Strategies for Betting on Sports
Is sports betting hard? Is it easy? Well, actually it's both! Let us explain... It's easy to learn the basics and get started, and it's even easy to make a little money every now and then, without a great deal of background knowledge. Having fun is also something that requires little to no effort. However, it's hard to consistently make money from betting. There are all kinds of different sports betting strategies you can use to improve your chances, but there's no easy route to success.
Whatever you do, don't let this discourage you! That was not our intention. If we didn't think it was possible to beat the bookmakers with any degree of regularity, then we wouldn't have spent the time and effort we have in putting together our sports betting guide. The whole purpose of this guide is to give you all the information and advice you need to be able to make money. Success might not come easy, but we would never write it off as being impossible either.
With the right approach, and the necessary knowledge and skills, becoming a successful bettor is possible. In this section of our sports betting guide we'll give you the knowledge you need, and teach you the skills required. It's a truly invaluable resource, featuring sports betting strategy advice from experts who know exactly what it takes to be a successful bettor. Please read through the page to find out everything it has to offer.
The Fundamentals of Sports Betting Success
Before you even begin to think about the all the strategy involved in sports betting, there are a few other things you need to do and know. So we're going to start this page with a few tips that you should really try to follow. This advice is crucial, no matter what your goals are when it comes to sports betting. If you're already an experienced bettor then you may want to skip this part, although we suggest that you don't. Even if you're already aware of everything we're about to tell you, it will do you no harm to be reminded of it all.
Please note that all the information and advice that follows is covered in more detail in two other sections of our sports betting guide. If you want learn more about anything we discuss here, please check them out. They cover a number of other aspects of sports betting too.
Choose a good sports betting site
The easiest way to bet these days is online, and there are several advantages in doing so. It's very important, though, to pick a good sports betting site to use. There are plenty of sites to choose from, but they're not all of the same standard. Using one of the best will give you a much better all-round experience, and ensure that you get the most from betting online.
Learn the different ways to bet on sports
There are several different ways to bet on sports. For example, you can now bet on events while they are actually taking place in addition to before they start. This opens up a whole new range of betting opportunities, as does using betting exchanges instead of bookmakers. There are also several different types of wager too. You should spend some time familiarizing yourself with the all the ways to bet, and learning all the wagers you can place, as this will increase your chances of finding profitable spots to put your money down
Pick the right sports to bet on
When we say pick the right sports, we're not necessarily suggesting that certain sports are better than others. The focus here is YOU! What sports are right for you? Generally speaking, these will be the sports that you know and understand the best. We believe it's better to focus on a small number of sports, but this is only our opinion and there's no reason why you can't make money from a wide variety of different sports.
Manage your money well
One of the biggest and most costly mistakes that bookmakers make is choosing to not have a proper bankroll management plan in place. Don't make this mistake yourself. If you can't properly manage a bankroll, and stick to some rules about how much to stake and when, then you have very little chance of success in the long run. More people have gone bust through poor bankroll management than through poor betting skills.
Keep your emotions in check
There's NO room for emotion when it comes to sports betting. Not if you're serious about being successful anyway. You have to make rational decisions based on sound reasoning, and that means using your head: not your heart. There will be times when your emotions threaten to get the better of you, but you have to be able to control them and remain disciplined. Emotional decisions are almost always bad decisions in the context of betting.
If we could teach you only one thing about sports betting, it would be the importance of value. Nothing is more fundamental to success in this field, as the only way to make consistent profits is to consistently find value in the betting markets. Of course, this is easier said than done.
Finding value on a regular basis is anything but easy. It actually requires you to be better than the bookmakers at assessing the probability of potential outcomes of sports events. Bookmakers are professors that are not only very good at what they do, they also have the inherent advantage of being able to set the odds and build their commissions into those odds.
You CAN overcome the bookmakers' advantage though. You just need to give yourself the best possible of chance of identifying value as and when it's available. Being able to spot value is a vital skill, and in the following article we'll try to help you master it.
Our sports betting guide features two other articles that can help you better understand value, so please consider reading them. In our beginners' section, we have an article that serves as a basic introduction to probability and value. In our essentials section we have an article that explains all about the basics of handicapping the market, which is a skill that you need to learn if you want the best chance of finding value.
There are a couple of other articles that we recommend reading before moving on to the more specific strategy advice that we offer. The first is a complete introduction to sports betting strategy. This is a vital read if you're new to this subject. It broadly explains what strategy is in the context of sports betting, and details all the ways it can help you if applied properly.
The second article is all about research and analysis. Virtually all sports betting strategies require at least some degree of research and analysis, so it's important to learn how to study effectively. This article explores what you need study, where you can find the relevant information, and how you should interpret that information.
Basic Strategy for Basic Bet Types
An important part of sports betting strategy is knowing the best ways to use the basic bet types effectively. In the following articles we explain exactly how to do this. The advice in these articles is very straightforward and easy to understand, so they are great for relatively inexperienced bettors who are looking for simple ways to improve their skills. Those with more experience might like to take a look too, even if just to refresh their memory on a few things.
Point spreads are one of the most popular types of wager in the United States, and the most commonly used for football and basketball. In this article we offer a few tips for betting point spreads, and also explain some simple strategies along the way.
Totals are very popular wagers in the US. They are widely used all around the world as well:often being referred to as over/under bets. This article details some methods you can use for pricing up totals to find value, explains the importance of understanding key numbersand features some other useful tips too.
US bettors typically see moneylines as a secondary alternative for betting on football and basketball, after the point spread. They are commonly used on hockey and baseball though, and several other sports too. This is also a popular wager type in other parts of the world, although it's more commonly referred to as simply a win bet. Whatever name you know it by, you learn how to use it effectively in this article.
Parlays, also known as accumulators, should be used sparingly. They're hard to win, as they require getting multiple selections right. Recreational bettors are often attracted to them purely because of the potential for high payouts, but many serious gamblers choose to avoid them entirely. There are some effective ways to use them though, as we explain in this article.
Other Basic Betting Strategies
There are a few basic strategies that are easy to learn, and can be applied to a wide variety of different sports. These are among the first strategies you should learn about. You may not choose to use all of them, or any of them for that matter, but each one of them can be very useful in certain sets of circumstances. We'd certainly recommend having them in your locker, and using them when the time is right.
Arbitrage betting can only be used in specific spots, and those spots don't present themselves very often. When they do, though, they're essentially a bettor's dream, as with arbitrage betting it is possible to make guaranteed profits irrespective of what the outcome of event is. Sound too good to be true? It isn't. Read this article to find out more.
Hedging is about protecting existing wagers against potential losses by placing additional wagers on alternative outcomes. There are several situations in which this the right thing to do. This strategy is often used in the wrong way, or for the wrong reasons, but it can be very powerful if used correctly. This explains how and why.
It could be argued that the Kelly Criterion is not a strategy at all, as it's really just a type of staking plan. Seeing as it can help to achieve one of the goals that most strategies aim for, specifically maximizing potential returns, we figure it makes sense to class it as a strategy. Either way, it's a useful tool if understood and applied properly.
Fading the public and chasing steam are two separate betting strategies, but we've covered them both in a single article as they are both built around placing your bets based on what other people are doing. Fading the public involves going against popular public opinion, while chasing steam involves trying to follow what professional gamblers are betting on instead.
Sports Specific Betting Strategies
There's a lot of general sports strategy that can really help you as a bettor. The information and advice provided so far on this page will almost certainly improve your chances of making money from betting. However, a lot of the really detailed strategies you can use are based on specific sports. And, you'll pleased to know, we can help you on this front too.
We are currently in the process of compiling comprehensive betting guides on a wide variety of sports. We're not just covering the major ones, and our ultimate goal is to provide detailed information and strategy relating to every single sport you can bet on. At this moment, only two of these sports guides are completed. These are for football and soccer. There are several others being worked on at the moment though, and these will be added to the site soon.
Football Betting Guide
Our football betting guide covers EVERYTHING you could ever want to know about betting on football, and also the sport itself. There's useful information for beginners, and a great deal of strategy advice. The following are just some of the topics covered.
- About the NFL
- About College Football
- How to Bet on Football
- Simple Football Betting Systems
- Football Handicapping
- NFL Teasers
- College Teasers
- Betting Football Props
- Buying Half Points
- Using the Off Season Effectively
- Betting Season Win Totals
- Live & Half-Time Betting
Soccer Betting Guide
If you enjoy betting on soccer, or want to start, then this is the guide for you. Soccer's the most popular sport in the world, and presents a massive range of betting opportunities. We teach you how to take full advantage of these opportunities, while increasing your chances of making money at the same time.
- History of Soccer
- Major Clubs
- Major Tournaments & Leagues
- Types of Soccer Bets
- Soccer Betting Mistakes
- Factors Affecting Soccer Matches
- Strategy for Soccer Accumulators
- Backing Big Favorites
- Backing Both Teams To Score
- Betting on Total Goals
Books on Sports Betting Strategy
We conclude this section by pointing you in the direction of some additional resources that you might find useful. We've put together a list of several good books that are related to the subject of sports betting strategy, either directly or indirectly, and provide short reviews of each one. Here are some of the books included in our list.
Author: Stanford Wong
Money
Author: Michael Konik
Authout: King Yao
Author: Matt Rudnitsky