How to Build up a Betting Bank   You may be a punter who just bets for  fun with any spare cash and maybe not too worried if you lose, but enjoy the occasional big win. Then again you may be a bit more serious and want to make a long term profit but find it hard to manage your betting. You can select a regular flow of winners but at the end of the year you wonder where all the big wins have gone. If you are one of the latter then I’m sure I can help you get it on track to give you every chance to make a long term profit. In fact, I had thought that it would be good idea to actually work with someone who was just starting off their interest in betting on horses. Then a couple of weeks ago I got an email from a University student, named Josh, who was keen on the horses.  He wanted to subscribe to the site. So I offered Josh a free subscription to the site if he would be prepared to let me work with him on building up and managing his betting bank and generally help him with selections.  We would also look at his betting and see how we could develop the strong parts of it and get rid of the weaker parts.  He was more than happy with that so ‘Josh the Pro Punter’ will be the  title of how he will build up his bank to a level where he can bet like a professional and make a long term profit. www.trackwork.co.nz has also got behind him and has given him a free subscription also so he can research the form properly.   Being a student I asked him how much he could comfortably afford to commit to each week for betting. He replied $20 per week which may not seem much to working punters but it is all relative. The important part is to commit to an amount each week that you can easily afford to put towards your betting.   I have listed the  rules to follow below which need to be followed to make a success of this:   Rule 1   Commit to an affordable amount each week that you can put towards your betting. DO NOT GO OVER THAT AMOUNT.    Once you go over that amount for the week you get into the danger zone where you could easily start chasing losses and you start losing the enjoyment of it. Once you have lost your weekly allocation, just watch them or go and do something else.   If you know you are betting too much and it is out of control, don't muck about, ring  this number 0800 654 655 and get expert help. Life is too short to let gambling get a hold of you.   Rule 2 At the end of the betting week put any proceeds from your betting and place it in a separate bank account  and don’t touch it– DO NOT LEAVE IT IN YOUR PHONE ACCOUNT or POCKET. The betting week starts on Monday morning and ends Sunday night. The temptation to bet funds from your phone account will be there when you lose your weekly limit which will happen often. If for example you allow $100 per week for betting and by Sunday night your balance is $130, withdraw the $30 and also withdraw the $100 from your normal account and deposit the $130 in your separate Betting Bank account. That will obviously leave you with $100 in your phone account. If you are going to bet at the TAB or races, withdraw some of that $100 in your phone account and keep it separate from four normal day to day cash.  Even a separate wallet would be ideal. If your phone account has a balance of $20 on Sunday night, top that up to $100 by withdrawing $80 from your normal account and deposit $20 in your Betting Bank account. I have asked Josh, in this case, to leave the proceeds in his phone account.  He has  given me the account number and pin number so I can make sure the balance corresponds to what we will be  discussing in his betting diary or blog.   Rule 3 SET A BANK TARGET To feel as though you are doing this for a reason you need to set a bank target  that you need to have to bet like a professional.  My recommendation is a target of $2,500 as you should only bet 0.2 percent per unit bet. That gives you a unit bet of $5. It can be less of course, but it needs to be an amount 500 times your unit bet to withstand the inevitable losing runs and bad periods which we all have.   Now, for Josh, this is going to seem a long way off but there is no rush to get there. It may take three years but it doesn’t matter.  Along the way  you have the comfort of knowing that you are working towards a target and you have your betting under complete control. I would say 98% of punters just bet haphazardly from week to week, betting or spending up large when they have big wins, or digging into income or savings set aside for other commitments when they lose.   If you look back over the last year and think where the heck has it all gone, then following this plan is perfect for you. Whatever you commit to each week, after you have reached your target that weekly amount still goes into your betting bank After each week you adjust the amount of your unit to 0.2% of your bank.  But your unit amount  never goes down.    For example, the bank is $3,000 so 0.2% of that is $6. If after the next week it drops to $2,800 you still stay at $6 for the unit and don’t go down. Only when it gets back above $3,000 do you readjust your unit amount.   Rule 4 Learn how to get the most out of your betting.  I can tell you now that getting value is the key to making a long term profit. But every punter is different. You may have a knack of snaring those trifectas or trebles.  There is often value in those but you need to have the right staking plan in place to get a long term profit out of them. By building up a bank you can attack them with confidence knowing that when you have that inevitable losing streak it is not going to worry you too much because you just need to stick to your proven methods. The best way to learn about your strengths and weaknesses is to record all of your selections  and reasons for backing them, with how much you bet. I’ve asked Josh to record this information in a spreadsheet or book.   Date Track Horse Class Distance Track Conditions Reasons for backing Review ( How you could avoid making the same mistake or emphasize a strength) Bet Type Rated Price Price bet Amount bet Placed Dividend Win / Place Profit / Loss Balance Notes   Keeping this information does take time but it will definitely be worth it. The only way you can learn to improve your selections and money management is by seeing where you make the mistakes and where your strengths are.   So, each week, Josh will email or text me his selections and amounts bet and we will review it each week with a running balance. I will also post his bets on the 'Josh the Pro Punter' page as well. He can reinvest any winnings for the week or he may just choose not to have a bet and bank half of it and put the extra $10 towards the following week. I’m sure he will do well and hopefully he can grow his betting bank quickly and improve his skills along the way.