Money Management

Few people who wager on sports are long term winners.  Some are poor handicappers who fail to due sufficient research before making a wager; however, the top reason that handicappers lose is because of poor, or nonexistent, money management.

To be successful at sports betting, you must realize that if your bankroll is gone, so are you.  Set yourself up with a reasonable bankroll at the start of the season and wager accordingly.  Resist the temptation to bet beyond your bankroll and you will be able to make more wagers, win more (or lose less) and enjoy the season without the pressure to win before you rip through your bankroll.

To win at sports betting, you must:

(1)    Pick winners.  No matter how carefully you manage your bankroll, you must ultimately pick more winners than losers.  Nothing will help you to survive the NFL season if you do not make winning wagers.  Nothing!  Handicapping the NFL takes time, so if you think you can make your picks after Sunday's breakfast, be prepared for disappointment.  If you don't time to do research or aren't having good results given the effort you've put in, then you should consider finding a solid handicapping service to do the work for you.  Understand, I mean a solid, realistic service.  Do you homework in choosing a handicapper.  Look for good value and a realistic approach.  Be weary of anyone that doesn't post their results or promises "100,000 star games of the month"  -don't buy into the hype.

(2)    Have more than one place to make a wager, more commonly know as "outs," among sports bettors.  I can't tell you how many times a ½ point is the difference between winning or losing.  Shop the line, get the best deal for your money.  It adds up.  Most of the lines posted by Micks Sports Handicapping Services are taken from composite likes presented by wagerline.com.  What we look for in a book is first a solid reputation - after that, it's a matter of personal preference.  I prefer some of the larger sites that put up lines early (often the night before).   The bottom line is, try not to limit your outs.

(3)    Effectively manage your bankroll.

You can do an average job with handicapping or line shopping and still be standing at the end of the season if you use decent money management.

You must define your bankroll. This is money you are prepared to risk and not have it adversely affect your life.  Not everybody starts out with $50,000 - so don't skip money management if you have a small initial bankroll.  Apply the same money management to a $500 bankroll as you would to one of $50,000.

Wager a percentage of your bankroll on each game.  I use 1% - 5% as a guideline.  Some seasons I don't even have a 5% play.  I consider it  a serious wager because it is such a large part of my bankroll.

Continue to wager 1%-5% of your bankroll per play until it either increases or decreases 10%.  If your bankroll is increased, or decreased by that amount, it is time to re-size your wagers.

For example, if you start with a pretty hefty $5,000 bankroll, a 1% wager is $50, or in our business $55 to win $50; 2% would be $110 and so on up to the largest 5% wager that would be $250.  For more action, you can play more aggressively and use 2 to 5+% as a guideline, which would make your minimum wager on a 5K bankroll $110 and the maximum $250+.  Just remember that while there is a greater reward in using an increased percentage, there is a greater risk of going broke as well.

Suppose you go on a winning streak and the increase your bankroll  to $6,000.  After resizing, your new 1% wager is $60 (or $66 to win $60).  Not a large difference, but enough to increase your winnings over the course of time.  Remember, we are supposed to be in this for the long term.  In the alternate case (losing streak), suppose your bankroll dwindled to $4,000.  After resizing, your new 1% wager is $40 (or $44 to win $40).  This will keep you from going broke and allow you to stay in the game.

The one thing you can do to short-circuit your money management is to play parlays.  I have an opinion about parlays and similar exotic bets.  They aren't for everyone.  They are for the real action-maniacs.  A serious player should resist the urge to play them.  Occasionally, at the conclusion of a big week, you can maybe take a shot at a small parlay or reverse to pad some winnings.  This is really only a consideration when you are ahead, but it's best to not play parlays at all.  Most of all, don't ever play them when you're down - this is a classic form of 'chasing' and it's a recipe for disaster.  Believe me, the landscape is littered with would be handicappers who were parlay players.

As always - Good Luck and good gambling