Should You Vary Your Bet Sizes?

Recently I posted about how much you should wager on your bets, and explained why it is best to try to wager only a small percentage of your overall account at any one time, around 3%.  But this brings up another question you probably have as a beginner, and may even have if you have been betting on sports for a while.  Should you always bet exactly 3%?  Or should you occasionally bet more or less?

There are multiple schools of thought on this matter, and some punters do have good results when they vary their bet sizes.  I am of the mind though that it is always best to bet the same percentage.  Note however this does not mean you bet the same unit size.  In other words, if your £500 account has increased to £1,000, it would be silly to continue betting 3% of £500.  You should slowly adjust the £ amount to match your account size.  Likewise, if you suffer drawdown and find yourself with £250, you would not want to keep betting the original £ amount, because that would translate to 6% of your reduced account size!

This example should illustrate the danger quite clearly on its own.  You would lose money at double the rate if you kept it up, and actually, with each loss you would lose even faster.  You can see how this would quickly run an account into the ground.  Always recalculate to get 3% (or whatever similar small percentage you decide to use).

Why shouldn’t you wager more on bets you are more confident about and less on others?  Why not throw 10% or more at that “lock” you just bought?  After all, it is foolproof, isn’t it?

There are a couple of reasons:

• Even the best bets can sometimes fail, and that is especially true in a world where you can only expect around 55-57% winning percentage, and that is when things are going really well.  There are no such things as betting locks.  They are a marketing gimmick.

• Why are you even taking wagers you do not feel that confident about?  You should only ever be taking the ones you feel tempted to bet more on.  Those should be your only wagers, and you should continue to bet the same small percentage on them.  If you are taking other wagers you are less confident about, you are only harming your win percentage.

Now I hope you can see why you should never vary your win percentage much, if at all.  If you do, do it conservatively, and make sure you test your money management plan to prove that it works and that it makes sense.  If you are just starting out, I really recommend you stick with a consistent percentage.  As your account grows or decreases, recalculate so you know how many pounds to put down on your wagers to match that percentage.