Managing your bankroll
Your bankroll and the unit system
4 min
Before you think about which side to back, you need to decide how much money you are playing with — and never confuse it with the rest of your life.
What a bankroll is
Your bankroll is a fixed pot of money set aside only for betting — money you can afford to lose entirely without it affecting rent, bills, or food. It is not your savings, and it is not topped up with borrowed money. Once you set it, it is the boundary of the whole activity.
The unit system
Pros rarely talk in dollars or reais — they talk in units. A unit is simply a fixed slice of your bankroll, commonly 1 unit = 1% of the bankroll.
- A 1,000 bankroll → 1 unit = 10.
- A "2-unit bet" on that bankroll = 20.
Why units matter
Units do two things. First, they keep your stakes proportional: as the bankroll grows or shrinks, the real money per bet adjusts automatically. Second, they make results comparable — saying "I'm up 12 units" is meaningful no matter how big your bankroll is, while "I'm up 240" tells you nothing without context.
A simple discipline rule: decide your unit size before you start, and write it down. The number should be small enough that a normal losing run never threatens the bankroll.