(My) Betting bank

First of all I have to make clear that I'm not a professional punter. Sports’ betting is one of my hobbies. Of course my ultimate goal is to make a profit with it. This article describes my thoughts on a betting bank and has nothing to do with a staking plan, nor should it be considered a bible!

I'm betting on sport since 98 or 99. Not continuously but with waves. Active for months until my betting bank dried up.
Then not playing for months/years. Each time when a new football season starts, it starts itching again and I do fund my betting bank again.

Each time when I do need to fund my betting bank with fresh money I had to do this via my real life bank accounts. Funding never exceeded 50 euros. Most of the time it was even less. I never did see it as investments more as lost money.
This time I was lucky because the second month of my wave was so profitable that I directly decided to withdraw my funding from my betting bank back to my real life account. Meaning that I'm playing with free money.

The definition of a betting bank is the same for professional as recreational punters. It is the sum of the money available for sports betting. Of course there are big differences between the sizes of the betting banks between us. But the definition should always be the same.
In my case the betting bank exists of 2 bookmaker accounts and (from now on) a dried out Skrill (aka Moneybookers) account.

The Moneybookers account I have, has it origin when I was playing online poker. But I haven't used it in years. This will change.

My plan:
At the beginning of the each month I will evaluate the money at my bookmakers accounts.
For each bookmaker account a certain limit is installed. When at the first of the month the account exceeds the limit, all the money above the limit will be withdrawn to the Skrill account.

The question is: What is going to be the limit?
I do have a primary and secondary bookie. This is based on the number of bets placed at the account.
Currently the money at Unibet is around 200 euros, at Bwin it is around 20 Euro.
I do feel that 125 Euro should be enough to play at Unibet and 30 should be enough at Bwin.

If the money at the primary bookie account exceeds the limit but the difference is less than the withdrawal limit I will withdraw the minimal withdrawal limit.
Withdrawal at the secondary bookie will only be done, when the difference is also above the withdrawal limit.

Limits can only be changed due to a change in my stacking plan.

Due to the fact that my account at Skrill has dried up. I first need to build it up again. When it is getting healthy, I probably will choose to start each month at my bookies with the exact same amount but this is not an issue at the moment.

Why do I find that it is important to bank some money?
Well there are several reasons for this action:
- Personally I do notice that how higher the account at the bookie is, how bigger the risk and my stakes are on a single betting slip.
  By banking some money, I will try to eliminate this. (Rarely my account had more than 100 euros)
- By doing this I have some money set aside but it is still part of my betting bank. If a bookie accounts does dry up, I can refund it without funding my betting bank.
- We all know what a fantastic feeling it is to win a big bet. But as long as the money stands on a bookie account it isn't profit.  It just does increase the account. I only consider profit a profit, when it is returned to my real life account.
- If deposit bonuses pop up, I can quickly react on it, without the need to fund my betting bank.
- The money on the online account can be considered safe. We all know the feeling to take more risk to compensate a big loosing bet (The tilt factor as they like to call it in Poker) or even when we are placing drunk bets :). Money which isn't on the bookie can be considered safe in respect to this.
- It makes it much easier to shift money between the bookies without involving my real life account!

These are my main reasons to set up my betting bank, like described above.
The ultimate goal is to withdraw money from my Skrill account to my real life account. Only when this is done, it can be considered a profit.

Remarks, additions of thoughts are always welcome.

Cheers,
Dremeber

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For me Skrill is the best solution in the implementation of all payment transactions on the bookmaker's account. It is also worth noting that this is a very clever solution with two bookmakers. But I would rather choose the bookmakers, who have high limits so I will not have to worry about if I will have a limit placing a bet or withdrawing the winnings. As for me, the best bookmaker is Pinnacle, which has the highest odds, with high limits on single bets. To be honest I've never had problems with it and I am pleased with the support.