“Winning isn’t everything it’s the only thing” famous words spoken by the great Vince Lombardi. A statement that we here Sharp Money Sports not only fully agree with but strive to attain on a daily basis. With that being said if Lombardi was in the gaming industry his statement may have sounded more like “winning isn’t everything but how you manage your winnings is.” Which brings us to our money management strategy here at Sharp Money. Let’s first begin by stating simple fact. You cannot win every game. Any Handicapper that tells you he is in the 80’s or even high 70’s in winning percentage on a consistent basis is flat out lying. As a goal here at Sharp Money we strive to keep our winning percentages in the 60’s (very realistic and very good). But all the great handicapping in the world will not do any good if you cannot manage your money correctly. Achieving those winning percentages along side managing our profits correctly is what has kept our clientele making money year in and year out. Let’s take a closer look at our money management process for we have created a simple way in which you can mange your money and come out on top.

We know you have heard it from us before but we’ll say it again, you must start with an initial amount of money you are prepared to bet with consistently. Now, we are not talking about all your assets that you own or what your net value is worth, (i.e. your house, your car, etc.) we are also not talking about money you have that is needed to pay rent, your mortgage or put food in your mouth. We are talking about capital that you have put aside for the sole purpose of gambling. Money that can be risked without a major change in your lifestyle. This is called your bankroll. For example we will assume that you have a bankroll of $1,000 to begin the football season with. Our releases can range anywhere from a Tier 1 (the lowest) all the way to a Tier 5 selection, (Game of the month releases and Game of the Year releases). Now, when we release a selection, whatever the rating is attached to it, that is the percentage of your bankroll we want you to wager on the game. So in the case of our example, if we released a Tier 2 selection in football and your bankroll was $1000, then we would want you to wager $20 (2% of your $1000) on that ballgame. If you win, you now have a roll of $1020. Base your wagers now on the $1020. If you lose then base your wagers on a bankroll of $978 assuming the 10% juice.

We have been in this business long enough to know that you will go through your fair share of losing streaks, everyone does. The key to this money management system is quiet simple; you stay in the ballgame enduring losing streaks and up your bets when you start to get hot. Here is what we mean: when we hit a winning streak our releases will turn from Tier 2 selections into Tier 3 selections, riding our win streak until it starts to taper off. This way we are increasing our profit by 1% with a win during a hot streak. When you are losing, then we “back down” going back to Tier 2 and Tier 1 selections. Obviously this doesn’t take into account games that we see as just too good not to label as a higher rated selection regardless of how our steaks have been. But, one must remember from before “you can’t and definitely won’t win every game, and higher rated selections are not a dime a dozen, but more like needles in small haystacks’. Gambling is a marathon not a sprint, as I have yet to see anyone come out a winner betting half their bankroll on one or two game over the course of a season each weekend consistently and come out on top. Most of the time, the only thing that happens is they come out as “Poor boy penniless” and can not play for the rest of the year.

Lastly we always field a number of questions when dealing with sizes of bankrolls. Look at gambling and your bankroll as your precious company. And with any company there are always shareholders. In some of our clients cases his/her shareholders are the wife, kids, relatives and so fourth (of course in some cases the shareholder is just you). As with any company you shareholders would like to see dividends from time to time. Meaning set a dollar amount for your bankroll, that once you have reached, you cash out and begin with your initial investment all over again. Let’s use our Bankroll from above. It’s now the end of January and your bankroll has reached $4 from $1000. You set the goal at the beginning of the season that once you have showed a profit of $4000, you’ll cash out. Meaning once you reach $5000, cash out the $4000, buy your wife, kids or yourself, something nice and start over at $1000. Our philosophy is, you should always reap the benefits of a good win sometime, otherwise gambling is not fun anymore, and it’s just an addiction to adrenaline. However never cash out more than you started with, it only leads to trouble and eventually you will be finding yourself dipping into your bankroll for other things other than gambling.

So in summary, start out with an established bankroll, use a money management system (be it ours or your own) and STICK TO IT!! It won’t work if you don’t. You can’t love every game. With that, Good luck and as always, Get Sharp and Play even sharper.