Money Management and Creation of a Book

The most important responsibility as a sports bettor is to decide how much money you want to keep aside for betting on sports. Do keep in mind your financial situation. Do not bet money that you cannot afford to lose!

Once the total stake is allocated into the account, do not bet it all. Using a portion of that and seeing how it goes makes more sense.

This is the primary step in becoming a more successful sports bettor and the most important as well.

Set Your Risk Appetite and Understand Your Goals

No one likes losing money but betting involves the risk of that. You win some, you lose some. How much you are willing to risk when betting differs from person to person so it is crucial to set your expectations of how much risk you wish to take on.

Another important point to consider is to understand the agenda and reasons behind why you are betting. Is it recreational or does it mean more than that? If betting is an important source of income for you then it may not be such a good idea to place huge bets and take high risks.

It is good to have a timeline for betting rather than betting every day. Sports betting works 24×7 and betting websites have several sports events listed across the world available for betting so take your time to decide and pick sports that you are knowledgeable about.

Maintain a Record of Your Bets and Review Them Periodically

Old school is the new school. Maintaining a record will help keep your head on your shoulders and give you a perfect understanding of how well you are doing. It will perfectly show you whether or not you have managed to beat the bookmakers and help you judge how good a sports bettor you may be.

Reviewing the bets periodically will give you insights into your betting tendencies and present a black and white picture of how teams are doing over the course of a season.

Set Realistic Expectations

An experienced successful bettor historically wins 54% of the time whereas a stellar bettor wins 60% of the time. Do not feel disheartened when you lose a bet because most do. You have to learn and set realistic goals and expectations for yourself.

You are not going to pull a bunny out of the hat especially when it comes to sports betting where there is a lot less luck involved that in gambling at a casino. It is very rare for a huge favourite to lose to a minnow team/player.

Tennis is the perfect example here. The odds of Rafa Nadal losing a match on clay are so low that it is almost certain that you would lose money by betting on his opponent.

Do Not Mix Emotions With Betting

Bet with your head and not your heart. It is not necessary that your favourite team or player is going to win. Majority of sports bettors are sports fans but betting is a business and it is important to remember that. There is money at stake so be smart and vigilant.

Loyalty clouds judgement so it is best to avoid betting on games that involve your favourite players/teams. The subconscious bias can play a massive role in costing you a potential chance of earning money from sports betting.

Do Your Own Research and Learn From Other Bettors

The sports betting community is growing by leaps and bounds and in today’s day and age, it is so easy to engage with others virtually. You can join sports betting forums, WhatsApp chats, Facebook groups, Telegram, Reddit, you name it and get involved in the sports betting conversations globally.

Not only will you become more accustomed to the sports betting lingo but also learn some strategies and tips on how to become a more successful sports bettor. It is not enough to just learn from others’ experiences. It is also important to do your own research and carve your own path forward and rectify your own mistakes.

Avoid the Sunk Cost Fallacy

The biggest mistake one could make is trying to recover losses through betting. Just like investments, it is hard to recover money. The “sunk cost fallacy” means that the more time or money one invests in something, the harder it becomes to let go of.

This comes back to the point of becoming emotional when betting. Throwing more money blindly into betting can be even more detrimental in not only the long run but also right away. Just because a huge amount may have been lost in previous bets does not mean one needs to panic and try to recover these in just one game/match.

It is important to play the waiting game as a person who is calm and knowledgeable will be successful when betting, down the line.

They say patience is a virtue and it truly is. Sports betting can be looked at more like a long term investment rather than gambling. In fact, it is much closer to investment in shares in a stock market than playing cards at a casino.

Be disciplined and do not think of yourself as a gambler. There is a difference between a bettor and a gambler, and the sooner you come to realize the difference, the better the results when betting. Just like teams and players have bad days in sport, remember, your bets are correlated so sit tight and hope for the best. Even shares in the stock market fluctuate to all-time lows and highs but companies with strong foundations succeed in the long run.

Discipline and patience are the two key qualities that will make you successful in sports betting.

How to Become a Pro Bettor

This is a point by point list of useful tips that can turn you from a rookie bettor to a professional bettor.

1. Love Your Money!!! Betting Bankroll Management

This is the one thing that most betting pundits will tell you as the key to have good online sports betting career – Love your money, take good care of it.

If you are planning to start you’re online betting career with your last 100€ Euros it probably won’t be a good idea.

1. Bet according to what you have, in other words never bet more than 5% to 10% of your bankroll especially if you are a rookie. Rookies should bet something between 3% and 5%, and doubtful bets should only be around 1%.

When you do manage to win a bet then withdraw the winnings and continue on with your initial investment. You bookies make a living because in the long run most bettors end on the losing side, so withdraw your winnings and continue from there. Set a rule, cash-in 50% of winnings and invest the other 50%.

2. If you manage to get on a winning streak always remember you could lose everything you made till now with the very next bet, In other words never be Over- Confident.

3. If you are on a losing streak never bet on high stakes with the hope of recovering everything you lost till now with a single bet.

You cannot see online betting as a short-term money making scheme. In order to be a successful bettor you need to have patience and see it as a long term investment.

2. Do I Need to Be a Football Pundit Expert to Bet?

NO You Don’t!!!

Knowing everything about football won’t make you an expert football bettor but it does help guide you in the right direction. Being knowledgeable about the game gives you an added advantage and in the world of sports betting every advantage you have can make a difference.

Actually the best football bettors are not the super fans of the game, some of the most profitable bettors do not even like the sport, but they know their numbers and their lack of passion keeps their emotions out of the equation. This is the case of Elena Shalke, the famous SoccerWidow.com blogger that became a Betfair pro tipster by using her mathematical skills to help her football passionate husband turn a profit on sports betting.

An Oddsmaker takes into account a number of variables related to the match at hand before setting the lines for the game. The bookie, on the other hand, varies the betting lines through the week and during the match till the bet is closed to even up the bets on both sides.

If you aren’t updated with the changes that are happening with the team you might as well end up with a big hole in your wallet.

I’m guessing you are wondering what these so-called changes that I’m speaking about here are, let’s take a look at them one by one:

Team Performance

Even the best teams out there will have a minor hick-up each season; take a look at Chelsea this season (2014-2015). From the start of the season, Chelsea has been a dominant force in the league brushing past teams with the greatest of ease, many even argued they could go unbeaten the whole season and many didn’t argue back because they looked so dominant.

But since the start of December Chelsea has experienced a minor blip in their form. They dropped a total of 7 points from a possible of 21 points available and have given Manchester City a free pass back to the title race. Now even Manchester United is dreaming!

Be the end of the Season Chelsea kicked back into the game and won the League when City looked un-catchable.

So even the best of teams have their bad days and good days, If you are betting on them during one of those “bad” days well then it’s not gonna be pretty looking at your wallet mate. Stay out of the game during these lapses or bet against the team, they are still favourites but losing, which makes the paying odds pretty nice.

With Football, always expect the unexpected!!!

Motivation and Player’s Morale

Motivation: – Imagine a Liverpool team on a five-match losing streak. Their next fixture is against the league leaders, Manchester United at Anfield. So do you think Liverpool has a chance?

Liverpool vs Manchester United is one of the fiercest rivalries in football, so irrespective of Liverpool being on a losing run. The Liverpool players and even the fans alike will be pumped heading into the match because it’s United who they are gonna face. In derby matches, apart from points, there is one more thing at stake, and that is pride.

So when you are betting on derby matches and you’re planning to bet on the favourites heading into the match – it always won’t be a good idea.

Player Morale: Let’s once consider Liverpool FC as an example. Last season they were scoring goals for fun largely thanks to Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard. But once Liverpool lost Luis Suarez to Barcelona the team entered this league very short of confidence and didn’t believe they could mount a title challenge this season like the previous one.

The departure of one player can greatly affect the morale of the players and thereby resulting in lacklustre performances on the pitch.

Similarly, look at Manchester United. The team was completely reshuffled, and they still struggled in the first few matches. It was after the arrival of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid that United started to get the season back on track, even though his performances have not been the best in the world he has managed to raise the level of confidence among the players that they can mount a top 4 challenge.

So when placing a bet, be sure to keep track of your team for last-minute injury setbacks and even news involving the personal life of a player but mainly several transfers that turn the team into complete renovation, it always takes some time for players to settle in, as every tiny detail can influence the course of the match.

3. Know What You Are Gonna Be Betting On

As stated earlier you don’t need to be a football pundit to be a good bettor but basic knowledge of the game is important. For a Stoke City versus Hull City if you don’t have a clue about these teams or about the players who are going to play then don’t place a bet on this match.

Most betting sites give the bettors a free 50 to 100 Euros as a sign up bonus, always be sure to make use of this amount smartly. Rookies have a tendency to blindly gamble with this amount because they think it’s free money.

Yes its free money and that’s all the more reason why you should not waste it. Why should you waste it if you can make more using it wisely?

Go for Quality over Quantity, some bettors tend to bet on over five matches a week. If you are a professional bettor and can handle juggling five matches a week then that´s good. Parlays might even be for you.

But if you are a rookie bettor it’s better to take one bet at a time before moving onto the bigger and better bets.

There are bettors who bet only on the favourites, this technique will make sure you’ll turn up as a winner more often than not. But when you lose – you lose big, and any winnings you get otherwise won’t be able to cover for the losses.

So it’s better to bet on Over-Performers rather than the favourites, and to know who the over performers are you’ll need to closely follow the league. (Crystal Palace of last season, West Ham, Swansea City and Southampton of this season are examples of Over-Achievers).

4. Never, and I Mean Never Get Addicted to Betting

Like drugs and Alcohol, betting addiction can leave you penniless and in misery. If you find yourself placing money on high stakes bets just for the thrill of it I would suggest for your own good to Stop, or do it with expendable money, something that means pennies for you.

5. Enjoy the Little Things in Life

It’s always better to place smaller bets on matches if you aren’t confident with your bet. The advice most betting sites give will guide you more towards placing a bet rather than not betting. Its times like these were you need to trust your own instinct. Enjoy the smaller wins – It’s easy to get carried away when you win a few bets in a row, but remember your luck may run out in the next bet. Do not trust in luck, trust in analysis and deduction.

Finally, if you end up losing a bit always remember losing is part of betting, instead of trying to win think on how not to lose.

Good luck bettors! May the force be with you.

The simple answer will be –YES!

You can make money through online sports betting, in fact, there are people who even make a living through online betting, but don’t think it’s gonna be easy to achieve.

If you plan to make a living out of it like any other day to day job it takes dedication, patience and nerves of steel… especially in sports betting. You have to be prepared to learn and put in lots of hours to go through the basics before actually placing a bet and then let go of your emotions because LOSING is part of your success so get used to it.

Do you know why sportsbooks always have the last laugh? It’s because of you.

Gamblers don’t want to be patient, they want instant results and when they do get lucky once in a while they immediately look for new ways to give the money they won back to the sportsbook. It’s a well-known fact that most online bettors have zero understanding of what they are doing and they are placing bets based on their own love for a team or because someone on YouTube thought it was a good bet!

Do you want to know what rate of success professional bettor have?

Over 60% success rate?

Surprise, surprise…

A sports bettor’s success rate is around 53%-54%

Surprised?

Yup, it’s hard to score a winning bet. But do not disappoint yourself, a 53% success rate or even lower than 50% can still leave you with a consistent cash flow, it could even make you rich.

How?

Simple, if that 54% of winning bets pay out higher than what you invested in bets your pockets end up being full by the end of the day. Here is an example:

If a bettor places 14 bets on a single day risking 110£ on each to win 100£ on every single one, and 8 of them turn out to be winners while the remaining 6 are losers, then that is a poor winning rate of 57%, but the profit for the day ends up being 140£ (the bets won 800£ and lost 660£).

Does this still feel like a losing day?

Do I need to learn statistics and probability to become a professional bettor?

If you want to be successful in the long run then you should become a “Value Bettor”, which is another word for a pro bettor who is quite skilful with statistics and probabilities. Value betting places the odds of winning a profit at the end of a season by your side, but the question still remains if being a mathematical genius is strictly necessary. In a personal opinion, it is not.

A punter is someone who watches football matches consistently and reads all the news. If you know that Barcelona is on a winning streak, they usually win away, their players are in their fullest and two of them are top class scorers like Neymar and Messi, and they are facing one of the most irregular in the league then you don´t really need a spreadsheet to tell you Barcelona has high chances of winning and it would be smart to place a high bet. But this one was too easy.

Let’s look at Real Madrid’s shape. It takes skill to bet on the underdog to beat a goliath like Real Madrid, but top teams do lose from time to time to lower class teams that seem to be rising in their game. In the second half of season of 2014-2015, Real Madrid’s game came down with James Rodriguez and other key players out with injury. Ronaldo and Christian Bale were not scoring, both had too many games on them and transfer rumours always seems to get into a player’s game, plus one side of the fans and reporters were being disrespectful on Bale.

Real was facing Valencia, one of the top teams in the Spanish League after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Valencia’s game was improving game after game knowing no defeat. This is the perfect mix of variables to bet on the underdog. Real Madrid still looks strong vs Valencia but the numerous factors even up the stage against public opinion and it makes it not only more possible for the underdog to win but profitable, as the odds follow public opinion.

Betting on Real Madrid, the favourite, would be too risky in their current condition and quite stupid with a low payoff. While betting on Valencia is smart because the risk is at its lowest while the payoff is high, this is Value Betting.

Valencia won that game 2-1 on their home stadium.

You can perform value betting out of intuition with some knowledge on the teams, but having good research on the team stats can really layout your true odds. You can be a good intuitive bettor by letting your emotions out of the way or become a true Value Bettor if you want to become one of the greatest resources of all is the Soccer Widow.

Value betting the Soccer Widow way

The Soccer Widow is a site focused on teaching Value Betting to its readers. They are experts at calculating “true odds”, system development and several other probabilistic techniques. The content is aimed mostly at those experienced bettors who are struggling with their strategies. Subscribe to their newsletter and take a look at their resources for in-depth education on value betting. Elena Schaelike is the mastermind behind this project that managed to grow 500% her own personal account in just 6 months and with no prior interest in sports betting or football, just pure math.

So as you can see placing a sports bet is all about gathering info and balancing it to see if the scale tips to one side or another. Only place bets when one of the teams seems to have everything to its favour and avoid bets when it looks too even. Don´t worry about betting opportunities, pro bettors bet on a multitude of sports each week and even if you only bet on football there are dozens of leagues and tournaments around the world working around the clock to bet on.

How to be successful at betting without experience

Pro bettors will tell from personal experience that you will actually lose money at the beginning before making it. There is a learning curve to sports betting and it requires dedication, this is unavoidable. But what if you follow in the footsteps of a professional bettor in the beginning?

That is why we are here, our in-house pro bettor Ed Rusi is giving free bet picks every week, and its FREE for now, so subscribe to his mailing list to start receiving the best sports betting picks:

Get betting tips right into your mailbox, Sign to our newsletter:

[sibwp_form]

How much does a professional sports bettor make?

Professional bettors lose and win bets almost every day on different sports and events, but they tend to end on the green side at the end thanks to their multiple betting strategies. The amount won depends entirely on their expendable capability. Winnings could be hundreds of pounds, thousands or millions with the same consistent strategy.

Be a bettor, not a Gambler

1. These are Bettors who do not use their heads very often and bet with their gut, they feel “lucky” hoping to get rich quickly, but in the end, they lose and marriage follows. If gamblers incidentally win their first bet greed kicks in, and they want more going on to place more blind bets on the next high stake thinking:

 “I was born for this! Too easy for me, finally those weekends watching games paid up. You were wrong, ma!”

Soon disaster will strike as probabilities are a universal law and luck is not.

Bottom line is you need to learn the science of gambling, which also bears the boring name of probabilities.

Bookies won’t be bothered losing a customer because a new soul to steal always steps in as a replacement.

What makes a professional bettor? Handicapping

Professional bettors pick bets carefully and follow their results on a spreadsheet, this is called handicapping. This is necessary to figure out where successful bets are going and what were the variables to find them and to filter out the bad bets and which variables flag them.

What is the winning ratio? 50%? 60%? You can only see this number after a statistics calculation.

And what is the resulting profit during a time frame? Is the risk worth the return? Is the monthly return consistent?

Being a professional bettor involves asking lots of questions and finding answers. Answers that come in the form of numbers that can be improved or reduced.

• Handicap bets by asking lots of questions and finding their answers.

When a professional bettor wins, he immediately withdraws the winnings and then continues on with his initial bankroll, adding up a percentage to his capital but also withdrawing a fixed percentage of winnings. Now, this guy is smart.

• Money management is key

Bookies are smart people; they won’t be seeing anything which they are not expecting. In every bet there are people that will lose their money and then there are people that win that money. When placing a bet a pro thinks “how do I avoid losing money?” and not “how do I win?” If bettors manage their bets and winnings well then there is only money to be made.

• Focus on cutting loses, not on winning more bets.

Betting is a risky business there is no doubt about it and if any online sites or books tell you otherwise close the site and burn that book. Betting is risky but then again any business is risky and without risk, there isn’t gonna be a reward at the end.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PROFESSIONAL BETTOR AND A ROOKIE

Content Usage:
Photos and videos featured on this post are used under a creative commons license, free to use and edit – Wikipedia Commons www.commons.wikimedia.org and Youtube permission to feature under its TOS.