Money Management Help

First off, let me say that my unit size in $1.00.  Yes, that's right one tiny little US Dollar.

In my opinion any progression system is not that good at all, chasing losses (bad money management) is I think, the #1 reason to go bankrupt. 

Great thread Buckeye. To me, I think chasing is one of the few ways for the average better to actually make money in sports investing.  I know many people will disagree (rightfully so) but I'm guessing that most people here do not wager enough per bet to ever make any serious money in this.  During my best couple of years I would average 80 units a year, betting $10 a game.  A $100 unit gets me $8000 a year, but that's with all of the time invested handicapping. That's not much money per hour.  If I was wagering $1000 a game, I still wouldn't be making enough to support a family on it, and there is no way that I'll ever wager $1000 a game, or ever have the bankroll for it (nor would I want the stress that goes along with it.)  So, by chasing it allows me to make 40 units in two weeks (that's what I've been making lately.) 

Now, three big chase losses could destroy my bankroll, but I know that I'm not going to make any serious money anyway; I do this so that I can stay in the game, respond on these forums, and be a part of the sports investing "family."  If I get my bankroll to a respectable size, then maybe I'll re-evaluate how I do things. 

I do agree that one would need to keep the unit size very small, as to not stress out over chases and to make it easier to recover losses.  Lately I've been playing the with idea of spreading out my (A) game losses amongst my remaining (B) games and any new chases that I begin.  That way I won't have a huge bet if a game goes to a (D) game.  For example, if I have 10 A games, and I lose 4, I will spread out my 4-losses amongst the remaining B games and any new A games that I will be playing.  I'll let every one know how it goes.

One final thing that I do, if I have a really good chase day, I just eat the losses and don't continue chasing my losing series.  That has saved me a few series losses.  For example, Hat's chase system went 14-2 yesterday.  I won't be chasing the two losing games.  I will take my 10 unit win that day and be happy with it.  Good luck guys. 

If you use a chase system, I like the idea of setting a certain amount for your bankroll and place your bets accordingly. I never expose more than 20-25% of my bankroll to any one chase system. So if you have a $4000 bankroll, I'd maybe put $1000 on a system I like. If it is a chase where you are betting on heavy faves, I set my betting unit to losing 2 back to back 3 game chases with the lines being -200 or so. In this case, chasing for 3 games at -200 each game would be a loss of $520 with a $20 unit size.

That being said, I've personally been trying to limit my chases on any heavy faves. I'm really liking my 2 team parlay chase on dogs. It is an 8 game chase with set betting amounts. One could easily modify it to a 10 game chase or more with the same total risk spread out over these bets. I find it less stressful to bet these set amounts for a much bigger return than chasing heavy favorites.