Getting The Best Out Of Betting Systems

• Only bet with money you can afford to lose

Set up a betting bank. Once you have settled on the size of your bank you can work out exactly how much to stake on each bet. You can also record and track your success as your bank grows or decreases. It is vital that you protect your bank and never expose it to unnecessary risk. We've outlined an effective banking strategy below.

• Find the right system

Find a system that has experienced consistent results over a long period of time. Research & paper trade the system before putting down your own money. Do the necessary homework to make sure that you understand the rules and are 100% comfortable with the system.

• Be disciplined

• Take a long term approach

Don’t give up on a proven system if you experience early losses. Accept that you will experience winning and losing streaks. The important thing is to focus on the overall upward trend. REMEMBER: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GET RICH QUICK BETTING SYSTEM.

• Be patient

Never bet for the sake of it – always wait for the right opportunity.

• No distractions

Make sure you are 100% focussed on the job at hand. Distractions can lead to costly mistakes and lapses in judgement.

• Don't rely on just 1 system - adopt a portfollio approach

Adopting a diverse portfollio of betting systems that support and compliment each other will increase the likelihood of losing streaks in some systems being balanced out by winning streaks in others. As long as the systems are proven over time, the end result should be an increasing bank.

Banking Strategy

Below we've outlined a very effective banking strategy. Having the right approach to money management is absolutely crucial to becoming a successful bettor. We've used the top-rated Cherry Picks results to outline how it works (these are actual results for the period April 8th - September 26th 2011).

Once you've settled on the size of your betting bank (£1,000 in the example below), work out what 0.5% of it is and this will be the size of your stake on day 1. At the end of day 1, your new bank balance is carried forward to the start of day 2 and your stake becomes 0.5% of this balance. So, looking at day 1 in the example below, the system lost 6.51 points using stakes of £5 (0.5% of the opening bank balance) - this meant a loss of £32.55. The opening bank balance for day 2 therefore was £967.45 (£1,000 - £32.55) and the stakes for day 2 changed to £4.83 (0.5% of £967.45).

You carry on in this fashion, changing your stakes according to the size of your opening betting bank balance each day until the end of day 7. At the end of day 7, if your closing bank balance is larger than your opening bank balance on day 1 (i.e. if you've made a profit over the 7 days), withdraw half of your profits. So, for week 1 in the example below, the closing balance on day 7 is £1,146.34 - a profit of £146.34 over the 7 days (£1,146.34 - £1,000). Half of this amount is withdrawn (£73.17), making your opening bank balance for the start of week 2 £1,073.17 (£1,146.34 - £73.17). If you make a loss over 7 a day period, don't withdraw any money. Likewise, never withdraw money if your bank balance is lower than your original starting bank, even if you have made a profit that week.

Over a 23 week period (161 days), the original £1,000 starting bank has grown to £1,336.29 and and an extra £1,509.38 has been withdrawn. That works out at an overall profit of £1,845.67. If you had used £5 stakes for the whole period you'd have made £1,520 - a difference of £325.67.

One of the key aspects of this banking strategy is the regular withdrawals from a growing bank. It's vital to prevent your bank from getting too big as a losing streak can quickly eat up weeks and weeks of hard-earned profit. It's also good to be able to enjoy spending your winnings on a regular basis.