Money Management Strategies
I wanted to follow up on our blog post titled Money Management Mistakes where we talked about come of the more common, bankroll killing mistakes made by most sports bettors. In this post we are going to show you how to replace those bad money management habits with smart money management strategies.
Three Money Management Tips for Success
In our previous blog post we saw how varying ones bet size and winging it for bankroll can, and often does lead to disaster for most bettors. Now I will give you three very simple strategies to get you on the fast track to managing your bankroll like a pro.
Tip #1 - Proper Bankroll and Unit Size
Setting the bankroll is easy. Simply put, how much money can you really afford to lose betting on sports? It's a simple question that should have a simple answer. It should be money that is free and clear and not obligated to mortgages, college funds, retirement accounts etc. Sports betting is risky, so be honest with yourself and determine the amount of money you are willing to lose if things go south. That's your bankroll. For example purpose, let's say you have $25,000.00 kicking around burning a hole in your pocket. Ok then. Thats your bankroll.
There is some room for argument on exactly what the sweet spot is for size of bankroll in ratio to unit size. Most professional handicappers risk on average, 2% of their bankroll on any given play. Some aggressive professionals go with 3% and some more conservative bettors prefer 1%. The average size and the most common ratio is 2%. That means your bankroll should be 50 X larger than your unit size. In our example, our bankroll is $25,000.00 so our unit size (25,000/50) = $500.00. So a player with a 25,000.00 bankroll is a nickel player (bets 500 per game).
Tip #2 - Flat Bet Everything
Most money management mistakes involve varying your bet size. The simple solution to avoid these pitfalls, and the most common denominator of professional bettors, is to flat bet everything. Flat betting simply means to bet your standard unit every game without deviation. Not only is it an excellent way to manage your money, the inherent transparency and simplicity of flat betting also make it the manner in which we document the members of The Professional Handicappers League. Winning handicappers win and losing handicappers lose. There is no ambiguity or manipulation.
There is also some discussion as to how to bet your unit. Some pros prefer to just risk the $500.00 on each bet. Some prefer, (and this is the way we advocate), to play favorites TO WIN 500.00 and TO RISK 500.00 on underdogs. For example, a baseball game is listed with the home team as a -150 favorite and the visitor a +140 underdog. A nickel player betting on the home team would wager $750.00 TO WIN $500.00. He is betting TO WIN his Unit. However, if a nickel player was betting on the underdog, he WOULD RISK 500.00 to win $700.00. He is betting TO RISK his Unit. There arent the same gaps in betting against the spread, but the principal still applies. If the line on the Packers was -7/+110 the nickel bettor would lay the -7 points and RISK 500.00 to win 550.00. If the line was -7/-110, the nickel player would wager 550.00 TO WIN 500.00.
So a couple options there, but either way, whether you decide to flat bet around your unit size or to simply flat bet your unit size every play, the idea is to stay consistent with it. Bet every play consistent with your flat betting strategy and don't deviate. This way, your winning picks will have an opportunity to actually win.
Tip # 3 - Shop, shop, shop
If you are going to be a serious sports bettor YOU MUST HAVE multiple outs. The more the merrier. It is easy for online bettors to maintain significant accounts at multiple online sportsbooks and if your goal is to make money betting on sports, this is definitely something you should be doing. Getting the best line is the single most significant strategy a winning sports bettor has.
No greater example exists for the importance of line shopping than Super Bowl XXXIV between the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans. The consensus line of Rams -7 was only taken by the squarest bettors. Smart online bettors could get the Titans at +7.5 or the Rams at -6.5 and the sharpest of the bettors bet both! When the line landed exactly on 7, more than a few online shops went belly up. That's another strategy entirely (picking the right sportsbooks), but the main lesson here is that the right line is just as important - often even more important - than the right pick. Make sure and do your homework on the lines and keep enough outs to capitalize on the best available lines on each game.
In summary, to avoid the betting mistakes made by every other Tom, Dick and Harry who loses on sports, do these 3 things - 1.) Establish your bankroll and Unit Size, 2.) establish multiple outs and 4.) Flat Bet every play! Now all you need is Winning Sports Picks, and boy do we have you covered!
