Bankroll Management
You can make good bets and still go broke if you bet too much of your money at once. Bankroll management is what keeps you in the game long enough for an edge to show up.
What a bankroll is
Your bankroll is the money set aside only for betting: money you can afford to lose without touching rent, bills or savings. If you set aside $500, that $500 is your bankroll, and every bet size comes from it.
The 1-5% rule
Bet between 1% and 5% of your bankroll on any single play, and nearer 1% while you are learning.
- $500 bankroll: $5 to $25 a bet
- $1,000 bankroll: $10 to $50 a bet
- $5,000 bankroll: $50 to $250 a bet
Even a bettor who wins 55% of the time will run into losing streaks of eight or ten bets. Small bets mean a bad week is a dent, not the end.
What not to do
- Do not chase losses by betting bigger after a bad day.
- Do not put the whole bankroll on one game, however sure it looks.
- Do not raise your bet size on emotion. Stick to your unit.
- Never borrow money to bet.
What to do
- Keep the bankroll separate from everything else.
- Bet a consistent unit size.
- Track every bet: stake, odds, result, running total.
- Recalculate your unit when the bankroll grows or shrinks.
Key takeaways
- Only bet money set aside for betting.
- Keep each bet to 1-5% of the bankroll.
- Track everything, and resize as the bankroll changes.
Use it on the boards
Put it to work
The MC Sports model boards rank every player and game, every game day, and show the numbers behind each score.
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