Bookmaker limits and financial strategies

Today we'll talk about everything related to the financial side of betting. About how to correctly identify a working bankroll, about financial strategies for distributing the bank, about limits in bookmakers and their impact on the strategies of players.

What is a betting bankroll and how to form it correctly?

The bankroll is the bettor's main working tool. Without a decent bankroll, it makes no sense to start betting, because with the allocation of a small amount, you will have to inadequately increase the risks in order to earn at least something. In such a situation, betting will turn from a reasonable investment in gambling, which will most likely end up draining all funds.

Of course, it is impossible to name a specific amount, because everyone has different opportunities. For some, 100 thousand rubles is a lot of money, but for someone even 3 million is a trifle. Of course, the bankroll should correspond to your average income - it is not very reasonable to allocate a million rubles for bets, earning so much in three years.

You need to proceed from two criteria:

1. Losing your entire bankroll shouldn't be critical for you. You must admit the thought that you can lose it, because betting is a high-risk investment environment. You can focus on your average income for 1-2 months.

1. Winning an amount of about 2-5% of the total bankroll should please you and motivate you to work further. 2-5% is about the same as you will receive from one successful transaction. 100-200 rubles from a successful bet can hardly inspire someone, respectively, 5000-10,000 rubles cannot be called a full-fledged bank.

***

From the first criterion, it follows that in no case should you form a bankroll from the last, borrowed, postponed for other needs and, moreover, other people's money. This should be a clear amount that you are deliberately prepared to invest in betting long term. It is highly desirable to put it on a separate card or electronic wallet and take out only the net profit from there based on the results of individual periods of the distance.

***

Bankroll rules

You do not need to immediately start your entire bank at bookmakers. Nowadays, you can only trust individual bookmakers, in particular, professional bookmakers like Pinnacle. But you shouldn't start the whole bank with them either. It will be much safer and more profitable to keep your game bankroll on a separate Visa or Mastercard.

Firstly, such cards are accepted everywhere, in all bookmakers. Secondly, the balance of the card will clearly reflect your betting success, and it will be much easier to keep records. Thirdly, bank cards are the most reliable way to store electronic money. And, fourthly, you can easily redistribute funds across different bookmakers by choosing the most profitable coefficient, thereby further increasing the profitability of your game.

***

By the way, the best way to find the best odds is to use the BetMAX browser extension. The extension is able to find the best odds for the chosen outcome among the lines of hundreds of bookmakers within a couple of seconds, increasing the bettor's profit indicators from literally every bet.

***

Another important point is to select a specific currency of the card account in advance and create accounts in bookmakers in the same currency. If you plan to play with legal bookmakers, the Russian ruble will do. If only in offshore companies, then choose the dollar or the euro. This will allow you to avoid losses on the constant conversion of funds from one currency to another.

Financial strategies for distributing the bankroll in bets

Financial systems are the most important aspect of betting. Many newbies underestimate their value, which results in a quick drain of funds. In fact, the distribution of the bank is no less important than the general strategy of predictions, according to which the bettor makes bets.

There are many financial strategies for the distribution of the bank. Some of them are academic and adequate, some are too risky and aggressive. In general, all strategies can be divided into two types: static systems and progressive systems. Let's consider them in more detail.

Static distribution systems

These are the most adequate and safe strategies of the game, they are used by most professionals. They are reliable, conservative, working on them, it is enough to observe the game discipline to keep their bankroll alive for many years.

1. Flat and its varieties. We have already discussed this system in detail in one of the materials. Let's briefly repeat the point: a flat is a fixed rate on all outcomes. The amount of the bet in money, the percentage of the current bank or the amount of payment can be fixed, but the main principle remains unchanged - plus or minus a stable bet size for all outcomes. Adequate flat size: 1-5% of the bank. The smaller, the lower the risks of draining.

1. Kelly criterion. This is a rather complex system, it is suitable for professional players who deeply understand sports and the principles of value betting. We will definitely discuss it in more detail in one of the following materials, and the brief essence is to select the size of the bet depending on the volume of value in the chosen outcome.

1. Miller's system. Super-conservative bankroll distribution system, perfectly calculated mathematically. Miller's principles have been around for over forty years, but they still remain the cornerstone of financial strategies for many players around the world. We will also discuss Miller's system in more detail sometime.

Overall, static bankroll distribution systems are the ideal model for professional betting. All pros and those who strive to play correctly choose them. And they ignore the progressions, which will be discussed below.

Progressive distribution systems

The general name for progressive systems does not come from the word "progress", but from the word "progression". Their essence lies in the progressive increase in the size of subsequent bets, depending on the previous results. All of them are good only on paper, but in practice they demonstrate the inevitable bankroll drain in a fairly short time.

1. Dogon (aka Martingale). An archived system of playing with odds of about two, which we discussed in detail in one of our recent materials. Its essence lies in the constant doubling of the bet on loss, until a victory is achieved, beating off all losses. Sounds good, but the Dogon has much more disadvantages than advantages.

1. D'Alembert system. The principle is the same here, but the size of the bet grows not exponentially, but in arithmetic progression. And when a win is achieved, it is proposed to return not to the beginning of the cycle, but to the previous step. A less dangerous system than catching up, but still it will inevitably lead one day to drain the entire bankroll.

1. A series of Fibonacci numbers. Another progression that suggests increasing the size of the bet after losing a certain number of numbers. This sequence of numbers was developed by the 13th century mathematician Fibonacci. It is clear that he did not develop it for betting, and it is completely incomprehensible why this should work for sports betting.

1. Ladder. The most popular strategy for beginners and pops. The bottom line is the following: the starting amount is taken and consecutively bet all-in for small odds. So in 10-15 steps, you can disperse a couple of hundred rubles to a five-digit amount, but the chances of a drain, of course, are much higher. This system has many names and varieties, read more about the "ladder" in our separate material.

In fact, much more progressions have been invented - Oscar Grind, the Danish system, the Labouchere strategy, Jifen, overclocking and many other scary words. And each has a dozen more modifications. In practice, all of them are not viable, and the game on them is largely tied not to skill, but to the luck of the bettor. Draining at a distance is guaranteed, and the only question is how much money you will be lucky to earn and actually spend in front of it.

The only adequate use of these systems in correct betting is an attempt to overclock a very small bank to values ​​acceptable for static bank distribution systems. { {1}} Another use is entertainment. If you want to get only adrenaline and strong emotions from bets, then progressive bankroll distribution systems will do just fine. They entertain perfectly well, but you can only get profit on them for a short time, and even then, if you are lucky.

***

Summing up all of the above, we can draw the following conclusion: static financial strategies are suitable for strong, academic betting, and progressive ones - for entertainment and getting emotions.

***

Bookmaker limits

Limiting the maximum bet size is one of the factors that complicate the bettor's game according to the chosen financial strategy. This mainly concerns the game by progressions - the player quickly runs into the ceiling of the limit, and is not able to continue the catch-up or other strategy.

But the limits also interfere when playing on static systems. This is especially noticeable when playing on smallmarkets. A rare bookmaker gives more than a couple of thousand rubles to bet on such outcomes, and with a good bank, this greatly reduces the bettor's potential profit. Limits are also severely limited for professional arbers - those who make money on arbitrage situations.

Maximum bet limits depend on several things:

1. The popularity of the sport in general. Football always has the highest limits for all bookmakers. For tennis, basketball and smaller hockey, and for some darts or squash they will only give you a few thousand rubles.

1. The popularity of the competition in the chosen sport. The limits for the Champions League will be much higher than the third football league in Greece. And there is such a gradation for each sport.

1. The popularity of the chosen outcome in the painting. On the main line of the event (match outcome, handicap, total, double chance) will always be given a lot more than on some statistical outcome hidden deep in the list.

In addition, there is the problem of individually set limits for each player, which will be discussed later in this material.

Cutting limits in bookmaker

Bookmakers tailored for recreational players (and their vast majority) often abuse such an option as cutting the bet limits. They simply cut the size of the maximum bet in those markets where the bettor shows a plus to ridiculous values ​​(sometimes even to one ruble), and the account actually becomes unusable.

This method cannot be called ethically honest and fair, but it is a reality that every bettor should be ready for. At least one that plans to play correctly and profit from sports betting. The only way to counter this arbitrariness is to create more and more accounts for the data of relatives, friends, acquaintances, and then drops.

A few tips to extend the life of each account:

1. Dilute your professional bets with frankly popan variants - express bets, ladders, systems, chains, wild odds. Also, playing "fast games", slots, betting on virtual sports in offshore companies helps.

1. Avoid bets on especially large amounts and do not make one-time withdrawals of very large amounts.

1. If your forecasting strategy is related to statistics and playing on smallmarkets, try to balance the number of single bets on large markets in popular sports.

1. Participate in bonus programs, all kinds of contests and promotions that bookmakers regularly arrange. Unless, of course, the conditions are very difficult to fulfill.

In general, mimic the behavior of the recreational player as much as possible. You will have to allocate a part of the profit for this, but each of your game accounts can live for several months longer.

***

If we take Russian bookmakers, then absolutely everything cuts the accounts there at the slightest hint of the potential danger of a bettor for the bookmaker. The only difference is how quickly the highs will be cut. Large offices like Marathonbet, Pari Match or Fonbet will allow you to play longer, while small ones (Betcity, Zenitbet, Betteri) can limit the limits after two or three successful bets.

***

Are there unlimited offices?

You probably won't find absolutely unlimited ones on the Internet. To wager a gigantic amount, you have to go to an offline high roller bookmaker - in Monaco, Las Vegas or Atlantic City.

But there are a number of bookmakers with very decent limits - over a million rubles for the outcome, if we talk about big markets. And even for smalls they accept orders of magnitude more money than the above-described bookmakers.

We are talking about professional Asian bookmakers, the main of which are Pinnacle and SBObet. Here, even in the statistical markets from deep painting, you can find delicious limits of $ 500-1000. And most importantly, you can be sure that these limits will remain in your account forever, even if you beat these markets on an ongoing basis. And in some cases they can even expand.

Professional bookmakers declare their loyalty to profitable bettors, professional players and even arbers. They do not oppose them, do not cut limits and do not put a spoke in the wheels. Such offices earn on a margin (by the way, quite low) from the turnover of large players, and they are happy with that. In addition, professional bettors help the bookmaker to assess the accuracy of their line in all directions.

Also, there are no account cuts on betting exchanges - Betfair, Betdaq, Smarkets, Matchbook and so on. The exchanges earn a direct percentage of every profitable player's trade, so it makes no sense for them to limit anyone. The only limit that is present here is finding an opposite market of the same volume for making a deal.