7 Secrets of Sports Betting Success
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Sports betting is one heck of a hobby. It’s what millions of people across the globe use to spice up their weekend routine. A cold beer, a full MMA card, and a couple of bets on the side just so you can enjoy the match even more. What else could a man possibly need, right?
Well, a couple of wins here and there would be appropriate, don’t you agree? However, if your sports betting strategy is focused on the casual side of things, you’re likely going to be on the losing end of things. However, with a bit of time and dedication, you can learn valuable sports betting secrets that’ll help you remain in the green.
If you’re ready to put the time and effort in, you’re bound to see proper results in no time! That said, here’s my take on the seven secrets to sports betting that separate good from mediocre sports bettors.
1. Learn About the Risks
First things first – you need to understand the risks associated with online sports gambling. Yes, we’re talking about a hobby here; the favorite pastime for millions of folks around the globe. But, since it involves wagering, there’s a great risk of losing money involved in every transaction
If you’re just starting out, it’s important that you know what you’re getting yourself into. Sports betting secrets aside, many beginners don’t understand the very basics of sports betting. I’m not saying you are among them, I’m just making sure you understand the basics here.
Once you deposit some money onto your online betting bankroll and wager it on a ticket, that money is gone. It’s gone with the wind, I’m afraid. You can get it back by winning the ticket, though. If your ticket loses, your stake is gone. If your ticket wins, you’ll get your stake back along with the profit.
The riskier bets you place and the higher your stake is, the bigger your profits will be. The secret is in finding the perfect balance, which can be extremely difficult if you’re just starting out.
2. Understand the Odds
Next up – understanding the odds. No matter if you’re using your local brick-and-mortar shop or real money betting sites, knowing what the odds represent is of essential importance.
For starters, sports betting odds represent the probability of an outcome and are used to figure out the returns on placed wagers.
There are three main types of odds you’ll come across on online sports betting sites. I’m referring to American (f.e. +200, -150), fractional (f.e. 5/1, 7/2), and decimal (f.e. 1.80, 3.40). If you’re not familiar with either one of these, then I’m afraid you’ll have to spend a couple of hours learning the ropes.
You’ll have to wrap your head around at least one of these odds and learn how to calculate implied probability. If you’d like all this information in one place, head on over to our odds converter page.
3. Choose the Right Place to Bet on Sports
The secret to sports betting no one will tell you about – choosing the right place to bet on sports. Yep, people usually overlook this, without understanding that choosing the right bookie is basically half the job.
If you’re a beginner with no online betting accounts, I advise you to spend at least an hour going through the best online sports betting sites before making your decision. There are several key factors you should take into consideration:
- Safety and security
- Available payment methods
- Available sports
- Supported sports betting markets
- Intuitiveness and responsiveness
- Mobile-friendliness
Make sure you only choose between the safest online sports betting sites out there. Always ensure your potential choices have legit licenses. This is important for several reasons, but mainly because it ensures the safety of your personal and banking details, and guarantees fair play on both ends of the deal.
4. Focus on One Main Sport
Here’s the thing – if you have a narrow sports betting focus, you’re more likely to pay attention to details in that specific sport which will result in much better overall results and profits. If, on the other hand, your focus is too loose and you bet on multiple sports all the time, your results are bound to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong. Focusing on one sport is the ideal course of action for beginners. But, slightly expanding that to two sports doesn’t automatically mean you won’t be good at either of them. It all depends on your current know-how regarding those two sports.
If you only have surface-level knowledge, you’ll be in for a rough surprise. However, if you’ve been following those two sports for years, the transition from one to two sports shouldn’t be that big of a deal for you. If you’ve been watching WWE for years, for example, focusing your betting on wrestling is a logical approach.
5. Manage Your Bankroll
Moving on with seven sports betting secrets, let’s talk about bankroll management. In short, it represents the art of responsibly managing your personal budget while taking into account your online sports betting hobby.
Of course, if you are not serious about sports betting and you think of it as a mere hobby and nothing more, you don’t have to think too much about bankroll management. However, as soon as you start betting substantial sums of money, it’s time to start being responsible!
You should never allocate more money than you can afford into your betting bankroll. Your bankroll should have either weekly or monthly sprints, and you should never succumb to the pressure and deposit more in the middle of a sprint.
Depending on what sort of sports betting strategy you are using, you might want to dive deeper into the problematics of bankroll management. The linked page is a good read. I warmly advise you to go ahead and check it out.
6. Wrap Your Head Around Value
If there’s one thing that’ll completely revamp how you feel about sports betting, it ought to be the concept of value. In sports betting, the value represents the potential profit but is based on the probability of the outcome happening.
In other words, finding value means locating bets in which certain outcomes are much more likely to occur than what the odds suggest. In other words, if you bet on the value you’ve found, your wins will be much bigger than the risk you’ve taken.
Understanding value might not be as straightforward as most people think. This is especially true for folks without any prior experience with sports betting. No worries, as our sports betting value guide takes an in-depth look at the topic. If you’re on the lookout for concrete info, that’s where you should investigate.
7. Learn From Your Mistakes
We all make mistakes, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Making mistakes is in human nature and there’s nothing we can do about that. However, when talking about sports betting, it’s important that our mistakes aren’t in vain… after all, sports betting mistakes result in financial losses.
That said, it’s important to fully focus on the mistakes we’ve made and learn from them. If we continue making the same mistakes over and over again without learning anything from them, that road leads to nowhere.
Mistakes are there to teach you something, but it’s on you to take them apart and try to learn what went wrong and what exactly is the best course of action to prevent them in the future.
Summary
No matter your level of expertise, I’m confident that some of the aforementioned sports betting secrets will help you out. What are your thoughts on our seven tips? Have you found something useful or perhaps you’d like to mention something else? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section down below!
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