how much is a unit?

if my bankroll is $560 to $600 how much should a unit be and how much units can I bet in a day? im thinking $20 a unit and 9 to 10 units avilable to bet. ust need to get things ready for next season

It's really a matter of personal taste. Generally speaking, most suggest sticking around 5% of your bankroll. As far as number of picks, it's again up to you. Personally, I'd rather make one or two a day at the most, but others make many more. Baseball has up to 15 games a day over 180+ days, so there's really no need to make 10 daily bets. Obviously, this changes in a sport like football where every game of the week is on a single day. The main thing is to maintain a level of money management which doesn't put you in a position to lose all of your money in a matter of days. The 5% can vary, but no pick is ever such a sure winner that you should put your bankroll on it exclusively. Those who are successful win over the long haul, and that requires good management of your funds. Just use good judgement and avoid chasing losses and you should be okay. Often, I see people insulting people because they are small bettors, but what's more important to you? Do you gradually build up a bankroll using a unit size you can afford, or do you overreach and bet behind your means in an attempt to impress someone on an internet forum? Hopefully, you choose the former. $20-30 seems about right for someone in your position. Good luck. I'm by no means the foremost expert on gambling, but that's my 2 cents. Good luck.

5% of my bankroll per bet or maximum I should spend a day?

Per bet

argh thats only 1.5 unit per bet. I was thinking of this structure: 3 unit 3 unit 2 unit 1 unit wagers

It's your money, so the only opinion that matters is yours. If that is what you want to do, go for it. The main idea is just to remain steady. No 'I'm dropping the bomb on this or that' bullshit.

thing is if I release up to 9 units a day on bets that $180 out of my $560-600 bankroll, would you think that would be too dangerous

My bankroll strategy: 1 Unit = 2% of my total bankroll, adjusted accordingly twice a month. Each game I wager on is for exactly 1 Unit, no matter how much of a 'lock' I think the game is. This strategy forces you to stay disciplined, which is every bit as important as picking winners in this racket. Hope it helps...||clover.gif' border=0>

maybe instead of 1 unit = $20 I should switch it to $10?

I agree with the last two posts. Value Investor is right on.||thumbs_up.gif' border=0> Read his post again. Then make all your bets $ 10. Forget about 'units' My .02 worth.

so I have the following system of two 3 unit wagers, one 2 unit wager and one 1 unit wager for a total of 9 units so $90 bet in total a day from a $600 roll

a unit is whatever you want it to be. $10, $100, whatever. if you have $600 you shouldn't want to risk more than $100 at one time. so if you have 3 games maybe you'd play $30 each. if you get hot bet more when the roll goes up, when you get cold back off a bit. most players do the opposite and aren't sucessful that way. if you are conservative with your bankroll you will keep it longer. if you wanna fire $300 on a couple games then you may flame out pretty quickly

foth- Pay attention to what Value Investor said. With a $600 bankroll, your bet should be $ 12. Forget units. $ 12 per bet, no matter how GREAT the bet might look to you. GL

I'm a little crazy but this is how I started my degenerate career. I started making bets with a unit being 5% of my bankroll (I know, a little high). Initially making wagers of 1 to 3 units depending on my confidence in the game or games. When I doubled my bankroll, I re-adjusted my unit amount and did it again. The third time around, my unit spread went from 1 to 5 units per game. The fourth time, I adjusted my unit average again and that's where I am at right now. I realize I was lucky and quadrupled my money pretty quick. Don't expect these kind of results for everybody. Be patient and take risks on the games you feel good about. This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Don't go overboard, remember this is for entertainment. Only bet what you can honestly afford to lose. Good luck!

1 unit should be between 2 and 3 % of your bankroll.

Do whatever you want. $600. isn't a bankroll. It's pocket change. Get a real bankroll of at least 5K before you start worrying too much about money management. By the way, a generally accepted standard of what a unit is (as it relates to a bankroll) is 1%. A 2-3 unit max bet is also standard for a sensible money management strategy.

All of mine are 5% of my bankroll at the time. I either like it enough to play it or I don't so I don't get into the multiple units thing.

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I like what a lot of people have said here about a unit being 2%-3%. However, I read this book one time, I believe it was called "The Ceasars Palace Book Of Sports Betting", there was a money management method in there called the "Kelley Criterion". I love it, some people hate it, here's how it goes... Let's say you have a system for betting NBA totals and you know from several seasons of analysis that this system will, on average, pick 57% winners. There's several factors into how much you should bet, if you want to optimize your potential winnings, or so the theory says. The formula is... P = (W - (L/V))/100 P stands for percentage of the bankroll to bet W stands for number of expected wins per 100 bets L stands for number of expected losses per 100 bets V stands for the vigorish of the bet OK, so in this case V is the only thing we don't know off hand and it's real easy to figure out. If you're betting a -110 line the vig = 100/110 or 0.909090, if you're betting a -120 line the vig is 100/120 or 0.833333. The vig is basically 100/(number you must lay to make 100). So, lets say you are betting at a shop where you lay -109.3, the vig is 100/109.3 or 0.9149. (Yes, I picked that number to make the math easier). OK so now we have... P = (57 - (43/.9149))/100 which leads to... P = 0.10001 round it to... P = 0.10 OK, so if you pick 57% versus a -109.3 line, and you want to maximize, you should bet 0.10 (10%) of you bankroll per bet. OK, so what if you have a $1000 bankroll and you have 11 picks that day? $100*11 bets is $1100 which is more than you have. Personally, I assume each bet is a loser and bet accordingly. If I know I should be betting 10% per game, that means that I should have 90% of my bankroll left after every game so I do the following... $1000*.9 = $900 (1 bet) $900*.9 = $810 (2 bets) $810*.9 = $729 (3 bets) $729*.9 = $651 (4 bets) $651*.9 = $590 (5 bets) $590*.9 = $531 (6 bets) $531*.9 = $478 (7 bets) $478*.9 = $430 (8 bets) $430*.9 = $378 (9 bets) $378*.9 = $348 (10 bets) $348*.9 = $313 (11 bets) $1000-313 = $687 risked on those 11 games, which is $62 per game. Now why is this better than flat betting? You have $1000 and you are betting $100 per game in flat bets. You lose 10 in a row and you are done. Now, lets say you use Kelley, you lose 10 in a row and you still have $348. You always have a shot of coming back with Kelley. Now lets say you win 10 in a row. With flat betting, you won $1000, with Kelley you win more because you bankroll is larger after every bet which means you bet more. Kelly makes you bet more win you win and less when you lose.

Kelly makes you bet more win you win and less when you lose. ||confused.gif' border=0> If you knew when you were going to win and when you were going to lose, you wouldn't need it anyway.......

i think he meant kelly makes you bet more after you win and less after you lose.

I think a unit is generally 1% of your bank roll, and I actually agree to a certain degree that you probably should never risk more than 5-10% of your bank roll per day, because a bad day can kill you in a hurry. some people may have 50k bank roll, and their 1 unit will be much higher than someone who has a 5k bank roll. It is all about money management and too many people are too caught up on the "win big" factor, and it only takes one bad bet to really kill your bank roll

Dwayne, why did you bring this thread back, it was 2 months old

big L, Maybe because he wanted to actually contribute to this discussion||an_light.gif' border=0>

I personally like to bet 5% of my bankroll. I tried breaking it down into units but I would sometimes win the small plays then lose the big ones. That sucks when you go 5-2 and don't make a good profit. If you do use units you should have your max bet at 5% then break it down. Never bet more than 5% on one game. Trust me it's worth it, you may not turn over a huge profit but in the long run you will. I have been real choppy in the NFL this year going 1-6 and 9-1, just reall bad stats. But using only 5% of my current bankroll I'm down a total of 10%, so a losing week doesn't hurt me too much. It's all about the long term.