If the player is on a winning streak, the bet amount increases, and if they're on a losing streak, it decreases.
- Your bankroll is EUR 10,000.
Your bet amount: 1% of your bankroll.
You bet EUR 100 on an event with odds of 2.00. - The bet wins and you win EUR 200.
- Now your bankroll is EUR 10,100.
Your next bet amount is
EUR
101, or 1% of EUR
10,100.Why use the flat strategy?
Flat is a that works for all types of sports. The mechanics of working with this strategy mechanics do not depend on the rules of the sport or even sometimes the odds. The benefit of a flat is that it helps you choose the optimal bet size, thus ensuring you do not lose your entire bank in just a few bets.
bank management strategy
Main flat bet types
There are four main flat types: a fixed bet size (static, aggressive) and an amount that changes depending on the event (academic, chaotic).
Static
The player bets 1% of the bank and doesn't change this percentage throughout the entire strategy. The flat betting strategy is good for experienced bettors. It doesn't involve a change in the amount of the bet depending on event probability, so it can lead to losses.
Aggressive
The player wagers a fixed percentage of their bankroll between 2 and 5%. This strategy is identical to the static flat except for the size of the bet.
Flat with thresholds
Players choose the bet size depending on the amount in their account. So they set several thresholds depending on the decrease or increase in the bank size. If their bank grows and reaches the higher threshold, the player increases the bet percentage, and if it decreases and reaches the lower threshold, they decrease the bet percentage. This type of flat helps you minimize loses in the event of lost bets, and win more during winning streaks.
Flat with thresholds example
Your bank is
EUR
10,000. Your first bet is 3% of your total account amount. Define your objectives and set the bet sizes for when you reach them.Bank | Bet size |
|---|---|
5,000 and less | 1% |
From 5,000 to 7,500 | 2% |
From to 12,500 | 3% |
From 12,500 to 15,000 | 4% |
15,000+ | 5% |
Academic
A player bets 1-3% of their bankroll depending on their match analysis, event odds and success of previous bets. If the odds are low and the player is sure their bet will win, they wager 3% of their bank, but if the odds are high, they wager just 1%. In the event of a long losing streak, the player decreases the percentage of their bet, and increases it during a winning streak.
ACADEMIC FLAT EXAMPLE
First bet
- You have EUR 10,000 in your bank.
- Look at the match statistics: your team wins more often in head-to-head matches and has won 7 of their last 10 matches.
- You bet 3% of your bank (EUR 300) on the team to win with odds of 1.50.
- The bet wins and you earn EUR 450.
Second bet
- You have EUR 10,150 in your bank.
- Check out the statistics. Both teams played confidently in their last rounds, but in head-to-head matches there's no clear certainty: in 10 matches, there were 4 wins and 2 draws.
- You bet 1% of your bank (EUR 101,5) on a double chance for any team to win with odds of 1.45.
- The match ended in a draw and the bet didn't win.
- You have EUR 1048,5 in your bank. Analysing the matches helped increase your winnings when betting on an event with a high probability, and reduce losses when bets lost.
Chaotic
The player bets from 5 to 15% of their bank on events with odds over 1.55. This is the riskiest version of a flat because after a long losing streak, the player will end up in the red quickly.
When is a flat a bad strategy?
There are three conditions that lead to the amount in your account decreasing when using a flat:
- 50% or more of the bets lose.
- Bets have odds of 2.00 or higher.
- You use a static or aggressive flat where the percentage doesn't change based on event probability.
If all of these conditions are met, then mathematically, each loss won't be compensated by a win, which leads to monetary losses. This is because the amount of the first losing bet will be greater than the amount of the last winning one. With a 50% win rate and odds above 2.00, you'll lose more than you win.
FLAT CALCULATION EXAMPLE
- Your bank is EUR 10,000.You bet 1% of your bank on events with odds of 2.00.
First bet – EUR 100.
Win – EUR 200
You have EUR 10,100 in your bank. - Second bet – EUR 101.Loss.
You have EUR 9,999 in your bank. - Third bet – EUR 999.Win – EUR 199,8
You have EUR 10,098,9 in your bank. - Fourth bet – EUR 101,9.
Loss.
You have EUR 9,997 in your bank.
In four bets, your bank decreased by
EUR
3, even though the win percentage was 50%. If you bet a fixed amount every time, then the sum of wins and losses would be equal, and you wouldn't have gone into the red.To avoid financial losses, change at least one of the three conditions that lead to this strategy resulting in a minus to your account.
- Increase the bet winning percentage. Spend more time analyzing the event, including the statistics of opponents, their motivation, and the state of their players. If you're betting on an unfamiliar tournament or sport, then try other championships so it's easier to predict the outcome of matches.
- Increase the odds. Try betting on events with odds of 2.00 or more. For example, with odds of 2.15 and 50% of bets winning, you'll turn a profit because the bets won will compensates for lost bets.
- Use an aggressive or academic flat. In these strategies, the bet amount depends on your estimate of how likely an event is to occur: the higher it is, the larger the bet. With proper analysis, you'll earn more profit from winning bets and lose less on lost bets.
Why are flats good?
Flats are one of several bank management strategies. It helps control the amount of money in your account, divide your bank into more bets and reduce losses if your bets lose.
In addition to the flat strategy, you can manage your bank using fixed-amount and fixed‑profit strategies.
Fixed amount
You can divide your bank into equal parts, with each part representing one bet. The more parts, the safer the strategy, meaning you'll have more chances to win back money after several losses.
Fixed amount with limits
You divide your bank into parts just like with the fixed-amount strategy. Then you set thresholds, or several bank sizes that are larger and smaller than its current value. When you reach a threshold, you reduce the size of the bet and split the bank into parts again.
Threshold and amount example
Bank | Bet amount |
|---|---|
Less than EUR 5,000 | EUR 50 |
From EUR 5,000 to 8,000 | EUR 80 |
From EUR 8000 to 12,000 | EUR 100 |
From EUR 12,000 to 15,000 | EUR 120 |
EUR 15,000+ | EUR 150 |
Fixed profit
You set the amount you want to earn from each bet. For each bet, calculate the amount depending on the profit and odds you want.
The amount is calculated by the following formula:
P ÷ (D - 1)
FIXED PROFIT EXAMPLE
You have
EUR
10,000 in your bank. You want to earn a profit of EUR
200 on each bet.You selected events with odds of 1.50, 2.00 and 2.50. Calculate the bet amounts:
- 1.50 – EUR 400
- 2.00 – EUR 200
- 2.50 – EUR 133,3
What are the downsides to flats?
To make a decent profit using this strategy, you need a large bank. Due to the way the strategy works, the player most often bets no more than 5% of their total bank, this means that for a bet of
EUR
1,000, you need a bank of EUR
20,000.Flats do not earn you huge profits. In all its variations, except for a chaotic flat, the bet size will not exceed 5% of the bank amount. With a bank of
EUR
10,000, the bet will only be EUR
500.Flats will not help you win back your money after a losing streak. Instead, the strategy is designed to maintain your bank and increase it over the long term. In terms of just 2-4 bets, the effectiveness of a flat is almost imperceptible. To earn back money after a loss, try the strategy or the specific strategies based on different sports which we wrote about in the
chasing
Bet Strategy section
.When choosing a flat, there is no point in changing the bet size drastically. Due to its low profitability, your bank grows slowly, so one unsuccessful large bet can cancel out what you earned from previous bets.
- In this example, the bets are placed according to the academic flat strategy: 1-3% of the bank amount. Over 100 bets, our bank grew from EUR 10,000 to 15,000.
- Then you see some profitable odds and put 40% of your bank on it (EUR 6,000).
- The bet loses, and you lose EUR 6,000. In just one bet, you lost everything you had accumulated over the last 100 bets.
How to use a flat more effectively
Analyse the events you want to bet on. This will help you increase the percentage of bets you win, and therefore the strategy's profitability. Check the results of the opponents in previous matches, as well as details about the upcoming match, calendar density and motivation. We wrote in more detail about how to analyse matches and increase the percentage of winning bets in our
7 tips for new betters article
.Do not change you strategy after a long losing streak. When your bank decreases, the flat strategy helps choose a bet amount that will not empty your bank. If you increase the bet amount on an impulse after a prolonged losing streak, you risk losing all your money.
- You have EUR 20,000 in your bank and bet 1-3% of it. Over the last 20 bets, you have lost EUR 2,000.
- To win back what you have, you decide to bet EUR 5,000.
- But the bet loses, and now over 21 bets you are EUR 7,000 in the red.
- If you continued to use the flat strategy, this EUR 5,000 would have been enough for 20-25 more bets. Even if only half of them made a profit, you would not have gone so far into the red and you would have had a chance to win back your money in the near future.