Getting Started with SmartStake: Which Tool to Use First
Getting started with SmartStake takes four onboarding answers and one first tool. See the full toolkit, the plans, and which tool fits your experience.
Getting started with SmartStake takes four onboarding answers: where you bet, how much betting experience you have, which sportsbooks you already use, and your bankroll. SmartStake turns those answers into a recommended plan of three tools, and the first one carries a Start here badge.
This guide shows you that plan, then tours every tool in the app so you know what each one is for and where to learn it properly.
Which Tool Should You Start With?
Pick your experience and your state. The list below is the same three tool path the onboarding plan builds, in the same order.
Which SmartStake tool should you start with?
I'm just getting started
Pick'em fantasy apps operate here.
- 1. Promo ConverterStart here
Convert sign-up offers with guided matched betting
How to use Promo Converter
This is the same three tool path SmartStake builds from your onboarding answers. It is a starting order, not a forecast: every tool carries risk, and results vary with your books, location, and execution.
Switch from Casual to Comfortable and the Promo Converter drops out of the list entirely, because the onboarding plan assumes a comfortable bettor wants pricing tools rather than a guided walkthrough.
Switch to a state where pick'em fantasy apps are not offered, such as New Jersey, and Positive EV takes Fantasy's slot on the beginner path.
SmartStake's tools are built on public odds and math. Sports betting involves risk, results vary, and no tool guarantees an outcome. Only bet money you can afford to lose. SmartStake is not affiliated with any sportsbook.
What Happens After You Sign Up
A new account goes straight to onboarding, and the app stays locked until you finish it. The four steps are:
- Location. Tools and promotions depend on your state or province, so this comes first.
- Experience. Brand new, Casual, Comfortable or Sharp. This answer sets your path.
- Sportsbooks. The books you have already signed up for, so the Promo Recommender skips offers you can no longer claim. You can skip this step.
- Bankroll. The money you set aside for betting. Tools size their suggestions to it.
After a few seconds the app shows "Your recommended plan" with your three tools. The same list appears again on your home screen under Get started, and you can change any answer later in your preferences.
The SmartStake Toolkit
SmartStake tools fall into three groups. Some find specific bets for you, some show you what sharp money is doing, and some help you shop prices and keep score.
| Tool | What it does | Learn it |
|---|---|---|
| Promo Converter | Walks you through sportsbook sign up offers with matched betting | Promo Recommender guide |
| Arbitrage Finder | Finds price gaps between books that cover every outcome | Arbitrage Finder guide |
| Positive EV | Finds single bets priced better than the sharp market's fair odds | Positive EV tool guide |
| Fantasy | Prices pick'em fantasy slips against the same fair odds | PrizePicks Optimizer guide |
| Smart Money | Reads betting exchange order books to show where sharp money sits | Smart Money guide |
| Insiders | Follows qualified Polymarket and Kalshi wallets and their picks | Insiders guide |
| Lineup Dropper | Flags official MLB lineups the moment they drop | Lineup Dropper guide |
| Odds Screen | Compares every book's price on a market in one grid | Odds Screen guide |
| Bet Tracker | Logs, grades and reports every wager you place | How to track sports bets |
The rest of this guide walks through each tool in the order most members meet them.
Promo Converter
The Promo Converter is where most new members start.
Sportsbooks offer sign up promotions to win new customers, and the Promo Converter helps you work each one with matched betting: a bet at the promo book and an opposing bet at a second book, called a hedge book, so that most outcomes land close together.
The workflow has three screens:
- Promo Recommender ranks the offers open in your location, minus the books you already have, and crowns one Recommended Promotion.
- Promo Guide walks one offer step by step after you press Get Started.
- Promo Converter finds the pair of prices for each bet the guide asks for.
Sign up offers are for new customers only, each book sets its own terms, and every bet in a conversion is a real bet that can win or lose.
Try It: a Bet and Get Offer
The most common offer reads like "Bet $25, Get $100 in bonus bets". You place a qualifying bet with your own money, hedge it at a close price, then bet the bonus and hedge that too. Change the stake, the bonus or the prices below and watch what each pass costs or keeps.
Bet and get converter
Illustrative only, not a prediction of any result. Both hedges are sized by the same function the SmartStake Promo Converter seeds a real matched bet with: low hold mode for the qualifying bet and free bet mode for the bonus bets. Each figure is the worse of the two outcomes, assuming both legs are accepted at the prices shown. It does not model a price that moves before you bet, a rejected or limited stake, a voided leg, an offer that pays only if the qualifying bet wins, or terms that forbid hedging. Every bet in a conversion is a real bet that can win or lose.
In this illustrative example, at the starting prices, the $25 qualifying bet costs $1.14 and the $100 bonus bet keeps $72.73, so about 72% of the bonus survives both passes. The Promo Recommender plans every bet and get at 70% of face value for the same reason.
Every figure in the converter is an illustrative example, not a live offer.
Results vary with the prices you find and each book's terms, and a conversion can still lose money if a price moves before your hedge is placed. The free Low Hold Calculator and Free Bet Calculator run the same two passes on real prices.
Best for: Newcomers learning how sportsbook prices and hedges work. It is the most guided tool in the app.
Learn more:
- Sportsbook Sign Up Promotions 101, the foundational explainer
- How to Use the Promo Recommender, the product walkthrough
- How to Convert Bet and Get Promotions
- How to Convert Deposit Match Promotions
- How to Convert No Sweat Bet Promotions
- What Should I Use as a Hedge Book?
- How Many Sportsbooks Do You Need?
- Matched Betting in Canada
Arbitrage Finder
The Arbitrage Finder is the second stop on the beginner path. An arbitrage, or arb, is a pair of prices at two books where the combined implied probability falls below 100%, so backing both sides at the right stakes covers every outcome.
Arbitrage Calculator
Total Stake
$446.25
Total Payout
$468.00
Total Profit
$21.75 / 4.9%
Arb margins are small and the windows close fast, so speed matters.
A margin is never guaranteed: prices can move between your two bets, a book can limit your stake, and a leg can be voided. The Arbitrage Finder runs in Pre-Game and Live modes, and the free Arbitrage Calculator sizes any pair you find yourself.
Best for: Bettors who can place two bets quickly at two books.
Learn more:
- How to Use the SmartStake Arbitrage Finder, the product walkthrough
- Arbitrage Betting Guide, how to execute and manage the risks
- What Is an Arbitrage Opportunity?, the concept
Positive EV
Positive EV is the first tool on the intermediate and advanced paths. A positive expected value (+EV) bet is one where a sportsbook's price beats the fair odds, so the bet would return more than it costs on average over many repeats.
SmartStake estimates fair odds from a weighted blend of sharp books, with Pinnacle and Circa weighted highest, then removes the margin with one of 5 devig methods (Power by default). The example below shows the idea with one sharp book and three retail books.
EV Comparison Tool
The prices are illustrative. Expected value is a long run average, not a prediction: individual bets win or lose, and results depend on sample size, book limits and execution. Positive EV runs in Pre-Game and Live modes.
Best for: Bettors comfortable with variance who judge a bet by its price rather than its result.
Learn more:
- Positive EV Betting Guide, the concept
- How to Use the SmartStake Positive EV Tool, the product walkthrough
- The Devig Playbook, the math behind fair odds
- Bankroll Management, how much to stake
Fantasy
The Fantasy optimizer brings the same fair odds math to pick'em fantasy apps such as PrizePicks, Underdog, Betr, Dabble and DraftKings Pick6. It devigs each player prop from sportsbook prices and compares it with the break even rate your slip needs, so you can see which picks clear the bar.
Fantasy has its own plan for players who only want this tool, and every signed in account can use it free on Tuesdays. On the beginner path it is the third tool wherever pick'em apps operate.
Best for: Pick'em players who want each pick priced before it goes on a slip.
Learn more:
- PrizePicks Optimizer: How to Build +EV Pick'em Slips
- Daily Fantasy Sports Algorithm Guide
- How to Beat PrizePicks
Smart Money
Smart Money is a research tool rather than a bet finder.
It reads the order books on betting exchanges, where bettors post prices against each other, and shows where real money is resting on a market. By default it counts liquidity on Novig, ProphetX and Kalshi, and ignores offers below $200.
The result is a data point, not a pick: which side the sharp side of the market is backing, and whether your sportsbook's price beats it.
Best for: Intermediate and advanced bettors who want to fold exchange data into their own reads.
Learn more:
Insiders
Insiders follows qualified wallets on Polymarket and Kalshi, two prediction markets where people trade on real world outcomes. A wallet qualifies on its record across sports markets, and each pick carries a confidence score from 0 to 99. The tool is in beta and sits on the advanced path.
Like Smart Money, Insiders is a signal, a view of how experienced traders are positioned, and not a promise about any outcome.
Best for: Bettors curious about prediction markets who want to see how top traders are positioned.
Learn more:
Lineup Dropper
Lineup Dropper is a news wire for MLB batting orders. It posts each official lineup the moment it drops and compares it with the projected one, and flags the markets a late change touches. It is in beta.
Learn more: How to Use SmartStake Lineup Dropper
Odds Screen and Bet Tracker
Two tools support everything above. The Odds Screen is a read only grid of every book's price on a market, free with an account, for shopping the best line before you bet.
The Bet Tracker logs every wager you place, grades it when the game ends, and rolls your results up in Performance.
Learn more:
Plans and the Free Trial
SmartStake has two paid plans. Premium unlocks every tool in this guide, Fantasy included. Fantasy unlocks only the Fantasy tool, at $49 a month or $499 a year. New accounts can try either plan free for 5 days, with one trial per account.
Some of SmartStake is free without a plan:
- Every calculator under /tools, with no account needed.
- The Odds Screen, with a free account.
- Fantasy on Tuesdays, for every signed in account.
The plans and pricing docs and free vs paid plans list exactly what each plan includes.
Where to Start
Your onboarding answers already pick a path, but here is the reasoning behind it:
- New to betting entirely? Read Sports Betting Basics to learn how odds and payouts work.
- Start with sign up offers. The Promo Converter is the most guided tool, and Sign Up Promotions 101 explains the idea.
- Move into the Arbitrage Finder once you can place two bets quickly across two books.
- Step up to Positive EV or Fantasy when you are ready to judge bets by price over many repeats. Start with the Positive EV guide.
- Add Smart Money and Insiders as research alongside everything above.
Comparing SmartStake with other apps first? Best Sports Betting Tools for Beginners ranks the options for a new bettor.
Want to talk bets with other members? The best sports betting Discord servers comparison covers SmartStake's own Discord and nine others.
FAQ
How do you get started with SmartStake?
Getting started with SmartStake takes four onboarding answers: your location, your betting experience, the sportsbooks you already use, and your bankroll. SmartStake then builds a recommended plan of three tools in order, and the first one is marked Start here. For most new bettors that first tool is the Promo Converter.
Which SmartStake tool should a beginner use first?
A beginner should start with the Promo Converter, which walks you through sportsbook sign up offers one at a time. The onboarding plan puts it first for anyone who answers Brand new or Casual, followed by the Arbitrage Finder and then Fantasy, or Positive EV where pick'em fantasy apps are not offered.
Is SmartStake free?
SmartStake has free parts and paid plans. Every calculator under /tools is free with no account, the Odds Screen is free with an account, and every signed in account can use Fantasy on Tuesdays. The other tools need Premium, and new accounts can try Premium or Fantasy free for 5 days.
What is the difference between Premium and the Fantasy plan?
Premium unlocks every SmartStake tool, Fantasy included. The Fantasy plan unlocks only the Fantasy tool, at $49 a month or $499 a year, plus Fantasy Alerts, closing line value in the Bet Tracker and the Promo Recommender with every book. If you want any tool besides Fantasy, choose Premium.
Do I need SmartStake experience to use Positive EV or Arbitrage?
You do not need prior experience, but each tool assumes a skill. The Arbitrage Finder asks you to place two bets quickly at two books, and Positive EV asks you to accept that single bets win or lose even when the price is good. Most members work through sign up offers first, then move on.
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