Two ways to size a bet. The same stake every time, or a stake that moves with the price so every winner pays the same.
The same stake on everything. £10 each way on a 6/1 shot. £10 each way on a 50/1 shot.
One number, set once. There is nothing to work out when a pick comes up.
Pick a figure you want back off a winner, then size each bet to return it. Short prices need a big stake. Long prices need a small one.
Backing to win £180, at a fifth the odds for the places:
| Price | Stake | Total on the bet |
|---|---|---|
| 6/1 | £25.00 each way | £50.00 |
| 12/1 | £12.50 each way | £25.00 |
| 24/1 | £6.25 each way | £12.50 |
| 50/1 | £3.00 each way | £6.00 |
Same target on every line. The bet at 6/1 is more than eight times the bet at 50/1.
Neither, near enough. We ran both against our own settled picks, sized so each plan put the same bank at the same risk. They finished level.
Backing to win got there on 14% more turnover. It stakes most where the prices are short, so more money has to go through the books for the same result.
There is no return to be won by switching. The choice is about everything else.
Bookmakers watch stake size. £10 each way is quiet at every firm. £25 each way on a 6/1 shot at a midweek meeting is not.
With flat stakes your biggest bet is your only bet. Backing to win hands your largest stakes to the shortest prices, over and over, at the same few firms.
Accounts get limited on how you bet, not how much you win. How Shrewd picks for that.
A back-to-win stake is only right for the price you worked it out at. The price shortens while you are logging in and the sum is wrong.
A flat stake is never wrong. You take whatever price is there.
Flat stakes. Same size every time, small enough to sit through a bad run.
Work out your stake. And what a bad run looks like: losing runs.
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