Betting Staking Plans

There are many varying opinions on staking plans, but one thing all Staking Plans have in common is the notion of protecting your betting bank.

Your betting bank should be your starting point for your staking plan. The size of your betting bank should be based on the money you have set aside and can afford to lose if it all goes wrong. This should never be money that should be paying your bills or looking after your family. If you don’t have the spare money to start now then please take the time to paper trade different staking plans (put on imaginary bets which you log in a book or spread sheet) while you learn and perfect your betting skills.

My favored staking system is either Kelly Criterion or to use a percentage of the betting bank. For example, a standard bet would be 1% of the betting bank, if you had a £1000 betting bank then the stake would be £10. For bets I feel have a higher chance of winning might bet 3%, but never anymore than that. Many people add a third and fourth level to this staking plan, but I like to keep my risk to a minimum.

Other popular staking plans include –

Level Stakes:
This is the idea of splitting your betting bank into units and making a set number of those units equal to one bet. For example:

£2000 betting bank split into 100 units would be £20/unit

The value of the unit would vary as your betting bank grows or shrinks, so for example, if your bank was to grow to £2500, you would now have units of £25.

Martingale System:
I would not recommend this staking plan. Essentially if you have a losing bet you double up to try and win back the previous bet and make a profit on this one. However, as it is very common to have a losing run when betting the stakes can quickly mount up and you will need a vary large bank and a strong heart to keep going. I have seen someone put this staking plan to use making a profit for six months only to lose the whole lot within the seventh month.

Kelly’s Criterion:
This staking plan uses a mathematical calculation to which takes into account the odds offered, the betting bank and probability of winning to calculate your stake. It is designed to ensure maximum bank growth and is often used in financial trading as well as the betting world. While it does make sense, it has one problem that I don’t like and that is the users ability to calculate the probability. Sporting events often throw up unexpected results, but that is not to say it is a bad system, it is not and a lot of bettors use it to great effect. If you think you have the probability nailed and are practiced at finding value then this could be the system for you.

The Kelly Criterion calculation is as follows:

f = (bp-q)/b
f is the portion of the bankroll to bet
b is the ratio of profit to amount risked on the bet when you win
p is the probability of winning the bet
q is the probability of losing the bet (1-p)

I won’t go into the Kelly Criterion staking plan any more here, because that is going to be the subject of a another dedicated article.

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Note: Never bet with any money that you are not prepared to lose. Always form your own opinion when betting and do not blindly follow tips.

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