[TimMurnaghan]

> Fourth you must bet big.

No. You must bet right - and it depends on how right you are. Look up the Kelly criterion. Bet 1 - 2*probablity of losing of your current pot - will maximize expected return (but is a bit volatile for some tastes)

[Etheryte]

It is pretty well agreed upon that the Kelly criterion strongly overestimates bet sizes for continuous bets where accurate probabilities are hard to determine, like the stock market. It has given rise to many variations such as Half-Kelly, Kelly minus constant, etc, which is a pretty good tell that it's an inaccurate approximation. Using Kelly to invest in the stock market is roughly like using half the Black-Scholes formula to invest in options. You'll get good results when the market agrees with your direction, but spectacular failures when it doesn't.