One of the questions I'm often asked is "how much should I put on this bet" or "what kind of stakes do you use". There's a reason I don't tell people what I'm placing on each bet, simply because it's irresponsible. You might like the idea of seeing how much I bet on each selection, but just imagine it this way...
If I tell you to bet £10 on something and you're in a steady job with the money to spare, that's not irresponsible right? But what if you're following me and you're getting £30 a week in job seekers allowance and you need to feed your 2 kids? What I'm getting at here is that everyone has different backgrounds and circumstances. Whether you bet 10p or £10,000 on my selections is up to you, but the best way to manage your money is to have a staking plan.
Have you seen those tipsters out there telling you to "LUMP" on something? I've seen plenty and this truly is the definition of irresponsible betting. Don't get me wrong, it's your decision if you want to lump 100% of your balance on one bet, but if you're reading this article then you're probably looking for a way to manage and control your betting balance, so I'll assume that you're not the type to "LUMP", although you have probably done it in the past and realised your mistake.
A staking system put simply is a guide on how to use your betting balance. Just as you wouldn't spend £800 of your £1000 monthly wage on beer and clothes , leaving you with hardly anything left, you shouldn't lump £80 of your £100 betting balance on Tondela to score the 3rd goal.
There's many staking systems out there, some work and some don't, it's up to you find the one that best suits your betting style. But since I became a more serious gambler, I've always used one system and I'll explain it here for you:
The System
Firstly, those who follow on Twitter may notice I use a 1-3 star system for my bets. You can use stars, points, kippers or cows if you want, but this is a way to translate money into how confident you are. So a 1 star bet would be the least confident, and a 3 star bet would be the most confident. You can use 1-5 if you like, but remember that your maximum "stars" is equal to up to 5% of your current betting balance.
1 star = 0-2% of betting bank
2 stars = 2-4% of betting bank
3 stars = 4-5% of betting bank
So let's say you have £268 in your balance and I tip a 2 star bet for you to get on. 3% would be £8.04 on this selection, which may not seem like a lot. But if you also like the bet then edge it more towards 4%, whereas if you're not confident, you could knock it back to 2%. A £10 bet here will probably be about right for you, but I guarantee that many of you out there would see a 2 star bet and with £268 in your bank would be betting £28, £48 or £68 because you like to round your balance down to look even!
Why use a staking plan? To manage your money really, that's about it. Again using the example of having £268 in your account, here's what a person without a plan would do:
Bet £38 on a selection and lose, leaving £230. Bet £30 on a selection and lose, leaving £200.
Chase those losses with a £100 bet and lose, leaving £100
Chase again with a £100 bet and lose, leaving nothing.
It's that easy to lose your balance when you're betting to chase and without a clear plan in place. But if you had £268 in your balance and used the above plan, do you know how many losses you'd have to hit in a row to lose it all? No? Any guesses? Well there isn't really an answer, but if you were betting an average of 2.5% per selection, after 100 losses in a row you would still have £20 in your account.
So if staking plans are so amazing, why doesn't everyone use them? Discipline is the simple answer here. I can't teach you that, you need to learn it yourself. After a bad run it's so easy to just think "fuck it I'll put it all on a cert". If you can maintain your discipline regardless of the tips you're getting on, you won't go far wrong, trust me!
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