What is a unit?

When you follow spreadsheets, tipsters and blogs on theplayer.com you will continuously encounter the fictitious "unit" currency. These units are being used by tipsters on our site so that visitors can apply the bet to their own bankroll and staking plan.

This is what you need to do, to start working with units:

The first step, before applying units to your bets, is to determine your max bet on a single bet. The most usual is that a tipster put 5% of the total bankroll on a max value bet. In other words, 1 unit would be 0.5% of your total bankroll. If you want to work with more risk, and bigger swings, you can use 1 unit as 1% of your bankroll, which would mean a max bet is the same as 10% of your total bankroll.

To make it easier, here´s an example. You have a total sportsbetting bankroll of 500 euro:

• 1u - 0.5% of the bankroll (2.5 euro)

• 2u - 1% of the bankroll (5 euro)

• 3u - 1.5% of the bankroll (7.50euro)

In other words, if there is a tip on the site where the tipster advices the stake 5/10 units, that would in reality mean he advises you to put 12.50 euro on the bet, if you use 5% as your max bet (25 euro).

Your bankroll determines the value of each unit

The most common strategy is to let the value of each unit flow along with your total bankroll. So if you win money, each unit value increases, and if you lose money it decreases. Let´s say you increased your bankroll from 500 euro to 650 euro. That would mean your unit value increases and 2u (1%) would now be 6.5 euro instead of 5 euro. On the other side, if your bankroll has decreased to 400 euro, your 1% (2u) would be 4 euro.

It´s important to be structured and solid straight from the beginning. With a small bankroll of let´s say 20 euro, most people decide to bet everything (100%) on one bet. In reality that would be 100/10 units and in the long run that sort of behavior will most likely become very expensive. Ask yourself, would you do the same thing if the bankroll was 5000 euro?

What is a flat bet?

Another very popular way of staking among tipsters is the so called "flat bet"-strategy. If you bet flatbet it means that regardless of how much value and what price the bet is, you always bet the same amount. If the price is 1.20, or 3.50, does not matter. Usually bettors use 2.5% or 5% of their bankroll on each bet when using flat bets. If you chose to play flat bets, the return of investment during good swings usually are better, while bad swings can prove more costly.

The main benefit from using units when sharing and valuing plays, is that it´s completely uninteresting what a single person has as his personal stake. If a tipster says he puts 150 euro on a bet, that in the eyes of someone who normally place 2 euro on bets, looks like a "bet of the year" due to the big stake. However, the tipsters stake of 150 euro could actually be 2 units, and in reality a pretty low stake. The unit system is therefore a perfect tool in order for every different person to apply the bet to its own personal terms and prerequisites.