A few people have been able to turn sports betting into a profitable business. It is hard to win money consistently, especially if you go into gambling without a strategy. The winning bettors have systems that they use for their predictions to be as close to the truth as possible.
Anyone who adopts the strategies discussed below will start seeing a turn in their winnings, whether a beginner or simply an amateur.
Choose a trustworthy and well-reputated bookmaker
You should be very aware of sportsbetting plattforms who scam their clients. You often spot them right away as they usually seem to offer really big bonuses and odds, which vary greatly from other bookmakers. So, it is essential to make some backround checks, before charging your account! Choosing a bookmaker who directly targets your country of residence is also the safest way of choosing your provider and can narrow down your options to a few bookmakers, who might be interesting for you. If you reside in Canada for example, wetten.com/ca would be a proper choice for you.
Narrow your Focus
When you start betting, you may become overwhelmed by the sheer number of games, leagues and sports where you could place your money. Don’t get sucked into all the betting lines, unless you don’t mind losing plenty of money. To be a guru bettor, you need to know the teams, players and coaches together with their stats and trends from previous games and systems for betting sports.
You become an expert when you specialise. This step comes when you focus and research on a single team or one league. When you narrow your focus, you dedicate time to understanding and becoming an expert, which is easier in a small area.
Set Aside your Bankroll
Your bankroll is the amount of money that you will use in your sports betting during a period. For instance, you could set aside $800 that you will be putting into football games throughout the La Liga season. This bankroll you commit to betting should be money that you are willing to lose. Don’t commit your rent in favour of Barcelona during a home game since they could lose; what will you do then?
Each of bets should cost you between 1 to 5% of your bankroll. From the $800 set aside, for example, you should not place more than $40 on each game. This way, your bankroll will last you throughout the season while giving you a chance to grow it.
Bet Sober
Betting under the influence can be pretty exhilarating, but since your judgment is impaired at the time, you will not think through your decisions properly. Strong emotions work almost similarly to alcohol. Listening to them could lead you to bet for a team you are a fan of simply because you love the club and have memorised their anthem. A winning sports bettor needs to have all his faculties when calculating odds and doing line shopping.
Line Shopping
Sportsbooks, online and otherwise, calculate the likelihood that a team will win or lose. This can be expressed in terms of percentage. Line shopping allows you to get value where you are not simply betting on the outcome that is likely to happen.
For example, in a game between Real Madrid and Alaves, sportsbooks give the latter a 1 in 4 chance of winning against the former. If you bet $50 in this game four times in favour of Alaves, you would lose this amount each of the 3 times they lose, and this totals to $150. If they win once, you will earn $150, which gives you no profit.
Line shopping works where you disagree with the probability as given in the sportsbook. In this case, you may agree that Alaves is the underdog. However, you believe that they have a 50% chance of winning rather than 25%. If you are right and Alaves loses two times, you will lose $100 and have revenue of $300. Your profit would be $200. The best bettors do line shopping as they are very profitable if done well.
However, don’t go betting on all underdogs because you want to take advantage of line shopping. Make an intelligent decision based on analysis of past games and other factors like whether it is the favorites are on home ground or visiting.
You can find the best prices and bigger odds by comparing sportsbooks. Look at the points assigned for a game and the prices attached for different books and online betting sites.
Avoid betting on Favourite Teams
Nothing feels as good as watching your favourite team win. However, as good as it would feel to earn money from betting on your team’s win, do not do it. It is difficult; almost impossible to be unbiased and objective when your team is playing. You may not want to bet against them because you genuinely believe that they will win. It could also be because you feel that doing so would jinx the game and make your team lose.
When betting on games where your choice team is playing, be objective. Research as you would in another game and look at the players who are playing. How have they performed in past games? What strategy is the coach applying today? Will the opposing team notice and counter this strategy? You should also set aside a bankroll specifically for these games since they have a high risk.
To be honest, it would probably be little trouble in your head and heart if you stopped betting on games your team is playing. Watch them, cheer them on and drink to their wins, but avoid putting money where your fan-mouth is.
Home Team Bias
In most games, home teams win more than visiting teams because of the home advantage. This has created the home team bias, which is where most sports bettors are likely to bet in favour of the home team, even if they are underdogs. Sportsbooks are aware of this, which is why this betting is not very profitable.
Playing at home gives an advantage to a team, but it is not the only determinant for whether they would win or not. Sometimes, the visiting team wins. A professional and profitable sports bettor should do some fact-finding to know who will win.
Be Disciplined
You have probably heard stories about people who gambled away money that had been set aside for their child’s college fund or their monthly mortgage payment. This is what betting does to you when you lose control and let your impulses and emotions guide you to make decisions. Your bankroll will be useless and all the rules you formulate to guide you to profitable betting will be ignored.
Don’t lose your objectivity when you get on a winning or a losing streak. Consistent wins may blow your confidence, which could lead to mistakes. Similarly, after losing for a while, you could decide to blow a lot of money at once to see if you can change your luck.
Beware of Betting Tips
You can get betting tips for different sports and games on the internet and outside of it as well. Some tipsters demand money to give you the winning tips, though most time, it is done for free. Be careful of betting tips since some are provided by untrustworthy persons who may want you to lose.
Affiliate tipsters are all the rage now, and this is where a website suggests odds that are way off, making you trust that it is true. You then follow a link to a betting site where you make the bet. When you lose, the affiliate tipster is paid for directing you to where you gave your money.
Keep your Records
Profitable bettors keep records of their bets. These records are useful in teaching, evaluation of trends and even the development of a system. These records should come with an analysis of the different bets that you made. What were the factors considered in making a certain bet? Was it worth it in the end? What was the outcome? Were there any mistakes made? What can be done to improve chances next time?
As you look at your records book, you should be able to answer these questions. From it, you can also develop a winning system. Do this by looking at your past wins and the strategies you used in calculating the odds. Then, see if you can produce repetitive tasks from it. These tasks combined will be your winning system.