Bankroll Management
The discipline of sizing bets to survive variance and grow wealth long-term.
Bankroll management is how you size bets to avoid ruin while growing your capital. Even with a genuine edge, poor bankroll management can lead to going broke before the edge manifests.
Core principles: 1. Never bet more than you can afford to lose — treat your bankroll as risk capital 2. Fixed-fraction staking — bet a consistent percentage of your bankroll rather than fixed amounts 3. Kelly sizing — mathematical optimum for long-run growth (most use quarter-Kelly) 4. Diversification — spread across multiple independent bets, not one large stake 5. Drawdown limits — if you lose 30% of bankroll, re-evaluate your strategy
OddsIntel's model parameters:
- Quarter-Kelly sizing (0.25 × Kelly fraction)
- Maximum 1% of bankroll per bet
- 50% stake reduction after 3 bets in the same league (correlation risk)
Good bankroll management is the difference between professional bettors who last decades and punters who blow up within a season.
Common Questions
What bankroll should I start with?
Whatever you can afford to lose entirely. A practical starting point is 50–100 units where one unit is 1% of bankroll. This gives enough runway to see edge materialize over 500+ bets.