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Staking Plans

Staking plans - learn about staking plans used in betting in order to keep your stakes reasonable
Staking Plans

Level Staking Plan

Level Staking Plan is the most basic and the most common staking plan. It is also known as the Flat Betting Plan. As its name suggests, punter bets the same stake all the time. Experienced punters usually determine the size of the stake according to their starting bankroll. If you, for example, have £1000 as your starting bankroll, and you split this amount into points or units, let’s say 100 points/units, than £10 would represent 1 point or 1 unit. Depending on how often you expect to win your bets and average winning odds, you can then determine your stakes as 5 points, 10 points, or whatever you think it’s appropriate, but it’s bad practice to bet more than 10% of your bankroll on one single event.

The formula for Level Staking Plan is quite simple:

S = (SB /PR)* PPS

S=Stake
SB = Starting Bank Roll
PR = Points Ratio
PPS = Points per Stake

So, if starting bankroll is £1000 and you decide to split it into 100 points or units, and decide what size of your stake is 5 points/units, then according to previous formula level stakes would be:

S = (£1000 / 100) * 5 = £50

Percentage Staking Plan

Percentage Staking Plan is some kind of additional rule to your existing staking plan. The main goal of this staking plan is to avoid bankruptcy when you hit long losing streak or sequence. According to this staking plan, the punter should recalculate his stakes whenever his betting bank reaches some predefined level - for example, if your bankroll increases by 30% or downgrades to 70% of its starting value.

Let’s say starting bankroll is £1000 and you bet level stakes of £50 per bet. If the bankroll grows to £1300 than you could consider increasing your level stakes from £50 to £60. But, if your bankroll downgrades to £500 after losing sequence, then it would be wise to downgrade your stakes too because you are facing bankruptcy if a losing sequence doesn’t end soon.

Secure Staking Plan

Secure Staking Plan is also quite a simple staking plan, but also very effective in protecting your bankroll. It is usually used in betting on horses, where you could be tempted to bet on a horse which is priced 5/1 or 6.00 to win the race. In other words, you are tempted to bet on a horse that is less likely to win. And in situations like this Secure Staking Plan is quite useful.

Secure Staking Plan suggests that you should protect yourself from betting large amounts of money on less likely outcomes. If you use Level Staking Plan and your level stakes are £50, then you should reduce your stakes to let’s say £25 if you plan to back horse priced @6.00 or if you maybe want to back Stoke @35.00 to win at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

Kelly Staking Plan

The Kelly criterion or Kelly strategy or Kelly Staking Plan is a formula used to determine the optimal size of a series of bets. Kelly Criteria was developed in 1956 by John L. Kelly and was designed to maximize the growth of your bank roll over the long term.

The main problem with The Kelly Criteria is estimations of percentages for certain events which are should be better than the bookmakers’ estimations. The formula for determining the optimal size of stakes is:

Stake = ((Odds *Perc) - 1) / (Odds - 1) * 100

Stake = Optimal size of the stake
Odds = Odds offered for certain event by the bookmaker
Perc = Estimation of percentages for certain event
Although this is a simple math formula, you can use out Kelly Calculator to calculate the size of your stakes.