The Discipline: Staking

For those of you who aren't new to The Overrule, the staking plan will be exactly the same as it used to be, so you'll be familiar with it. For the newer readers, it's a very simple process. I'll be providing tips on a points system from one to five. The maximum points laid out on any one tip will be ten by virtue of a five point each-way tip, with five points going on the win and five points on the place.

As you will have guessed, the points system is also a ratings system, with five points being used on picks that I believe to be great value. I'll always try to explain why I believe certain bets are better than others, and no doubt you will disagree with some, and that's ok. Ultimately, it's your money you're betting with, so the person you have to justify each bet to is yourself. It shouldn't be enough for you to blindly back someone's opinion - no matter their pedigree, because it's your money and the wins and losses will be yours.

If your lowest bet is usually £10, you can work off the basis that a 1 point tip is a £10 bet. Or if your lowest bet is usually £100, a 1 point bet is a £100 one and so on, moving up to 5 points, with potential bets of 6-10 points on outright each-way selections (of which there will definitely be some during the season). Outrights are where the bulk of our winnings will come from, there will be ample opportunity to take advantage of good prices throughout the year. I'll explain my process on outright betting before the season starts.

Lack of staking discipline is one of the biggest pitfalls of bettors, the tendency to chase when you've lost, or bet bigger than you normally would when you've won is a common theme amongst almost anyone who has placed regular bets in their life. We've all done it. The important thing is to stop doing it and learn from any mistakes you've made in the past. Everything about betting is a learning process.

With respect to prices I tip and bookmakers/exchanges I advise, for obvious reasons I won't be able or willing to tip any prices that come from the company I currently work for.

I won't be tipping prices from exchanges such as Betfair - why? There will be times when the liquidity on Betfair isn't sufficient for me to justify a tip from the exchanges. What is the use to you - the reader - of a tip which you cannot physically bet on based on the points system because the liquidity just isn't there? Exactly, there is no use, and I'm not the kind of person who is looking to get my statistics inflated based on such deceptive opportunism. I've known people like that and I have absolutely no respect for them, put bluntly, they are frauds.

Each week I'll post the bets/results made for the week so we can keep a track of our staking, profit and the most important figure of all - ROI (return over investment). And as far as bets placed on specials/ante-post markets, naturally we'll highlight and settle those bets when the time comes to do so.

There will be losing streaks and winning streaks, some bets we'll get somewhat fortunate on and others not, that's just the nature of sports and betting.

Coming up shortly I will have my first tip for the 2013 season.