In the last post we talked about getting the fundamentals right when setting up your betting portfolio. The first fundamental we considered, quite naturally, was about picking the right tipsters and not taking an unnecessary gamble with exactly who you decide to follow. The point being made was that whilst there are so many good services available, that are professionally run and proven to be profitable to the SBC, that there was no reason at all to look for tipsters elsewhere.
This is just the start though. There are other considerations that should be given due attention before you take the plunge and start betting, and one such important consideration is what I want to talk about in this post.
Financial management
It is essential to know, before you start, how much you will be staking on each selection your tipster provides you with. This means being crystal clear in your own mind exactly what proportion of your overall betting bank you are dedicating to the service, how many points that bank consists of, and what the monetary value of that point is, ie. your £/point or €/point.
Say you have decided to follow four tipsters and for ease of figures have £8,000 available as a betting bank. It is my opinion that when starting out it is sensible to share your resources equally between the tipsters you are following, so in this case, £2,000 per service.
So you’ve read the reviews in the SBC’s betting magazines and have settled upon the four services you wish to sign up to. Within those reviews you will have noted the recommended points betting bank that the SBC suggest. From there it’s easy to calculate your stakes for each service.
Let’s say we have a portfolio that looks something like this:
Service 1: recommended bank of 100 points.
Service 2: recommended bank of 80 points.
Service 3: recommended bank of 50 points.
Service 4: recommended bank of 100 points.
For Services 1 and 4 we’ll be backing at £20/point, ie. £2,000/100. So if Service 1 – a horse racing service – advises a bet carrying a stake of 0.5 points each way, our stake will be £10 each way.
And so on…Service 2 will carry a stake of £25/point, and Service 3 £40/point. Easy.
Having a clear vision.
All of this sounds (and is) extremely straightforward and obvious. But, I feel strongly that this basic exercise is something you must do before you actually start betting. It is essential that as you carry on with your betting, that you keep your mind as focused and as clear as it possibly can be. If you don’t, you will find that you grow more vulnerable to making rash decisions when things go badly, which they inevitably will from time to time.
I remember not long after I started betting “properly” that I went through a bad run. It was then that I started messing about with my staking making basic mistakes such as reducing the stakes of the services that were losing and increasing the stakes of those that were doing ok. Of course the inevitable then happens and I subsequently understake the services that had been losing but recover, and was staking more on the services that were doing ok but then went through a poor patch! You’ll be amazed how common a mistake this is to make!
If you have your financial plan absolutely set in stone (and put it in writing too, as it helps to focus the mind) then it is easier to keep your mind clear and thinking rationally when the testing times begin. I can’t emphasise strongly enough how much success in betting is reliant on a consistent and clear mental approach…so start as you mean to go on!
Betting from Friday 6th January to Friday 13th January
It’s been an excellent week that produced an ROI of 31.94% and bank growth of 2.69%.
The top performer was Northern Monkey who came up with a stormer on Tuesday (Gracious Tom – Southwell – 11/2). It wasn’t the odds that made the bet, but the staking of 0.75pts on the win and 0.5pts on the place. Nice. Thursday also produced the goods (Final Venture – Meydan – 10/1) , but these two horses were merely the highlights – there were other winners.
Morning Value Service enjoyed a very strong week with numerous (five) winners to push it into profit for the month and Chasemaster poked it’s nose out of the red and into the black on the back of a couple of winners too.
In fact the only services not showing a profit so far in 2017 are Football Service 1 which has had just the one bet so far, and Racing Service A which has hardly been prolific with it’s tipping either.
Here are the figures for the month to date:
Chasemaster: Staked 10pts, +0.45pts.
Jason James: Staked 57.5pts, +33.891pts.
Morning Value Service (Lite): Staked 17pts, +2.375pts.
Northern Monkey: Staked 22.66pts, +17.302pts.
Racing Service A: Staked 2.375pts, -2.375pts.
Racing Service B: Staked 35pts, +14.533pts.
Football Service 1: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
Pinpoint Golf: Staked 14.625pts, +5pts.
January’s performance to date: ROI 38.4%, ROC 5.55%.
