What is your daily UNIT MAX on any given day?

[UT-Longhorn]

Just wondering, as my UNIT size is 3% of my entire bankroll, and Ive recently on saturday/sunday risked as many as 6-7 units(around 20% of bankroll at any one time) and am starting to wonder if that may be too much to risk? (since I had my first O-fer day this past Sunday which took a chunk 20% of my bankroll) So what is your max amount of wagers per day? When you lose big, do you retain the same UNIT SIZE? Any thoughts appreciated......

 

[Rudy]

I shudder to think. I am routinely out with 7 or 8 3-5% plays on a busy Saturday or Sunday. I'll occaisionally get to double digits, but I'll reduce play size if so. The seasons in football are too short to not play all the good plays you find (if they are really good). And every now and again I'll catch a big streak in either direction. I've had days when that meant a 20-25% swing in bankroll, and they do seem to cluster more often on the downside, while the back-and-forth days are typically on the upside. Your units should fluctuate accordingly when you are using a percentage method, which truncates your losing streaks and lets you capitalize on hot streaks. What you may find since you started with a losing streak is that you'll eventually climb back above the Mendoza line, yet still be net down because your winning streak came on lower-sized bets. A frustrating artifact of prudent money management.

 

[buddy]

It's about money management.

For newbies, I suggest you pay attention to this definition:

Money management means minimum exposure of your bankroll and conservative wagering until you learn to handicap.

How and when does one learn to handicap?

Until you can answer that question, you must use strict money management.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Question: How does one learn to handicap?

Answer: By admitting you have no idea of what you're doing and being wise enough to ask questions of those who've been doing this for 25 years + and taking notes.

 

[Nick Douglas]

Excellent advice, buddy.

UT,

I must say that I am no longer a supporter of basing wager amounts on a percentage of bankroll. Two main reasons for this. First of all, you open yourself up to terrible days that really can hurt your confidence if you have a large number of plays. Secondly, if you stick to strict percentages there are too many fluctuations in play amounts that can ultimately hurt your bankroll.

I really like the idea of having a daily exposure limit. I think as long as you stay under that limit and keep your plays to about 1/2 or 1/3 of that limit at the absolute most then you will be fine. Your exposure will be limited. It is true that your great days won't reach spectacular levels in most cases but the more important thing is that your bad days won't be big enough to send you into a downward spiral.