Sports Betting Tips And Strategies

Few forms of gambling give you a chance to win long term profits. This is what makes sports betting special because you can win money over the long haul.

An added bonus is that fans can watch the games with their money on the line.

Of course, it’s far more fun watching the games when your bets win. And to improve your chances of winning, you need some good strategies.

Check out my list of the best sports betting strategies, which accounts for ease of use, advantages, and drawbacks.

On any given day, you’ll find hundreds of betting lines across multiple sports. With so much variety, it’s easy to get sucked into making multiple bets on different teams.

This is fine if you’re a casual bettor who has a big bankroll. But it doesn’t give you a true chance to learn everything you need to make an informed bet.

If you’re a new to intermediate bettor, I highly suggest that you focus on one team and one sport. This helps you gain in-depth knowledge on the team and reduces the time that you need to spend researching each matchup.

Good ways to implement this strategy include DVR’ing games of your preferred team, then closely watching them for player and coaching tendencies. You only need to pick up on a few subtle tendencies to gain an edge over the average bettor.

If you love sports betting, then pick up a new team in a new sport when the season is over with. But once you choose a team and a sport, stick with them throughout the season.

View more : Sport betting in Singapore is it legal ? 

When you already know a lot about one team, you can spend more time researching the other half of the matchup.

Another benefit is that you’ll gain insight that most bettors won’t have into the matchup. Sure this insight won’t always result in a win, but it will give you a long-term advantage.

If you want proof that this strategy works, then consider that Haralabos Voulgaris made millions of dollars by the learning substitution tendencies of NBA coaches Eddie Jordan and Byron Scott.

While winning profits is exciting, sticking with one team the entire season isn’t. If you’re really into sports betting, the temptation to waver will be great.

Another problem is that you’ll miss out on juicy lines involving other teams / sports when you’re focused on a single team.

The long term advantage outweighs this problem, but it’s still hard to keep yourself from worrying about missed lines.

This strategy is easy because you merely need to bet against the public.

The concept behind doing so is that sports books shade lines to reflect what they think the public will do. After all, a sports book’s primary objective is to set lines that draw 50 / 50 action – not predict game outcomes.

This leads to some soft lines, where, if you go against the public, you’ll gain an edge. But how do you find out which team the public is backing?

Given that sports books don’t release reports on betting patterns, this requires some guesswork. Good ways to figure out which way the public is betting involve asking yourself:

• Is a perennial winner involved like the New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Antonio Spurs, or the Golden State Warriors? Lone-time successful franchises draw more betting action.
• Is there a team with passionate fan bases involved? Fans of the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Boston Red Sox, and New York Knicks are more likely to bet on their favorite teams.
• Does a team have a marquee player who draws tons of attention? Love or hate them, players like Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Clayton Kershaw of the L.A. Dodgers, and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals draw attention and bettors.
• Does a team get excessive sports coverage? If you watch ESPN, you can quickly spot these clubs.

The key is to look for matchups where you think public bias is driving the betting action, then wager the opposite way.

If you don’t want to spend hours researching games and analyzing statistics, fading the public is a great strategy to employ.

You just need to look for big-market teams, perennial winners, clubs with diehard fans, and major superstars to get started. And you can win some profits if you’re really good at spotting teams that are being overvalued on lines for the public’s sake.

The advantage of fading the public is also the biggest drawback: it’s too simple.

Anybody can employ this strategy, which brings up the notion that if it works, then everybody would be doing it.

This isn’t to say that there’s no skill involved in fading the public because sharp or skilled bettors have made a fortune with this tactic.

But if you think that you’re going to retire early just because you bet against the Yankees every time, then you’ll be severely disappointed.

One more drawback is that online sports books have software in place to spot bettors who only fade the public. If a sports book believes that you’re a sharp who only fades the public, then they may just refuse you service or even withhold your winnings, if covered in terms & conditions.

Most low-stakes sports bettors puts a large portion of their bankrolls into each bet. The reason why is because they don’t make very large wagers, thus they aren’t as worried about losing money.

Here’s an example: you have a $100 bankroll and bet $25 on a single game.

But if you want to take your sports betting to the next level, then you should limit the amount you spend on each contest.

The reason why is because sports betting is a streaky activity, and even the best go through lengthy losing streaks.

Professional bettors only put 1 to 2% of their bankroll into each contest, which lowers their risk of ruin dramatically.

But what if you only have a $200 bankroll?

In this case, you may need to bet $5 to $10 per contest to meet the minimum bet. But even in this case, you’re only risking 2.5% to 5.0% of your bankroll, which will still lower your risk of ruin.

If you have at least a $1,000 bankroll, then the benefits of only wagering 1 to 2% per game are immense.

Provided you have good betting skills and put the work in, then you’re more likely to earn profits with this conservative strategy.

Another benefit is that you don’t have to stress out as much about games when you bet 2% or less of your bankroll. In contrast, betting 25% or more causes far more anxiety when the game/line isn’t going your way.

The main problem here is that the average bettor doesn’t have $1k lying around to bet on sports. This makes it difficult to be conservative because 1 to 2% of your bankroll will either fall short of the minimum bet, or result in an insignificant amount of profits when you do win.

You’ll also find it extremely difficult to remain disciplined and make such conservative bets. Pros can do this because their winnings pay the bills, but what about when you don’t depend on the money?