AVOID COMMON WAGERING MISTAKES
- Poor Bankroll Management: A successful bettor bets responsibly, and to do that you have to show some discipline and actively manage your bankroll. Before you even start betting on online sports, spend a little time to build up your bankroll. A bankroll is spare cash that you set aside for the sole purpose of betting. Note that this is ‘spare’ cash and not essential money you need for rent or bills. Having a separate account for this keeps you safe and ensures you won’t be tempted to dip into savings or the money you need to live on. Never ‘go all in’. In fact, you should never bet more than 5% of your total bankroll. Set yourself a limit and stick to it. This ensures you have enough cash to bet again, minimizes losses, and allows you to recover them gradually.
- Chasing Your Losses: Betting is essentially a game of wins and losses—that’s why it’s called ‘gambling’ at the end of the day! Losses are just part and parcel and can’t be completely avoided. The sooner you come to accept this, the better.Trying to recoup the money you’ve lost by betting bigger or more often on other games is a downward spiral. Desperate bets aren’t well thought-out or planned and are unreliable. Instead, be careful and consistent with your stakes and eventually losses even out.
- Emotional Influences: Betting with the heart is a trap many bettors fall into. There is a huge tendency to instantly bet on a favorite team without paying any attention to the odds or analyzing any match statistics. This sort of blind betting might work once or twice, but in the long-run it will lead to heartache. It doesn’t matter how wonderful you believe your favorite team or player to be, you have to remain objective. Betting is all about cold, hard facts, statistics analysis, probability, and a good deal of luck. There is no place for sentimentality in betting decisions.
- Bet On Sports You Know: If you know nothing about the sport, the athletes, the tournament, rules, background, nothing, then you tend to get caught up in the hype and more often than not, lose the bet. A smart bettor is one who knows what they are betting on. You don’t need to be an expert, but it makes sense to have some understanding of the sport and how it works to have any chance of beating the bookies.
