Whether you are a complete novice or an experienced bettor, it is worth taking the time to analyse your betting strategy to identify what you are doing correctly, and just as importantly, to work out where you are going wrong.
What Are The Most Common Betting Mistakes?
All bettors make mistakes; it is part of the learning process. That being said, it is important that you recognise your errors and avoid them in the future.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the common mistakes and pitfalls you should set out to avoid.
Betting For The Sake Of It
Okay, so you have decided to place a football bet, but can’t find one that offers great value. What do you do? Bet anyway? No. If you can’t find a bet you feel offers great value, you should not bet at all.
Betting may provide some fun, but the ultimate goal is to make money by maximising every opportunity. A good bet is one that offers high value in relation to calculated probability.
Now, you may have to put in some effort to find such bets, but with so many statistics freely available online, it is possible for any punter to identify high-value bets.
However, you should never start out thinking: “I must place a bet today.” If there are no decent bets – forget it.
Go and do something else instead. There will always be other opportunities. The most successful punters are also the most disciplined; they never bet for the sake of it.
Not Understanding Why A Bet Lost
You can’t win every bet – that is one of the certainties of wagering. But what you can do, is try to understand why you lost. Losing can be an important part of the learning process, providing you carry out an honest assessment of your own performance.
You may feel you did not do enough research or your decision was influenced by personal bias towards a team. If you conclude that you were diligent in every aspect of the decision-making process, then you can just put it down to experience and move on.
But if you feel there was something you could have done differently, make a note of it and remind yourself the next time you bet.
Not Keeping A Betting Record
As soon as you start wagering on sports, you should start keeping a betting log. This is the best way to track your own progress and to learn what does and does not work for you.
While it might seem time-consuming at first, you will notice the benefits in the long term. And if you are not great with spreadsheets, there are online tools available to help you keep a betting log.
You should keep a note of the following details as a minimum:
- Event and date
- Market
- Odds
- Stake
- Reason for bet
- Result
- Returns
- Other notes
A betting log can help you identify market trends and patterns within your own wagering habits. Analysing why you lost also becomes much easier.
Not Playing To Your Strengths
Every punter has a sport or market where they feel most comfortable wagering.
They may have an in-depth knowledge of a particular field such as the ATP Tennis World Tour, which makes researching and finding value much easier, or they may have stumbled on a football market they can analyse with ease.
If you become profitable in a certain area, it may pay to play to your strengths and concentrate on finessing your strategy in that field.
You may find you can transfer your strategy to other sports or markets, but don’t feel you must expand your activities if you are already making a profit with your current approach.
Revealing Your Betting Secrets
There is a reason some professional gamblers charge other people for their secrets, while others keep their methods to themselves.
Revealing your secrets can draw attention to your strategy and you may find it harder to find value as more people follow your lead and the bookies react.
Winning formulae are the Holy Grail of betting and you'll be better off keeping them to yourself.
Gut-Feeling Betting
Sporting events can provide an emotional experience, especially if your team is playing. But successful sports wagering requires you to remain level-headed, so you should never bet based on a gut feeling.
You should also avoid betting on events featuring your own team unless you are 100% sure you can be objective. Personal bias can blow a good strategy out of the water.
A game such as the derby between Liverpool and Manchester United can bring out strong tribal feelings in even the most disciplined of bettors. Never let your emotions get in the way!
Trusting Judgment Of Others
If you know people who bet, the chances are you would have been given a sure-fire tip in the past. It could be from a friend of a friend in a bar who knows the brother of a horse trainer.
Or from a work colleague who tips you off about a goal-scoring winger from the French second division. Wherever a tip comes from, you should never trust another person’s judgement.
By all means, take a look at the stats, calculate the perceived probability and see if a wager offers value, but never take someone’s word for it when your own money is at stake.
Maximise Value
One of the secrets of good wagering is maximising the value of every bet. This means making sure the odds are strong in relation to the probability of the bet.
You can do your own research to estimate the probability of an outcome and then see how that matches against the probability suggested by the odds.
To calculate the implied probability from the odds you can use this formula:
- (1 / decimal odds) x 100 = probability
For example, if the decimal odds are 4.00 the equation is:
- (1 / 4.00) x 100 = 25%
You should also make sure you understand how much your bet will pay out, especially when placing multiple bets. You can do this by using a bet calculator.
Useful Information From 888sport: Betting Mistakes
Many mistakes can be avoided by learning some basic betting strategies and keeping yourself informed about the different types of markets available.
For example, if you are unsure how card betting works, you can find out by visiting the 888sport page dedicated to the subject.
Likewise, if you are new to the concept of Both Teams to Score, you can find out how to make the most of this market by visiting the ‘Football Betting: A Guide To Wagering On Both Teams To Score’ section of the 888sport blog.
Whatever market you are exploring, there is a wealth of information available to help you develop your own betting strategies and make informed wagering decisions.
If you can learn to eliminate common mistakes from your betting activities, you will never feel like you are throwing away your money again.
