Our accumulator study ended with one survivor: value signals, played as singles. That raises the only staking question that matters: kuinka paljon per veto? We tested it on our real record — 152 settled value bets (84 won, 68 lost; 55.3% at average odds 2.43, break-even 41.2%) — and then stress-tested every scheme the honest way.
Starting bankroll 1,000 lei, compounding, on the real historical sequence:
| Staking | Final | Max drawdown |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter-Kelly | +28% | 4.5% |
| Flat 1% | +39% | 8.0% |
| Half-Kelly | +62% | 8.8% |
| Flat 2% | +89% | 15.6% |
| Flat 3% | +290% | 22.6% |
Read that table and every instinct says: bet more. This is exactly how bettors talk themselves into oversized stakes after a good month — so we ran the month again. Five thousand times.
Monte Carlo, same 152 bets, each winning with its fair probability (i.e., assuming our measured edge is real):
| Staking | Median final | Worst 5% | P(losing month) | P(drawdown >30%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat 1% | 1,056 | 818 | 37% | 2% |
| Half-Kelly | 1,120 | 737 | 34% | 16% |
| Flat 2% | 1,088 | 653 | 40% | 39% |
| Flat 3% | 1,091 | 498 | 43% | 77% |
Two things demolish the "bet more" instinct:
Our average full-Kelly fraction across these bets is 2.9%. Flat 3% staking is therefore full Kelly — the theoretical maximum growth rate if the edge estimate is exactly right. Edge estimates from 152 bets are never exactly right, and overestimated-edge Kelly means systematic overbetting: less growth and more risk. That is why professionals bet a fraction of Kelly, not Kelly.
The most useful sentence in this entire study: position size cannot create an edge, but it can absolutely destroy one. Find the edge first (here is how we measure ours), then bet small enough to survive being wrong about it.
Stress-test your own record — sample size, luck probability, the works — with our free tipster audit tool.