Experience should make any endeavor more successful, and that particularly applies to wagering on sports, which takes some time and effort to learn as well as to keep from losing well-earned money. There are a number of factors to consider in sports betting, and the more they are experienced, the better the chances to win. This post explains how to be a more profitable sports bettor
There are many sports to choose from as well as a variety of wagers that are available. Bets on futures, game results, over/under, straight up versus point spread, propositions, live wagering and a number of other options create a myriad of choices that need to be made when placing bets.
1- Stick With the Sports You Know the Best
There are a lot of different sports that are available on which to wager, and no one can stay up to speed enough on all of them to have the requisite knowledge to outthink the odds makers. Over time, however, it’s possible to evaluate which sports you’ve been more successful at wagering on and focus on those without getting distracted by what look like attractive odds or lines on a sport that you don’t follow very closely.
It’s not just a betting experience that comes into play, but also watching a lot of games, matches, or coverage of a particular sport is beneficial when it comes to placing wagers. Nothing, at least in my opinion, is a worthy substitute for actually witnessing the action live on a first-hand basis.
Getting lucky with a longshot wager doesn’t really count as experience, especially if the bet was made based on something other than objective evaluation. If your cousin told you he had a feeling that Valdosta State would defeat Ole Miss in the opening game of the college football season, and that ten dollar bet netted 24 bucks, then that really doesn’t count as a definitive barometer of success.
However, if you’d done the research and realized that Valdosta State had a stud transfer at quarterback from a Power Five school and Ole Miss was vulnerable in the secondary, that’s an entirely different matter. That kind of experience is one that can be utilized for future wagers, especially when they resulted in nice positive payouts.
2- The Most Successful Wager Types
There are a number of wagering options available for bettors, but upon close review, you should be able to evaluate which markets you have more success with. Team sports tend to have three primary ways to wager: futures spreads and straight-up bets. Point spreads tend to be the more popular of the wagers and they tend to be more highly publicized.
However, they also tend to be the type of line that is more closely scrutinized by the oddsmakers and generally carry odds of -110, regardless of which side the bettor takes. In order to make money long-term, that means you have to win ten percent more bets than you lose against people who make a living, ensuring that you don’t.
The futures wagers are a way to make some serious money, primarily because the odds are generally high enough to double, triple, or even win ten times the wager or more. They are odds established on whether a team or an individual will win a title or tournament of some kind, e.g., the Super Bowl, the Masters, the World Cup, the Indianapolis 500, or Wimbledon.
Wagering on one or a group of teams or individuals can pay out handsomely, especially in sports like golf, where players have odds that range from +600 to over +10000 for a win. Even Super Bowl odds for the favorite teams at the beginning of the season begin at +300 and sometimes even higher.
For straight-up wagers, odds are set on whether a team will win the game outright, regardless of the point spread. Upsets occur, and these wagers are a great way to take advantage of them, especially when the underdog gets odds of +250 and up.
The best way to determine what wagers work the best for someone is to try various bets and see what kind of success they have. Sports betting is hugely popular and is growing as a result of states legalizing the practice as a result of the Supreme Court of the United States striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018.
Learning from experience is the best way to determine how to move forward with a wagering strategy. Are small futures wagers on multiple teams or individuals working better than large wagers that result in more frequent wins? Does the bettor have a research methodology that enables them to effectively evaluate point spreads and to profit from that knowledge?
3- Data and Information Gathering Experience
For serious bettors, the more reliable information that can be gathered can make a big difference in wagering success. There are a myriad of websites that offer breakdowns of matchups as well as “expert” picks.
There is also the option of doing primary research, evaluating individual and team performances to spot trends or potential outcomes that aren’t consistent with the odds and lines. Whichever method or methods are utilized, use the experience to dictate future wagering activity.
For many years, I have published a college football prediction blog where my success rate is over 80%. It took some trial and error to develop a reliable metric for spotting offensive and defensive mismatches that accurately predict potential upsets.
Because of the favorable odds that underdogs get, especially in college football, through experience, I have learned to only wager on those hidden gems. Another aspect that separates the college game from the NFL is the number of games.
It’s very difficult to have consistent success wagering on the NFL, whereas college football provides more opportunity to spot situations where the oddsmakers don’t spend as much time evaluating what might appear to be a lopsided game. A team’s reputation or record that is developed over time and taken for granted may not be justified by the statistics or strengths of the team they are expected to easily defeat.
That experience, along with wagering discipline, can translate to consistent winnings both against the spread and in straight-up bets. Keeping track of wins and losses with attention paid to what information prompted the wager can result in a historical database that can be utilized to inform future betting activity.
4- Keeping Records
The best way to benefit from experience is to document it, no matter where the wager is made or what it’s on. Was that winning exacta bet in a horse race made because the colors of the silks happened to be your significant other’s favorites, or were the two jockeys the most successful at that track in the current meet?
That would be a good thing to know when deciding whether to make another exacta wager in the future. Picking colors is nothing more than turning the horse race into a roulette wheel on four legs as opposed to an intellectual exercise that can somehow provide some advantage over the house.
The same is true if you place a futures bet for your favorite team to win the Super Bowl, and they go onto victory. Okay, so your team finally had a good season, and the same $20 wager you’ve made for 20 years hit at +1200, trimming your losses on an emotional wager to $1600.
Instead, if you do the real research and realize that a team that was just a key player away from having a terrific team made a couple of great free agent signings, a successful wager on them is worth documenting. That analysis and the conclusions reached are things that can be replicated with positive outcomes in the future.
The same can be said for events like March Madness, where many people brag that they picked certain big upsets, but they actually have 20 brackets in play, and there was nothing but dumb luck involved. When looking at 67 games, it’s important to look back at how you were successful in the past, but that can really only be done if you keep track of why the wagers were made and whether that rationale is something that can be repeated.
5- Experience in Sports Betting Makes a Difference
Knowing what sports you are successful wagering on, the type of bets that return better payouts, learning what information has been most beneficial, keeping records of past wagering practices are all ways to use the experience to increase the chances of placing winning wagers.
There are always times when someone wants to take a flyer on a 40/1 long shot in a race or tournament, knowing that there is little chance of success. However, that’s not a model for consistent and increased success rates, for which discipline and reliable information are required.
With so many more legal wagering alternatives available and increasing almost on a monthly basis, why not have fun and make some money at the same time? Luck is a part of it, but with experience, it’s possible to introduce as much skill as possible into sports betting.