Units
A standardized bet-size measure tied to bankroll, used to track and compare results regardless of dollar amounts.
A unit is a standardized bet-size measure equal to a fixed percentage or dollar amount of a bettor’s bankroll. Instead of reporting results in raw dollars, bettors use units to express how much they stake and how much they win or lose. This lets you compare performance across bettors with very different bankrolls. A bettor with a $500 bankroll and one with a $50,000 bankroll can both say they are “up 15 units” on the season, even though the dollar profits differ wildly.
The usual approach defines one unit as 1% to 2% of the total bankroll. Once the unit is set, every bet is expressed as a multiple of it. A standard play might be one unit; a higher-confidence play might be two or three. This forces proportional thinking on bet sizing instead of chasing random dollar amounts.
Example
A bettor has a $5,000 bankroll and sets one unit at 2%, or $100. Over a week, they place four wagers: a one-unit win at -110 (profit of $90.91), a one-unit loss at -110 (loss of $100), a one-unit win at +140 (profit of $140), and a one-unit loss at +100 (loss of $100). Net result: +$30.91, or about +0.31 units. Tracking in units lets this bettor compare weekly results with someone betting $20 per unit on a $1,000 bankroll, since both measure against the same proportional standard.
Key Points
- Enables fair comparisons: Units let bettors compare records and strategies without knowing each other’s bankrolls – the standard language of betting performance.
- Promotes responsible sizing: Setting a unit at a small percentage of the bankroll keeps any single wager from risking too much, cutting the chance of crippling losses.
- Results should be tracked in units: Logging every bet in units rather than dollars gives a cleaner history, undistorted by deposits, withdrawals, or unit-size changes.
- Confidence-based scaling: The system handles varying confidence by allowing one, two, or three units while staying structured.
- Beware inflated claims: When judging someone’s record, check whether large unit plays are used selectively to pump results, since routinely staking five or ten units carries far more risk.