Bankroll Management: A Guide for 2026

It does not matter if you’re a sports bettor, a daily fantasy sports player, a poker player, or just a gambler in general, nothing will have a bigger impact on your success and win-rate than proper bank roll management.

It is important to note here that we are not financial advisors, and certainly not your financial advisor. The concepts of bankroll management were not invented by us and we are far from the only people who use it. In fact, all long-term professional bettors use a system of bank roll management. For us, it is highly important that our bank roll is completely separate from our other personal finances and that it entirely includes money we can afford to lose. It does not matter how often you bet, you should always be applying proper bank roll management. As we mentioned we are not financial advisors, but we highly recommend only playing with money that you can afford to lose.

VARIANCE

If you play DFS or bet on sports long enough, one truth becomes painfully obvious: you can be right and still lose. Variance is unavoidable. Bad beats happen. Slates implode. That’s why bankroll management isn’t boring theory—it’s survival.

You don’t need to be elite at picking games to be profitable. But if you’re bad at managing your bankroll, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll go broke eventually.

WHAT IS BANKROLL MANAGEMENT?

Your bankroll is the total amount of money you’ve set aside specifically for DFS or sports betting. Not rent money. Not “I’ll win it back” money. Just money you can afford to lose.

Bankroll management is how you decide:

• How much to risk per bet or slate

• What contests or wagers to play

• How to survive losing streaks and still be around for the wins

Think of it as damage control for variance.

THE FIRST RULE OF BRM: BET SMALL (YES, SMALLER THAN YOU WANT)

The general concept of bank roll management is simple: play only a portion of your bank roll on each bet to ensure that you do not go broke. In betting, this often described as “units”. Ideally, and especially for beginners, good bankroll management has us never wagering more than 1% of our bank roll on any single bet. A more experienced and/or aggressive bettor would probably wager up to 5% of their bank roll. Anything beyond that and we believe you are overextending and taking on too much risk for your long-term success. Whatever percentage you decide is right for you would be your unit size.

Since units are relative to your bank roll, sports bettors like to speak to in terms of units. Not every person has the same financial situation and there is no universal bet size. By speaking in units instead of dollars, sports bettors are able to discuss their picks or positions without the need to sift through unnecessary information like how much money someone else has.

DFS: CONTEST SELECTION IS HALF THE BATTLE

DFS bankroll management isn’t just about how much you play—it’s where you play.

Recommended DFS Bankroll Split

Contest Type	% of Slate	Purpose
Cash Games (50/50s, H2Hs)	70–80%	Lower variance, steady growth
GPPs / Tournaments	20–30%	High upside, high variance

Cash games stabilize your bankroll. GPPs provide upside. If you flip this recommended ration, expect long losing stretches—even if your lineups are good.

SPORTS BETTING: FLAT BETTING WINS LONG-TERM

Changing bet size based on short-term win steaks or confidence is a bankroll killer. Instead, use flat betting. With flat betting, your bankroll won’t implode with mixed results. Remember, the goal isn’t to win fast – It’s not to lose big.

BANKROLL CALCULATOR: HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU BET?

Step 1: Define Your Bankroll. 

• Example: $1,200.

Step 2: Choose Your Risk Percentage

·       Sports Betting

• Conservative: 1%

• Standard: 2%

• Aggressive (not recommended long-term): 3%

·        DFS

·        Per slate: 5–10% total exposure

Step 3: Use the Formula

·       Sports Betting

• Bet Size = Bankroll x Risk %

  • Example: $1,200 x 0.02 = $24 per bet

·        DFS

o   Slate Spend = Bankroll x Slate %

• Example: $1,200 x 0.08 = $96 per slate

  • Then, split that $96 using the contest ratio:

    • $70-75 in cash games

    • $20-25 in tournaments

QUICK REFERENCE: BANKROLL CALCULATOR TABLE

Bankroll	1% Bet	2% Bet	8% DFS Slate
$300	$3	$6	$24
$750	$7.50	$15	$60
$1,500	$15	$30	$120
$3,000	$30	$60	$240

WHAT DOES BANKROLL MANAGEMENT PROTECT YOU FROM?

❌ Chasing losses

❌ Overconfidence after a big win

❌ One bad slate ruining weeks of progress

❌ Emotional betting

❌ Moving up stakes too quickly

Most bettors don’t fail because they’re bad at picks—they fail because they bet like every slate is the last one.

TRACK YOUR RESULTS

An aspect of bank roll management that is often overlooked is the importance of tracking your results. Not only is it beneficial to know and understand your win rates, but this information can be used to help decide whether you want to increase or decrease your bet percentages. Be careful making any drastic changes with a small sample of data. Poker players like to see thousands of hands worth of data before confidently relying on it. Likewise, a down week or month should not force you to change your bet sizing in either direction, so long as you are always applying proper bank roll management.

Personally, we like to track the result of every bet and break down our data once a month. If we ever see a trend over two months, we will adjust our bet sizing accordingly. We also separate our results by sport. Remember, there is no rule against using different unit sizes for different sports.

WINNING ISN’T ABOUT BEING RIGHT – IT’S ABOUT STAYING SOLVENT

We mentioned this earlier, but want to circle back to this crucial concept. Even strong bettors lose close to half of their bets. Their edge shows up over volume, not overnight.

Bankroll management helps smooth variance, extends your runway to success, and let’s skill actually matter. If you can out-discipline the average bettor, you are already ahead of the field.

FINAL THOUGHTS

You don’t need to chase miracle plays.

You don’t need to max enter every slate.

You just need to manage risk better than most people.

Do that consistently and profits will take care of themselves.