In my experience,and I also do this to make money btw, not just a hobby here, if my bankroll is big enough that I only need to win 5% or less per month, I can keep a fairly conservative strategy going. The idea of conservative including things like buying back when big ht middles present themselves (basketball seems to lend itself to this more than other sports) scalping whenever possible, and keeping bet sizes small. When I find myself off a couple of losing months or after I have had to take money from my gambling br for other purposes and thus I 'need' to win 7 or 8% or more for the month, it becomes much more difficult. Need to take more risks, bigger bets, not buying back middles etc. There is also more pressure and stress then which makes it harder to make good decisions. Sometimes I have increased my bank by 25 or even 40% in one month, but rarely has this ever happened when I needed it.
I agree wholeheartedly with 'want' that volume is actually the long term conservative strategy, volume at a low% of br on each wager 1-2%,. But, and this is a big but, by volume, I don't mean just betting more games, I mean betting more games where you have an advantage, and the only way to gain an advantage is through work. JJ loves to say that you can't win at this game long term, and that is probably right for the majority of sports bettors. There are 2 exceptions, those who are fortunate enough to have a great talent for 'seeing' the value on the 'right side' and picking winners, and those who work their asses off to find it. If you are the worker type, you need a lot of math skill at least and a solid understanding of the sports you will be wagering on never hurts.
So, one idea might be that if not doing this as a 'career', treat it as one. Take your bankroll of $1k and treat it as $100k, set a goal of 5% per month and see how it goes. Alternately, the idea of being extremely patient and just going hard after the weakest lines does have its merits with a relatively small bank, just remember that you're not going to beat even really really weak lines every time.
I agree wholeheartedly with 'want' that volume is actually the long term conservative strategy, volume at a low% of br on each wager 1-2%,. But, and this is a big but, by volume, I don't mean just betting more games, I mean betting more games where you have an advantage, and the only way to gain an advantage is through work. JJ loves to say that you can't win at this game long term, and that is probably right for the majority of sports bettors. There are 2 exceptions, those who are fortunate enough to have a great talent for 'seeing' the value on the 'right side' and picking winners, and those who work their asses off to find it. If you are the worker type, you need a lot of math skill at least and a solid understanding of the sports you will be wagering on never hurts.
So, one idea might be that if not doing this as a 'career', treat it as one. Take your bankroll of $1k and treat it as $100k, set a goal of 5% per month and see how it goes. Alternately, the idea of being extremely patient and just going hard after the weakest lines does have its merits with a relatively small bank, just remember that you're not going to beat even really really weak lines every time.
