As a sports bettor, do you just make your betting selections, compare them with those from tipsters/or friends, and place any amount you can afford at the time on the bets?
If you’re like this, then you’re no different from the average sports punter out there.
Successful sports bettors don’t just place a bet based on how much they have at hand or in their bankroll, but rather based on a concept known as a “staking plan.”
Much like how you plan the sports, games, and markets you want to bet on, it is also important that you plan your stakes too. That is, the amount you want to wager on your bets.
But how can you do this? You may wonder.
That is what this post is created to educate you on. But before we go into the details of that, let’s first take a look at what a staking plan is.
What is a staking plan, and why do you need one?
A staking plan is a clear definition of how you want to spend your money on a betting website. That is, how much money or what percentage of your bankroll you want to place on each bet you’re making.
This concept is so important to many expert punters because it helps them manage their bankroll, minimize their losses, and set them up for a profitable betting journey.
Imagine knowing what your stake will be before going to a betting site to put your money on the line; there is no way you’ll stake more than the amount you’ve planned to wager on each bet, irrespective of how promising or enticing the odds you find on the site are.
To further put this into a clearer perspective, there are countless stories of people who bet all they had on a bookmaker’s site on a “sure banker bet,” only to see results not going their way. And before they could even say Jack Robinson, the river of losses has swept their bankroll into the ocean.
But for you not to be like them, here are some staking plans you need to assess. Choose the one that best suits your betting style and stick with it.
Types of staking plans
Fixed amount plan
This is the simplest staking strategy anyone can base their sports betting adventures on. It involves setting a fixed amount to stake on each bet you intend to play. Regardless of how much you win/lose, this amount doesn’t change. It doesn’t involve much calculation, as you just have to decide within yourself how much you want to fix on your bets.
If your bankroll is between the ranges of $1000-$2000, your fixed staking amount could be anything in the region of $20 and $50, depending on how aggressive a punter you are. This staking approach can be a very good way to get the emotions out of your game and save your bankroll.
For example, let’s say you suddenly hear that a Premier League club has secured a sbobet club sponsor Indonesia deal, and now they’ve signed some exciting players, you might be tempted to want to stake more money than you need to on them. But with a fixed amount staking plan, this can never happen because regardless of what happens in the leagues, your staking amount remains constant.
Fixed percentage plan
This system is slightly different from the first strategy in that it involves setting a fixed staking percentage instead of an exact amount. So, depending on whether you win or lose, the amount you stake on your bets could change from week to week,
Let’s say you have a bankroll of $1000 and decide on a 5% fixed staking percentage; your first bet would carry a stake of $50.
Now, let’s say things go as planned and that bet ended up being a winner bet and your bankroll increased to, say, $1200. Your next staking amount would be $60 and not $50 like the first time because your new bankroll is now $1200.
Martingale staking plan
The idea here is to place a bet at odds of 1/1 (2.00). If it turns out a winner bet, then good for you, but if it turns out a loser bet, you will find a new even money bet to take, but this time you would double your original stake and keep doing this after every loss until you hit a winner.
For example, let’s say you place a bet on Real Madrid to win against Barcelona at 2.00 odds with a $50 stake. But the Los Blancos decided to let you down, and you place another bet on Arsenal at 2.00 with a stake of $100, but they also let you down.
At this point, you decided to bet on a horse at 2.00 in a horse racing with a stake of $40, and the horse does win, returning to you $80. You’ve spent and lost $70, but now you have $80, which is a $10 profit, the same as what you would have won had Real Madrid won earlier.
Kelly Criterion formula
This is, by far, the strongest staking plan anyone can use. Unfortunately, it is also the hardest because it involves the application of some crunching formulas and deductions.
The Kelly Criterion formula is:
(BP – Q) / B
B = the Decimal odds -1
P = the probability of success
Q = the probability of failure (i.e. 1-p)
Using a football match as an example
Consider you are betting on Manchester United to win a game at 2.00. However, from your forecast and what the tipsters are predicting, you think United are likely to win (the favorites), with a 52% chance.
In this case:
P= 0.52
Q = 1-0.52 = 0.48
B = 2-1 = 1.
This works out at: (0.52×1 – 0.48) / 1 = 0.04
Therefore the Kelly Criterion would recommend you bet 4%.
