Jay Desai's Golden Rules: 1. Keep Stakes Consistent

Yeah, yeah heard this before and I'm a total hypocrite when it comes to criticising the boys for this, especially the bro. In fact if you only have to look at today's bet on Captain Bellamy. Even though I wrote "Captain Bellamy should be my disciplined horse" I still only put £2.50 on it, when really I should have bet £10 like the rest of my bets and returned £37.52. But noooooooooooo.

Perhaps this blog (why is blog underlined in a red wiggle? Is blog not in the spell checker?) will be a much need self-education exercise. A diary of my c*ck ups and momentous moments, so at least if no one is reading this, I am and I am benefiting (I hope) from history. I'm not losing focus on beating the bookies, just think I need some more fine tuning before I can casually stroke for 6.

Right, back to staking.

If I'm having a punt 'cos I'm addicted or having withdrawal symptoms I need to stick to a £10 bet, no matter whether it's a single, a patent or a combined tricast, I need to stick to £10. With such a small stake I should not really be going each way on anything less than 6/1. And yes, I will not doubt get hacked off when my 11/2 gets beat by a head into second, but I'll look back at this and say I made that decision, what a twat.

If I'm having a disciplined bet, and I'll explain what that is in my world another day, it's £50. Each-way on anything above 4/1 at 1/4 odds and 5/1 at 1/5 odds. I've backed big bets e/w at 7/2 and I've been ever so grateful for this, but I've also been ever so ungrateful for not whacking the whole wedge on. e.g.£200 e/w Long Run to win KG 2010 w/o Kauto Star @ 7/2.

There is some reasoning behind why I think consistency is a good thing. One is psychosomatic, but the other is logical(ish). If you back 2 horses at 2/1 with £10 on the nose, probability shows 1 will win and 1 will lose. So a £20 outlay returns you £30. Probability says you will make money. So, if you're punting on 4 or 5 horses around the 5/1 mark you should breaking even. Now we all know it's not that easy and I'm guessing someone somewhere has tried to do a Newton, but I'm not down with that and I don't want to turn horse racing into a maths class.

Keeping stakes consistent is also something I picked up from my brief spell as a day-trading. It really is up to a punter to decide how much they are willing to lose and how quickly. There is no certainty of anything. So, I have £1500 for this blog and I've allocated £500 for the uneducated bored punts and £1000 for my educated choices. £10 a blind bet means I'll have to lose 50 bets and win 0 to max out and £50 a JD banker means I'll have to lose 20. I hope this does not happen, but it's odds on that this £1500 will result in a big FAT £0.

So, to summarise, for myself really:

• Keep stakes consistent
• £10 a flutter E/W 6/1 and above
• £50 an investment E/W dependant on place odds

I've done it in patches and although Beautiful Lando bailed me out in the below, this somewhat illustrates that consistent staking is one of many, no doubt, potentially profitable ways of staking. 

Extract from Betting P&L - I heart Excel