How to Use the SmartStake Positive EV Tool, Step by Step

The SmartStake Positive EV tool is a live board of bets whose sportsbook price beats a fair, no-vig price built from sharp books. You set a bankroll, pick your books, and the tool does the scanning, the devigging and the stake sizing.

This guide walks through each control in the order you should set it, then shows how to read a row and check it before you bet.

The theory lives in the Positive EV guide. This page is the "how": what every setting changes, which defaults to keep, and where beginners trip up.

Please note: Every example in this guide is illustrative, built from prices chosen to show the math, and does not represent any user's results. +EV betting involves variance, and the fair price is an estimate. Individual bets can win or lose, and results vary with the odds you get, sportsbook terms and sample size. Only bet money you can afford to lose. SmartStake is not affiliated with any sportsbook.

Try It: How the Tool Prices One Bet

Every row on the board comes out of the same four steps: blend the sharp books, strip the vig, price the edge at a soft book, and size a stake. The check below runs those steps with the tool's own functions. Change a sharp price, toggle a book off, or switch the devig method, and watch the EV and the stake move.

The defaults are a hypothetical NFL moneyline. The favorite is −150 at Pinnacle, −145 at Circa and −152 at BetOnline, and a soft book offers −130.

The blend comes out at −148 / +128, the Power fair price is about −139, and −130 carries an estimated edge of +2.81%. A quarter Kelly stake on a $2,000 bankroll is $18.26.

Switch the method to Worst and the fair price eases to about −136, the edge drops to +2.09% and the stake to $13.60. That is the trade every setting below makes: a stricter fair price shows fewer bets and sizes them smaller.

Step 1: Set Your Bankroll and Kelly Multiplier

Set your bankroll first, because every suggested stake is $0 until you do. The Positive EV header shows your stake settings as one line, for example "$2.0k bankroll · 0.25x Kelly". Click a figure to edit it in place on a computer, or tap it on a phone to open an editor.

• Bankroll is the money you have set aside only for betting. It is saved to your account and shared with Insiders and Smart Money, so one change updates every tool.
• Kelly multiplier scales the full Kelly stake. The default is 0.25 (quarter Kelly). Full Kelly (1.0) assumes the fair price is exactly right, which it never is, so a fraction absorbs that error and smooths the swings.

The suggested stake on each row is bankroll × full Kelly fraction × Kelly multiplier. For the formula and why a fraction is the sensible default, see the Kelly criterion calculator guide and bankroll management.

Step 2: Pick Your Sportsbooks

Select only the sportsbooks where you hold an account, because an edge you cannot bet is noise. Open the Sportsbooks filter (on a wide screen, click the books shown in the header). It groups books into "Sportsbooks in" your location and "Other Sportsbooks", with Select all and Clear all at the top. Betting in Canada? Set your location to your province first, and see the best EV betting tools for Canada for which Canadian books share a price.

Changes apply as you make them, and there is nothing to save inside the dropdown. To keep a set of books for next time, save it as part of a filter preset (Step 3).

Selecting exactly one book also switches on the parlay builder, covered in Step 6. If you are still deciding which books to open, how many sportsbooks you need walks through the choice.

Step 3: Narrow the Board With Filters

Start from the Recommended filters, then narrow one thing at a time. Recommended caps odds at +200 (3.0 decimal), shows games starting in the next 24 hours, and applies a 10% Max Vig. Every filter sits in one panel:

• Leagues and Markets limit the board to sports and bet types you know. Markets follow Sport, then Market Type, then Market, so you can take all player props in one sport or a single market.
• Odds sets a minimum and maximum price. Longshots carry noisier fair prices and long losing runs, which is why Recommended stops at +200.
• EV % sets a floor, and an optional ceiling. A ceiling helps you skip suspiciously large numbers, which usually mean a stale line.
• Max Vig % leaves any sharp book whose own vig tops the limit out of the fair price.
• Date Range (pregame) picks Today, 24 Hours, 3 Days or 7 Days. Game Status (live) picks games in play or stopped.

Once a set works for you, Save Filters stores it, and Set Default loads it every visit. Every filter is described in the filters and settings docs.

Step 4: Choose Your Sharp Books and Devig Mode

The fair price behind every row comes from two choices: which sharp books feed it and how their vig is removed. Both live in the filter panel, and the defaults are a sound place to start.

Sharp Books opens a ring showing your books and their weights. Choose Edit sharps to add or remove books, set a weight from 0 to 100, mark a book Required, and set Min sharps, the number of books that must price a line.

The default blends Pinnacle and Circa at 100 with BetOnline and Bookmaker (main lines), FanDuel (player props), and four exchanges at 50.

Devig Mode picks the method that strips the vig: Power (the default), Multiplicative, Additive, Probit or Worst. Worst takes the least favorable fair price, so it is the most conservative. The widget above shows how much the choice moves a single edge.

Avoid marking a book Required unless it prices every market you follow, because a required book filters out every line it does not cover. The methods are compared side by side in the devigging guide, and the sharp book controls in the custom devig docs.

Step 5: Read a Row

Each row is one bet at one book, sorted by EV % so the largest estimated edges come first. On a wide screen, left to right:

• Event shows the market, league, matchup and start time, or the live score once the game is under way.
• Selection is the side you would bet: a team, a total, or a player's line.
• Book odds is the price on offer, with the book's name. Clicking it opens the book's bet slip where a link exists.
• FV • Vig is the fair value and the vig in the sharp market it came from. Click it for how the fair value was worked out.
• Rec Bet • Max is your suggested stake and the book's maximum where one is published.
• EV % is the estimated edge per dollar staked. The help icon beside it opens the bet's Math tab.

On a phone the same bet shows as a compact card with FV, Vig, Rec and Max chips; tap it for the full detail.

The Math tab also shows the bet's win probability, and many +EV bets sit below 50%.

A win probability under 50% is not a red flag. A +150 bet that wins 42% of the time is priced above its fair +138, so it carries an estimated edge while losing more often than it wins. For the math, see no-vig fair odds.

Step 6: Check the Bet, Then Track It

Confirm the price is still live at the book before you bet. A large EV that looks too good to be true is often a line the book has not moved yet, and it may move or void it. Click a row to expand it, then use:

• Market view (the table icon) to see this line at the books you choose under Market View Books. It is the fastest way to tell a real outlier from a line that moved everywhere. The same habit powers line shopping.
• Line history (the chart icon) to see how the price has moved.
• Calc (the calculator icon) to enter the odds you actually see, a different bankroll or Kelly multiplier, or another devig method, and get a new EV and amount to wager.
• Boost to enter a sportsbook profit boost. The odds and EV recalculate, and a boost can turn a slightly negative bet positive (boost docs).

Once you place a bet, open its Track tab and choose Add to Bet Tracker. The stake is prefilled with the suggested amount, and you can change it to what you actually wagered.

The tracker grades the bet when the game settles and records its closing line value, the long-run check on whether your prices beat the market. How to track sports bets covers the rest.

The quick actions on each row also let you hide a bet (the eye icon), pin it, or report a bad line. On a phone, swipe left to hide and right to pin.

With one sportsbook selected, the checkbox at the start of each row adds the bet to a parlay slip. The slip multiplies the legs' odds, combines their fair probabilities into a parlay EV, and sizes a stake for the whole ticket. The parlay builder docs explain the details.

Pregame vs Live

Pregame and live share the same fair price math; what changes is how fast the board moves. Switch with the Pre-game and Live tabs in the header.

• Pregame refreshes on your Pregame Refresh setting: manual, where you press the refresh button, or every 10, 30 or 60 seconds. Lines move over minutes and hours, so a price is usually still there when you reach the book.
• Live streams as soon as you switch, and the round button (or the Space bar) pauses and resumes it. A live edge can vanish on the next play, and books often suspend markets during a stoppage. Bet live only at books you can bet into quickly.

The live vs pregame docs cover the live game status on each row.

Settings Worth Changing

The settings button at the right end of the header controls how the board behaves, not which bets qualify. Four are worth a look on day one:

• Odds Format: American or Decimal.
• Hidden Bets and Taken Bets: show or hide bets you have hidden or already tracked, so the board only lists what you can still act on.
• Correlated Bets: hide bets tied to one you already hold.
• Market View Books and Line History Books: the books the market view and line history show when you expand a row.

Common Mistakes

Most early mistakes come from trusting a single number instead of the market around it.

• Chasing the biggest EV. An outsized edge is more often a stale line than a gift. Check the market view before you bet.
• Betting longshots. Wide prices carry noisy fair odds and long losing streaks. Keep the Odds cap until you have a large sample.
• Forcing bets. Some days the board is thin. A slow day costs nothing; a marginal bet placed to stay busy has no edge to lean on.
• Oversizing. Full Kelly on an estimated edge swings hard. Quarter Kelly is the default for a reason.
• Skipping the tracker. Without results and closing line value, you cannot tell a good process from a lucky run.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you use the SmartStake Positive EV tool?

The SmartStake Positive EV tool is used in five steps: set your bankroll and Kelly multiplier in the header, select the sportsbooks you hold accounts at, narrow the board with the Odds, EV % and Date Range filters, check a bet's fair value, market view and line history, then add the bets you place to the Bet Tracker. The board loads and refreshes on its own, so there is no scan button to press.

Why does the Positive EV tool recommend a $0 bet?

Your bankroll starts at $0, so every suggested stake is $0 until you set it. Click the bankroll figure in the Positive EV header and enter the amount you have set aside for betting. The suggested stake is your bankroll times the bet's full Kelly fraction times your Kelly multiplier, which defaults to 0.25.

Which sharp books does SmartStake use to set the fair price?

By default the Positive EV tool blends Pinnacle and Circa at a weight of 100 with BetOnline and Bookmaker on main lines, FanDuel on player props, and the Sporttrade, Novig, ProphetX and 4Caster exchanges at a weight of 50, then strips the vig with the Power devig method. Any sharp book whose own vig tops 10% is left out. You can add, remove, reweight or require books under Sharp Books.

Why do so many +EV bets have a win probability under 50%?

A bet is +EV when its price pays more than its fair probability warrants, not when it is likely to win. A +150 bet that wins 42% of the time is priced above its fair +138, so it carries an edge even though it loses more often than it wins. The win probability for each bet sits in its Math tab.

Is the SmartStake Positive EV tool free?

The Positive EV tool, pregame and live, is part of SmartStake Premium. Eligible new accounts can use it on a 5 day free trial before choosing a weekly, monthly or yearly plan. The free calculators, such as the expected value and Kelly calculators, need no subscription.

Video Guide: A +EV Workflow

Alex walks through his own +EV workflow: why he does not blindly chase high EV percentages, why he never forces a bet, and how he checks market consensus before trusting a number.

He also shows bets he would and would not place, and how he sizes units. The video was recorded in 2025 on an earlier version of the tool, so some buttons have moved since, but the workflow advice still applies.

Putting It Together

The Positive EV tool automates the tedious part of +EV betting: scraping odds, devigging sharp lines and sizing stakes. Your part is the judgment: the books you hold, the filters you trust, and the discipline to check a price before you bet it. Every row is a candidate, not a sure thing, and individual bets can win or lose.

To compare the tool with the alternatives first, see the best +EV betting software. To try the board yourself, eligible new accounts get a 5 day free trial.

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