dallas Stars -1.5 bets are absolutely killing me! Raging I didn’t cash out today and just as annoyed it knackered my double with Calgary -1.5.
Yeah that Stars game was insane yesterday and scared the crap out of us lol. Thankfully we had them in regulation and they got that late goal.
Betting Stars -1.5 from the beginning of the season would have you profitable though so it’s probably just variance. They’re in a bit of a bad spell at the moment with finishing games. It doesn’t help that their odds are neutered. I mean even in the first 6 week spell they were only covering -1.5 about 54.5% of the time.
A very good follow-up, and a really interessting issue. I guess I have to work on my bankroll management. I am really enjoying your tips but I have a question. When you post your tips, could you also tell us if you think it is a 1,2 or 5 unit bet?
Anyway, thank you so mutch for the tips guys! Keep up the good work!
Hey Magne,
I answered that below but basically:
(1) A lot of new bettors who follow us and we don’t want to confuse them too much.
(2) With all the different betting systems we’d rather use one that’s simplistic and makes it more “fair”. Even though it doesn’t help us in the case of our record – it’d suck if you used a flat 1 unit betting system, and were sitting there on a 1-3 night with 2+ units lost while we were celebrating a profitable night due to that 1 being a 5 unit play.
Always stick to the plan! When you go crazy, most of the time you loose! Don’t try to get back your money by doubling your bet after a bad night.
My opinion is that betting 1% of your bankroll per bet is not enough. I would prefer something between 5% and 10% depending how confident I am. Also if you want to reach your rollover requirement soon you have to bet some money.
(Sports Interaction matched 100% on my 200$ deposit, so I have a initial deposit of 400$ but I have to wage it 10x to have access to it, so I have to wage 4000$)
Also, I try to avoid having a favorite team… If you always bet on your local team because you want them to win or because their jersey is cute you will be sad at the end of the year… Think of it as a business, I’m from Montreal and I would like to bet on habs every night but sometime I have to bet against them…
Sports bet has its ups and downs, don’t worry if you loose 5 days straight… stick to the plan, don’t increase your bets to get it back it makes it worse believe me!
Thank guys for your tips, everyday I make my choices then before I put my bets I like to check what you say and when I have the same as you have most of the time it wins! Good job!
Excellent article as this topic is very interesting. Thank you very much for your insights and opinions. This site and the betting tips have allowed me to enjoy NHL at a whole new level in the past couple of years of following you guys.
That stars game was absolutely brutal. That and Man United conceding that goal in the 82nd minute and getting knocked out of the champions league, cost me the difference between having a day being over 10 units up and being 1.5 units down haha. It happens.