Betting fund is not a gift. It is a punter’s hard-earned
cash. While punters often bet with money they can afford to lose, no money ever
comes cheap and can be thrown away with trash. This is why no matter the source
of money you use in betting, it is important to sit down for a moment or so and
think about the financial aspect of betting. Remember, it is you who is putting
in your money and risking, it is not the bookmaker. Therefore, it is up to you
to keep track of how much you spend and to keep your finances in proper check.
What is a bankroll?
The money you invest in bets is called a bankroll or stake.
A bankroll is like a capital; you plough it in and risk it so it can bring you
some return. In betting, it is important to know what can and what can’t be
used as a bankroll. You must never use the money set aside for paying medical
bills, electricity bills or water bills to gamble. Never! If you do this,
betting can throw you off balance and bring immeasurably suffering to you when
you lose your bets. Remember, even favorites do lose or draw matches and so you
must never be tempted to put in a huge portion of your savings into a single
bet expecting to reap a huge reward quickly. You may lose the bet and drown
into indescribable misery.
So where should you get your stake?
If you are going to bet in the long run, then factor in
betting into your overall financial plans just as you do other things. For
example, when doing a budget for next month, budget for all you need and then
set aside a small portion of your income for your bets. Ideally, the portion
you set aside for betting should be that you use for typical luxuries in your
daily life. Make sure the amount you set aside for betting is completely
separate from the amounts for other necessities and luxuries of your life. Once
you have set aside a bankroll (betting fund), plan with it and ensure you bet
only with that amount. Simply divide the bankroll accordingly, depending on the
number of bets you want to place per day, week or month.
Restrict yourself
Before you look for the game you want to bet on, ensure that
all decisions regarding your betting fund have been made. The decisions you
have to make include distributing your bankroll according to your betting plan,
setting you minimum and maximum stake per bet, and determining the maximum
number of bets you can make per day, week or month. If for example you have a
bankroll of Ksh 1000, that is the amount you can afford to lose through
betting. You must slit this amount into smaller portions; say Ksh 100 or Ksh 50
that you will use per bet. Once you have decided how much you are going to
stake in every bet, you must stick with it. You must be disciplined and stick
with this as there is no point setting aside a bankroll if you are not going to
stick with it.
Many punters lose often when they deviate from the betting
budget and plan. This they do either by increasing stakes after a few wins due
to elevated confidence or when they panic after a loss and try to compensate
for the loses. The key to avoiding such pitfalls is budgeting and planning, the
having the discipline to stick to your budget and plan. If you have budgeted
and planned for just 1 bet per day, you must do just that regardless of winning
or losing. You must never break your routine to place a second and third bet
the same day just because you won or lost. Days will come when you will get
wins on the bounce and then there will be days when you will just lose no
matter how much research you did before placing your bets. That is why you must
stick to your plan and build your profits gradually.
Meticulous money management is fundamental
You will see us repeat over and over again that you should
have a betting plan and stick to it. This is because proper money management is
fundamental for betting success. There are many ways you can use to draw the
stake per bet from your bankroll. One way is to divide your bankroll into equal
parts, allocating the same stake for every bet. Another way is to allocate
variable amounts per bet depending on your overall betting plan. You can use a
staking formula when allocating variable stakes for different bets.
Managing losses and profits
Different punters use different approaches to manage losses.
For example, you can set a maximum stake amount per day spread out over all
your bets and then plough back all profits. At the end of the day, you can
evaluate whether you made a profit or loss. Alternatively, you can choose to be
guided by losses. For example, if you have a bankroll of Ksh 1000 for the month
and set your stake per bet at Ksh 100, then you could decide that after you
make profit then you are going to play only with the profit to increase your
profit instead of eating away your bankroll. For instance, if you placed 4
bets, won 2 and lost 2 and got a total of Ksh 1400 in your betting account, you
can decide to just place further bets with the extra Ksh 400, dividing it into
small portions to use per bet. To effectively manage losses, you need to
restrict your subsequent stake per bet to the amount available after the
losses.
Alternatively, you can decide to manage your stake by
restricting how much of the profits you can use to bet. For example, you can
choose to withdraw all the profit you make and leave only your original
bankroll. So if you are playing with Ksh 100 per day, then if you win Ksh 400
on a bet, you withdraw Ksh 300 and leave only the Ksh 100 that is part of the
bankroll. Removing the profit eliminates the temptation to play with it. You
can then continue playing with your original bankroll and withdrawing the
profit until all the bankroll is lost. This way, you will have a clear picture
of how much you have gained overall.
Never bet with more than you can afford to lose
There is no betting strategy or rule that is better than
this. You simply must bet with only what you can afford to lose. Otherwise,
betting can be a depressing and painful undertaking. If you can’t afford to
lose Ksh 100 today, then just do not bet with such amount. This means that if
you are in a financial hole and see no way out soon, you must not bet. In fact,
you must never view betting as means to get out of your financial problems. It
will not work. The more you throw in bets, the more you are likely to lose. The
less you throw in, the less the pressure to get it right and the more chance
you have of pulling a win. It is important to always bet with what you can
afford to lose, what will not put you into financial distress if you lose.