A Staking Plan can be thought of as a set of rules regarding how much to bet on any given selection, when placing bets over a period of time.
The most basic and low-risk staking plan is Level Stakes. This is as simple as using a single fixed stake for each bet. A Level Staking Plan does not chase losses; it simply continues placing the same stake time after time.
The Level Staking Plan is what is known as a benchmark. When comparing staking plans, the Level Staking Plan is the baseline we start with.
If you take nothing else away from this blog post, take note of the following:
If a selection system makes a profit to Level Stakes, then that system has a positive edge. If it does not make a profit, there is no staking plan in the world that will turn a negative edge into a positive one. You may get short-term wins, but long term you will lose money. Only if your selection system has a positive edge should you start exploring alternative staking plans.
If your selection system does return a profit to Level Stakes, then welcome to the world of alternative staking plans, where you can certainly increase your profits over Level Stakes.
Let’s have a look at some alternative staking plans.
Staking Plan Examples
Percentage Staking Plan – This starts off as Level Stakes, but as profits increase, the stake increases accordingly. This grows profits over time as the betting bank grows. My personal go to staking plan where I recalculate the stakes daily rather than after each bet. This allows us to place bets without knowing the previous result.
Fibonacci Staking Plan – A sequence-based staking plan based on the famous numerical sequence. The sequence progresses by summing the two preceding numbers: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on.
Any sequence-based staking plan carries a higher degree of risk. For example, if your first bet is £1 and you have seven losing bets, your eighth bet would be £34. An alternative is to use only the first four numbers in the sequence (1, 2, 3, 5) before restarting. By adding these rules, you begin to create a staking plan that protects your bank. There is a big difference between risking £5 and risking £34.
Parlay – You may have heard of an accumulator bet in football—Parlay is the original name. Over a series of bets, you roll over your winnings and use them as the stake for your next bet. If you can get three or four winning bets in a row, your profits can be very good, and the risk is simply the stake of your first bet.
The Parlay Staking Plan is potentially the only staking plan you can use on a selection system that does not make a profit to Level Stakes. It has minimal risk but can produce a nice profit if you get a bit of luck. It is also great fun to use on football bets over the weekend as you follow the results and start supporting teams you’ve never heard of before.
Stop at a Winner – This is a well-known staking plan often used with low odds and a high strike rate. You roll over any loss and increase the stake until you get a winner. The staking plan resets after every winner.
This can be thought of as a sequence-based staking plan with the sequence 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128… You can see very quickly how high-risk this plan is. A stop-loss is normally used, so the sequence may be shortened to keep stakes manageable.
Recovery – As the name suggests, after a losing bet the stake increases to try to claw back any losses. This can be done over any number of bets. If, while trying to recover a loss, you suffer another loss, it can be added to the series, and a new cycle of recovery bets begins. The number of bets/cycles is often four and two, but it can be anything.
By being sensible with the recovery structure, the Recovery Staking Plan can be managed so that it isn’t as high-risk as it initially sounds. However, be in no doubt—it is not Level Stakes.
By now, you are probably realising that there are an infinite number of ways to set up a staking plan. This is where The Staking Machine comes into play. With over 50 fully editable staking plans, you can test which approach suits your risk threshold and your selection system. A full list of Staking Plans can be found in the right hand column of this website.
If you are just starting out and want to record your bets over time, The Staking Machine can be used as a Bet Tracker.
If you have previous bets recorded in a spreadsheet but want to explore different staking plans, The Staking Machine can help with that too. Import your data into TSM and start researching alternative strategies.
If you have access to a selection system and historical data and want to check whether there is an edge, TSM will do that for you as well—simply import your historical data in seconds.
If you don’t yet have a selection system, The Staking Machine can still help. You can use the built-in system builder, Selection Hunter, to start creating your own systems for UK/IRE horse racing and UK greyhound racing. Before long, you’ll have your own selection system. Suddenly your betting hobby becomes slightly more interesting!
Staking plans can take away the emotional side of betting. In the same way they stop you chasing losses, they can stop you placing larger bets just because you have a “feeling.” If that sounds familiar, start exploring staking plans with The Staking Machine software.
