Pointers for More Successful Sports Betting
Are you an amateur sports bettor who just wants to stop losing money and start winning like the pros? Do you have to learn some secret formula or something? Maybe not, but these proven tips may help you on your next best:
Checking the Odds
Asking a professional bettor who they’re betting on, you may be shocked with the answer: it’s not always who they think will win. This is important to mention because successful punters typically just place their bets on outcomes they think will occur, instead of what the odds seem to show. These pros build up their wins over time by focusing on events that bookmakers underestimate. They could bet on the favorite or on the underdog, but always when the odds are positive.
Head Before Heart
Many people base their bets on emotions rather than on an objective appraisal of the likely results. They may bet for their favorite sports stars or for their country or hometown, etc. In these scenarios, bookmakers will naturally respond by adjusting their odds accordingly. Hence, the odds-on favorite to win might be selected based on popularity instead of the bookmaker’s actual assessment of their odds of winning. So if you’re already emotionally invested in your favorite team, forget it and take it slow when betting on any outcome.
Knowledge Is Power
According to Warren Buffet, on of the world’s most successful stock market investors, never invest in anything you don’t fully understand. This holds true even in sports betting. You want results that are more likely that what the odds tell you, so you have to be knowledgeable enough in your chosen games before that happens.
The Big Picture
There are times when people get so engrossed in sports betting that they tend to be obsessed with statistics and having to analyze them before deciding which players or teams they should bet on. Based on a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) study, doing that could actually reduce your chances of winning. Not that you should disregard data, but try looking at the bigger picture instead of fussing about the tinier and usually insignificant details.
Accepting Losses
Finally, it’s important to accept the reality that you will lose many games, even if you think you’ve gotten so good at the trade. Nobody likes losing money, but allowing yourself to be consumed by the frustration of losing can lead to a psychological phenomenon called the sunk cost fallacy. It’s when you get so affected by having lost money that you start acting irrationally to the effect that you lose even more. In short, as any pro punter would tell you, embrace both the good and bad days.