Money Management Mistakes
Winning Picks is only half the battle when it comes to being a successful sports bettor, and it's not even the most important half. Hands down, when it comes to a winning strategy for cashing in on sports picks, MONEY MANAGEMENT is the most important factor.
There are a lot of theories on money management and most of them aren't worth the gigabytes they are written with. In fact, most of what you read is downright bad money management advice. Kind of like those "How To" books you can buy at Las Vegas airports, filled with flawed betting strategies that Vegas Casinos want you to follow. In this blog post I will cover some of the really bad money management habits that most bettors have.
The Top 3 Money Management Mistakes!
Losing bettors are more often the victim of bad money management, which generates more losses for players than bad handicapping. Even the world's worst bettors rarely lose more than half of their wagers and yet over 98% of bettors lose 100% of their money. I'll give you a few examples and you can see if you recognize any of these habits in your own wagering repertoire.
Mistake #1 - Raising the Stakes!
Tom is a nickel player (bets to win $500 a game). He is a studious handicapper and typically plays 5-10 games a week. The first week he makes 6 wagers of $550 to win $500 and goes 4-2, making a profit of $900.00 (4 wins of $500 and 2 losses of $550.00) - a pretty good week at 66.7% and a 900.00 profit. Now that he's playing with "house money", he raises his play to $700. In the second week he makes 9 bets of $770 to win $700 and goes 4-5, losing -$1,050.00 (4 wins of $700 and 5 losses of $770). So two weeks in, Tom has lost -$150.00 despite making winning picks, 8-7 overall for 53.3%. Had he simply flat bet his entire program, betting $550.00 on all 15 games, he would have realized a $150.00 profit, but instead suffers a $150.00 loss. Raising the size of your bets after a winning or losing streak is counterproductive to your handicapping efforts and will only serve to benefit your sportsbook over the long run.
Example #2 - Lowering your Bets!
Dick is a nickel player who really doesn't have the bankroll to support that level of play, but he is eager to get in the game and make his mark as a high roller. In week one Dick makes 6 wagers of $550 and goes 2-4 for a net loss of $1200.00 (2 wins each of $500 and 4 losses at $550). The hit on Dick's bankroll makes it impossible to play $500 a game in week two so he decides to makes 9 wagers of $220 to win $200 on each. This week, 6 of the 9 are winning bets and Dick profits $540.00 (6 wins of $200 and 3 losses of $220). After 2 weeks Dick now has the exact same winning record as Tom has (6-5) but is down -$95 anyway. Lowering the size of your bets after a winning or losing period, or not having enough in your bankroll to make your plays will also benefit your sportsbook over the long run.
Example #3 - Risking it all!
Harry is an action player who likes the big paydays and doesn't mind taking big risks to get them. He bets to win 2 dimes ($2200.00 to win $2,000.00) on a single Friday Night NBA game, which he wins. He now has $4,200.00 and he risks all of it on a Saturday College Football game, which he also wins, bringing his balance to just over $8,018.00. Harry is not only feeling lucky, but his growing bankroll validates Harry, in his own mind at least, as a savvy handicapper to be reckoned with. Harry spends the night doing his homework and then drops the whole wad on an early NFL game the following Sunday. Harry wins again, growing his original $2,200.00 investment to an impressive $15,307.00 in just 3 wagers. Harry then decides to go for the big win and risks the entire amount again on the Sunday night NFL game, which he loses on a missed FG as time expires. Harry now has a loss on the weekend of -$2,200.00 despite winning 75% of his bets (3-1). Wagering just $110 for each of the four games would have resulted in a net profit of $190 instead of the -$2,200.00 loss. Even the best handicappers in the world would have a 40% chance of total annihilation if they risked their entire bankroll on one game. That type of all or nothing betting is a big winner for sportsbooks worldwide.
At the end of the day, any old Tom, Dick or Harry can be a winning handicapper, but if you have bad betting habits it won't matter anyways. There are reasons that 99% of bettors lose. The bad money management mistakes above are three of them.
In this blog post we've covered 3 money management mistakes that aspiring sports bettors should avoid. In my next blog post, we'll discuss 3 very simple and very effective strategies that will get you on the fast track to managing your bankroll like a pro!
