Many people believe the amount you bet with is more important than what you actually use the money to bet on. In this article, we review some staking methods, read further to see what you can learn.
One of the most successful card-counter to ever walk the face of the earth is arguably Ed Thorp. He attributes much of his career success to one simple method – staking, his favourite: the staking method created by Mathematician John Kelly Jnr.
One of the easiest things to say is that a betting strategy is important, but what exactly makes up a successful strategy in betting? In this article, we look at five betting strategies and how they can help you become a successful bettor.
- Bet everything, every time
The good side to this method is that as soon as you win, you win big, while the downside is that as soon as you lose, you are out of money and out of the game.
- Fixed Wager
In this method, you bet a fixed amount every time you bet and you refuse the temptation to vary the amount no matter the amount of money you win. With this method, you would reduce your chances of losing your entire stake, but you would also miss out on winning big if you had bet with a higher sum.
- Martingale Method
This method says that you would bet double of your stake from your previous loss so that you can cover for the losses with your winnings in the next bet. This would make you profitable quicker, however, you also run the risk of betting very large amounts to cover your losses when they are sequential.
- Fibonacci method
This method is similar to the Martingale method, here you increase your next stake in a Fibonacci sequence whenever you lose. It has a similar disadvantage as the Martingale Method.
- Proportional betting method
With this method, you bet a fraction of your total bankroll in proportion to your edge. When using this method, it is advisable for your bet to be your edge divided by the odds. As an example, if your edge is 10% and your odds stands at 10/1.
Therefore 10% of your $2,000 bankroll would be $200. If you bet with that 10% and win, your next bet should be increased to $220, which is 10% of the $2,200 new bankroll.
Which strategy is the best?
From the above description, it is easy to see that proportional betting has an edge over the other methods. Just think about it, if you are down to your last $200, with a proportional betting method, you would be betting just $20 which would help you bet longer with the same bankroll, while in other fixed betting methods, your last $100 would be your final bet.
Betting everything would guarantee you big gains after the first bet wins, you could win in one bet as much as other methods could earn you in your first seven bets. However, betting everything could get you burned out if you lose your very first bet.
Progressive sports betting systems like Fibonacci and Martingale also start very strongly, but they make you bet more of your bankroll when a sequence of losses begins to occur.
The only other system apart from proportional betting that could help you avoid losses is the fixed betting system as it usually accrues slow but steady increments when you can cover the loss of a previous betting, although it could usually take about two consecutive winning rounds to cover that.
From this article, we can see those different staking methods could give us varying outcomes whose difference could be very far apart sometimes. The difference between doubling your $2,000 bankroll and losing all of it is simply choosing the right staking method for you.
It also very important to know that for any of this staking method to help you become successful in betting, you need to know your edge.
