A bankroll is money set aside for betting and nothing else: money you can afford to lose. Every sizing rule works on the bankroll, so it needs to be a real, separate amount.
The rules that hold up
- Keep it separate. Rent, bills and savings are never the bankroll, and the bankroll is never topped up to chase a loss.
- Size to the bankroll you have now. After a losing run, stakes shrink with the bankroll. After a winning one, they grow. That is what keeps a bad run from becoming a ruinous one.
- Cap any single stake. Even a strong edge loses often. No one bet should be able to do real damage.
- Set loss limits before you start, while you are thinking clearly, not in the middle of a bad day.
- Log every bet. A record you keep honestly is the only way to know whether you are winning, and why.
- Never chase. Staking more to win back a loss is the most common way a bankroll disappears.
Unitley's limits
In Settings you can set:
- Max stake: the most on any one bet, in dollars, on top of your risk profile's own cap as a share of the bankroll.
- Daily loss limit: the most you are willing to lose in the last 24 hours.
- Weekly loss limit: the most you are willing to lose in the last 7 days.
The windows roll: a bet counts toward them from the moment it is settled. Open bets count too, at their full stake, since any of them can still lose. So the room left under a limit is the limit, less what the window has already lost, less every open bet's stake.
Your current bankroll is your starting bankroll plus the profit or loss of every settled bet.
How they are enforced
calc_kelly_stakenever suggests more than your max stake or the room left under either loss limit.log_betrecords a bet you have placed even when it goes past a limit, since you have already placed it, and warns about each limit it passes. The warnings come back with the result, to be shown to you with it.get_bankrollshows the bankroll, the limits and the room left under each.
Names set like this are Unitley’s tools: what your AI agent, or the analyst in the web app, calls to get these numbers. See the docs
When to stop
Betting should be entertainment, not a way to make money you need. If it stops being fun, if you are chasing losses or betting more than you planned, take a break. Help is free and confidential: call or text 1-800-GAMBLER, or visit ncpgambling.org.