Money Management for Recreational Bettors

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Money Management
Money Management for Recreational Bettors
By John Rayzor
Jun 10, 2007 - 12:31:35 PM

If you've come to the conclusion that you prefer to make some wagers with your heart rather than with your head, and that sometimes you just have to bet your team, you're a recreational gambler. Without getting into the long winded talk about whether betting in such a manner is a wise way to spend your time or your money, I'll just provide the simple reminder that if you are betting as "entertainment" you should only be using money that your current lifestyle, job, WIFE, budget, etc... leaves you each month for entertainment.

That said, I can now give you some simple pointers to help you avoid blowing all of your bankroll before the season ends.

First and foremost, determine your bankroll, or in other words, what you can afford to LOSE. I use LOSE here because if you are a recreational gambler, you have to think of this money as "entertainment" and not be upset if at the end of the season, the $500 you started with to wager at $10 a game is all gone. That being said, you have to take a realistic look at your real life expenses, and decide what kind of money you can afford to wager.

If you decide that after all is said and done (and your wife has taken her cut) you can easily blow $300 a month without ill effects, then its time to do some simple math. If you decide that you are an NFL guy, and you want to bet the Monday Night game every week, as well as two or three each Sunday, you need to see where that leaves you. Assuming 4 weekends per month, and 4 games per weekend, you are looking at 16 wagers a month. If you have $300 to go with, that makes your wager just a shade under $20 a pop. If you can cut your wagers to a flat 15 a month you can bet each game at $20 even. And this is exactly what I recommend you do.

Forget goofy star systems, Kelly Criterions, or betting big on your "Locks," just pick your 15 games a month, every month, and make a flat $20 wager (or whatever you bankroll permits) and hope you can hit a decent percentage so next month you wont have to pony up a full $300 to keep rolling.

To add to the chance you can roll your money over month after month and continue on the same bankroll, see if you cannot find a sportsbook that has reduced juice on a certain day (10.5/10 which many online sportsbooks offer on different days of the week). Or if you have a reasonable, trustworthy, and similarly positioned betting buddy, see if you cannot bet one another on games in which you disagree to avoid paying any juice at all.

If this all seems a bit mundane, and you'd prefer to spice things up with some more risky bets or have some higher dollars on the line, I don't have much in the way of advice that will truly save your bankroll. Perhaps betting a buck on some insane moneyline parlay of four or five teams each week to win a few hundred might keep things interesting without to adversely affecting your pocketbook, but if you like to go from $20 wagers to chasing late night with $100 moneyline bets on the dog, I doubt any money management system will be something you adhere to.

Quite frankly, the simplest money management system for the recreational bettor plugs you into simple flat bets over time within the limits of your bankroll so if you hit somewhere around dead average (50%) it will take a good long time to widdle away what you have and will make it pretty easy for you to chalk the losses up to "entertainment costs."