To Bet or Not to Bet?

In an earlier blog, using the 5 parameter model first discussed here, I summarised the results of simulating 100 seasons played out under each of 1,000 different parameter sets in a pair of rules that described when Kelly-staking tends to be superior to Level-staking, and vice versa. Implicitly, that blog assumed that we were going to wager, so our concern was solely with selecting the better wagering approach to adopt. But there is, of course, a third option that dare not speak its name and that is not to bet at all. In this blog I'll extend the previous analysis and derive rules for when we should Kelly-Stake, when we should Level-Stake and when we should just upstakes and leave.

