Staking Plans to Avoid

Following a sensible staking plan plays a very important part in being a successful gambler. It is essential that you avoid following a staking plan that is too aggressive.

I often see it widely discussed that following certain staking plans will give you an edge. This is a completely false.

I have even heard certain so called “tipsters” saying their service only works with a certain staking plan. If a betting service is not profitable to level stakes then it will not sustain long term profit on any staking plan.

Staking plans can only serve to exaggerate or minimize the size of your profits and losses.

Bad staking plans often involve betting large amounts of your bankroll or chasing your losses. These staking plans are overly aggressive and will usually lead to you losing your entire bankroll.

Staking Plans to Avoid

The Martingale

One of the most well known staking plans and also one of the worst. The martingale is often used when betting at odds close to or exactly evens.

The premise of the martingale is simple. Double your bet after a loss until you hit a winner. Then return to your original stake size.

Doing so means that you win all your losses back plus the profit from your original stake.

Sound good? Well it’s not.

When you hit a long losing streak which happens more than you might suspect the system falls apart.

After just 5 losses at £10 stakes you would be betting £320 just to win £10 and after 10 losses you would be betting £10240 just to win a tenner.

As you can see the staking plans quickly spirals out of control and could only work if you had an infinite betting bank and if you had an infinite betting bank you probably wouldn’t be gambling anyway.

Fibonacci

The Fibonacci staking plan is similar to the martingale and is only slightly more sensible.

Following the Fibonacci staking plan involves multiplying your initial stake by the first number in the Fibonacci sequence (which is 1). If that loses you move onto the number which is 1 again. If that bet lost you would multiply your initial stake by 2, then 3, then 5, 8 etc.

Fibonacci Sequence  –  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 etc…

The idea is that by winning a bet you will recover your losses from you last two losing bets, however, much like the martingale, the downfall of this staking plan comes when you hit a losing streak and your stake sizes start to increase very quickly.

Level Staking with Stakes Too Big

This one is not so much a staking plan but more of a mistake people often make when using a level stakes staking plan.

A level stakes staking plan is a fairly sensible way of betting but if you set your initial bet size too large then you become a slave to variance. Even if your following a profitable tipster you will have losing runs.

If your stakes are too big your bankroll may not be able to handle a bad losing run and you could end up losing all your money.

To avoid this I would advise that you have a starting bank of ,at the very least, 200 points.

To work out a point value take your initial bankroll and divide it by 200. This will give you the value of 1 point. This will be the amount you stake on each bet.

If you only start with a bankroll of 50 points you could very easily go bust if you hit a losing run. I personally use a bankroll of 400 points and advise a 200 point bankroll as an absolute minimum.

So what should you do?

It is vital to remember that a staking plan is not a substitute for bad selections. If the selections themselves are not profitable then no staking plan in the world can make them profitable.

Now you know what not to do you can read about the staking plan I personally use and my advise on bankroll management in my post The Basics of Bankroll Management.