The Maria Staking Plan is a bankroll management system that is also used as a betting strategy. It was created by “Maria Santonix,” a member of the Expert Betting Advice forum. The punter outlined the basics of the method in a thread posted on the forum in 2005. She claimed it helped her turn a starting bankroll of £3,000 into £100,000 in less than a year.
Maria outlined the system and revealed that she was placing lay wagers exclusively on horse races. Because of this, the method is also known as the Maria Lay Staking Plan.
Providing thread updates, she would reveal the horses she picked, their odds, and how successful her wagers were. However, she never disclosed how she made her selections and claimed to have “inside connections” in the UK racing industry.
The Maria Staking Plan apportions a specific percentage of your bankroll to the wager. This percentage depends on the odds attached to each selection. Essentially, all your stakes are divided into 3 groups as follows:
In case the odds are higher than 11, you don’t make the wager.
Being familiar with the features of a betting tactic can help you understand what it has to offer and whether it will be worthwhile for you. Continue reading to learn more about some key aspects of the Maria staking plan.
The most significant feature of the Maria staking plan is its potential for incurring fewer losses. Sports betting can quickly get out of control for a punter who doesn’t practice proper bankroll management. The strategy helps avoid such situations.
By assigning a certain percentage on each bet, the strategy helps punters control their wagering activities by decreasing their staked amount after significant losses. The increase in wager comes with a higher bankroll and remains percentage-based.
It is a simple and effective plan that helps protect your bankroll from significant losses and increase your chances of success. With this strategy, a punter will find it hard to blow through their entire bankroll before being profitable in the long run.
Another key feature of the Maria staking plan is the cap on how much you can stake per bet. With a maximum of 1% stake per wager, gains remain low until your bankroll increases significantly.
Some punters may see this as a significant drawback, but it is not. This method targets long-term profitability rather than short-term successes.
The limited cap on gain here is essential because it helps prevent emotional decisions. Gamblers on winning streaks are often tempted to up their stake in hopes of increasing their profits. However, this is a recipe for disaster, as sports betting is inherently unpredictable. By imposing limits, the Maria staking plan helps punters to make rational decisions for long-term profitability.
The Maria staking strategy works with specific odds. It assigns a certain bankroll percentage to each bet depending on the price offered on the market. As a result, this tactic may be challenging to use in sports wagering with variable odds.
The sportsbook or a crypto betting app determines the odds offered on every market. Using the right percentage on its correct odds is the way to match the strategy. If the odds on any market change, you must change the staked amount accordingly.
Using her staking plan, Maria achieved a hit rate of 85.88%. This refers to the percentage of winning bets she had during her run. In order to match her success and use the strategy efficiently, you would need to achieve the same or similar high hit rates.
The Maria staking plan is a long game that will help you stay disciplined and manage your bankroll to protect against significant losses. But it needs to be paired with a quality strategy for picking bets that have good winning potential.
We introduced the basics of building a successful game on the Maria Plan and effectively managing your bankroll. Now, we’ll show you an example that will help you better understand how the strategy works.
The table below shows how the Maria bet on horse racing works, assuming you lay 5 wagers on the first day and have a starting bankroll of $2000.
| Wager Number | Odds | Bank Total | Wager % | Wager Size & Liability | Cumulative Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.4 | $2,000 | 1% | $20 ($22) | Profit (+$20) |
| 2 | 5.0 | $2,020 | 0.6% | $12.12 ($35.87) | Profit (+$32.12) |
| 3 | 10.2 | $2032.12 | 0.4% | $8.13 ($32.96) | Profit (+$40.25) |
| 4 | 2.0 | $2040.25 | 1% | 20.40 ($35.38) | Loss (+$4.87) |
| 5 | 6.6 | $2004.87 | 0.6% | 12.03 ($25.28) | Profit (+$16.9) |
The first day using the Lay Maria Staking Plan ended with a cumulative profit of $16.9, taking your total bankroll from $2000 to $2016.9. Bets for the next day are calculated using the new bankroll. If you want to place a wager at 2.00 odds, you need to stake 1% of $2016.9.
The Maria Staking Plan was primarily used for laying horse wagers. However, you can also use it for regular back bets by reversing the odds. For instance, backing a horse at the price of 1.20 equals laying the same horse at 6.0 odds. You’ll use 0.6% of your bankroll.
Below is an example to demonstrate the above explanation if your starting bankroll for this staking plan is £3000.
After knowing how much of your bankroll to lay on each wager, the second rule of the staking plan is “compounding” or “ratcheting” your bankroll daily. If it increases after you have laid all your bets in a day, your stakes for each bet must increase the next day. If your bankroll goes up from £3000 to £3500, then a 1% stake of your total bankroll is now £35 instead of £30.
Your stakes are not recalculated if you sustain losses and reduce your total bankroll. If you lose 35% of your bankroll, you need to adjust based on the remaining 65%. For example, if you are left with £1950 out of your original £3000 (a 35% loss), a 1% bet of your total bankroll is now 0.01 x £1950, which equals £19.5 instead of £30.
The Maria Staking Plan is received with mixed feelings. While many bettors believe it’s a powerful tool to manage their bankroll, others are not convinced by this strategy. Let’s examine its pros and cons below.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
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PROS
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CONS
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There is no doubt that Maria staking is an effective strategy in bankroll management. It helps bettors regulate their stake amounts based on losses and profits. It allows them to gradually grow their bankroll rather than risking a considerable amount on a single wager.
We cannot say the same for profitability. To make this strategy work, you need to have a high hit rate. The plan doesn’t tell you anything about identifying the right picks. It’s up to you to find value bets with high winning chances.
The Maria stake plan won’t get you rich quickly. It can keep you profitable in the long run or, at the very least, prevent you from incurring significant losses. Its effectiveness depends on your discipline and ability to make correct predictions over a long period.
On September 2, 2005, an individual with the username “Maria” and signature “maria santonix” posted a thread on the forum section of the UK’s horse racing betting site Expert Betting Advice. The thread was titled “Maria’s laying system,” and detailed a staking plan that focused on efficient bankroll management.
Maria’s posts gained massive popularity when she demonstrated her plan in real-time, turning her £3,000 initial bankroll into over £100,000 in about 10 months. But some forum members became suspicious at one point.
Her selections and profit/loss numbers checked out. But other punters were unable to get the same favorable odds that she was seemingly getting all the time. Also, she being from Latvia made people wonder how she could have so much knowledge about UK horse racing.
Maria used the plan exclusively on lay horse wagers. However, she did not reveal how she knew which horses to bet on to achieve an excellent hit rate of 85.88%. She only disclosed that her father had connections in the industry, and she used that to get “privileged information.”
Many controversies still surround the Maria staking plan. One theory says that a man named Adrian Massey is actually the person behind “Maria.” Massey had a horse racing website, which was shut down in 2013, that included a free-to-use tool for calculating the win probability of each horse in a particular race.
The Expert Betting Advice website no longer exists. You can still access the original thread with Maria Staking Plan from some online sources, including the Wayback Machine. You can also download the spreadsheet to keep precise records if you plan on using the staking plan.
The Maria Staking Plan requires a high win rate to make a significant profit. But it doesn’t tell you which horse or team to stake on to achieve such a rate. You should have pro bet knowledge of the sports you are betting on.
If you are confident in making winning picks over a long period, this strategy will enable you to significantly reduce losses. It will also help you grow your bankroll fast by maximizing your winning streaks. Otherwise, consider some other options like Oscar’s Grind wagering system.
Perfect for long-term, steady growth in betting profits!
How does it handle losing streaks?
The Maria Staking Plan manages losing streaks by adjusting the stake based on previous results, typically increasing the stake after a loss to recoup losses over time. This approach aims to maintain a steady profit when wins occur.
I recently tried the Maria Staking Plan, and it completely changed my betting strategy. By categorizing my stakes based on odds, I felt much more in control of my bankroll. Betting 1% on odds of 3.5 or lower helped me manage risks, while the 0.6% for mid-range odds kept my excitement alive without overspending. The 0.4% for higher odds felt like a smart way to chase bigger wins.
How do I determine the initial stake for the Maria Staking Plan?
To determine the initial stake for the Maria Staking Plan, calculate a percentage of your bankroll, typically around 1-5%. This percentage should be based on your comfort level with risk and your overall betting strategy.