In the first article in our series for novice sports bettors, we take a look at the basics of bankroll-management.

Many novice sports bettors and outsiders think the only important part to sports betting is being able to play good value tips. In reality, that is not nearly enough, because even with a 70% hit rate, losing streaks of 10 or longer are possible. To aviod these having too big of an impact on your wallet, it is vital to keep a set of rules known as bankroll-management. Let's take a look how you can avoid big losses by keeping to some easy rules.

Size of bankroll

The most important rule is to make sure to separate your sports betting bankroll from your everyday money. Professional sports betting is essentially nothing other than an investment, so you need to look at your bankroll as money in the bank, and only withdraw from it once it bears interest. Just as important is to select the bankroll size based on your life standards, to make sure one losing bet won't have an effect on you. If you don't have enough money to start higher stakes betting right away, make sure to use bonuses and free bets that are available at several bookmakers. On the other side, if you can afford it, it is advised to have the biggest bankroll in your comfort zone, as the interest will be the same with a higher bankroll, while the costs of buying the tips will be smaller in comparison.

What is bankroll-management?

Once you have established how big your bankroll will be, you need to learn the basics of bankroll-management. This is essentially a set of rules that determines your betting strategy. It includes calculating the amount being bet on one game and determining when to raise and lower stakes. If used correctly, you will never bust your bankroll, however, you will always have your bet size in the optimal range.

The cornerstones of bankroll-management

There is never an unloseable bet - Never risk more than 5% of your bankroll on any game. Even if you think a win is certain, your hit rate will almost always be lower than you expected, so you need to be prepared to lose on even very strong tips.

Never try to quickly erase losses - What differentiates sports bettors and gamblers are the way the react to losses. If you lose 25% of your bankroll and decide to increase your stake to get back to even faster, you need to immediately change your thinking, otherwise you will soon meet your inevitable bankruptcy. In reality, you need to decrease your average bet after a losing streak and increase it after a winning streak.

If you are late, you will miss out - It is important to understand that a good bet is only conditional. Bookmakers change their odds if big money is coming in for one outcome, so for example if a tip is posted on Logibet, you need to make the bet as soon as possible. Even if you feel a bet is "almost always going to win", there is much difference between a 1.30 odds and 1.20 odds. If in reality, they will win in 80%, the first odds is worth it, the second isn't.

In our next betting advice article, we will take a look at the stake amount, so stay tuned with us!