Ever since there is sports and betting, people dream about getting rich by relying on their interest in sports. Looking at the amount of bookmakers, one may come to the conclusion that this is in fact not as easy as it seems. The rules presented here should give you a rough guideline to prevent the most common mistakes in sports betting. After all, your goal is to maximize your winnings or at least to reduce your losses.
Stay neutral
Most people who start taking an interest in betting on sports do so because they are already fans of a sport or a particular team or player. Unfortunately, this leads to bias and misconceptions when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses and placing bets as a result. Objectivity and rational decisions are important cornerstones of every successful sports bettor.
Choose the right bookie
There are many bookmakers who at their core offer similar odds and betting options. Still there are significant differences between them. No matter if you bet on under/over corners or some fringe sport: there is almost always a bookie that provides more options, better prices or more favorable rules for your demands. The key is to find the one that best suits your needs.
Depending on the jurisdiction of your residence, taxes and how they apply have a significant impact on your returns.
So you better take your time and do some research before you decide to deposit and place bets. That way you make sure to get the most out of your bets.
Every match starts at 0:0
Many bettors put a lot of emphasis on the results of recently settled bets when choosing their next picks and stakes. This often leads to higher stakes and riskier picks. The reason can be both, euphoria of winning or frustration of a losing streak. Especially bets placed out of anger or the brute force approach of increasing stake size to "turn things around" do more harm than good. Do yourself a favor and keep a cool head and base your decisions on solid reasons for picks and stake. It is best if you already set up a strategy for selecting stake size before placing even your first bet. This way you will not need to go through the decision process every time. Also you will know how to react in the heat of the moment and can make quicker and better decisions.
Only bet what you can afford to lose
You can regard this one as the golden rule of betting. If you want to profit from betting or at the very least enjoy it, you need to take this one to heart. If you end up regretting having placed a bet, you may staked too much. To avoid betting too much money, always consider the stake in relation to the odds and your confidence in your choice. Never let the possible winnings influence your decision. Especially accumulators or system bets look very promising and delude you to stake more than you actually should.
A good tactic to prevent exaggerated stakes is to consider every placed bet as initially lost.
Stay on top of your bets
Every career in sports betting starts with the first bet. When the first bets are successful, often times more are to follow and the betting activity intensifies. To still have an overview of your winnings and losses after several hundred or thousands of bets you need to keep track of your performance. The earlier you start, the better it is. You don't need to go overboard with your bookkeeping, since all too ambitious intentions often end as quick as they begun. Tracking the bet, stake, odds and profit should already provide a good sign if your bets are successful or not. If you still feel this is too much, at the very least track your deposits and withdrawals. That way you can even years later draw conclusions about your performance.
Stay diciplined
Sometimes, you may place bets without thorough analysis. Or because you feel like something will happen without being behind your bet. At worst even boredom might be the reason for a bet. If this happens you should be very alert and re-check your goals, since these are good indicators that you are on the wrong track. To confirm your goals, you should have set some in the first place. Some people want to make the matches of their favorite team a bit more exciting, others want to earn money with betting. If you bet for fun, you may get away with these actions from time to time. But if you see sports betting as an investment, you should avoid this behaviour at all costs.
The payout is all that matters
You know that feeling. After successful bets you know you did the right thing, it seemed so obvious after all, didn't it? And the next bet is waiting for you to put money on it. More money. You're on a winning streak. It all is obvious and so simple - until it isn't.
More often than not, these perceived winning streaks end with money lost. To prevent these scenarios you should analyze lost and won bets alike. Try to see what worked and what didn't. Be true to yourself and distinguish between profound skill and what was a lucky coincidence.
Most important is not to consider a couple of won bets as the end of the story or to think that you figured it all out. The only thing that counts is the money you hold in your hand (or have on your bank account). Not what you won last week and are going to lose again today.