Betting is one of those activities where you either win, or you lose…or is it? If you are an amateur better, you may be surprised to learn that you can limit losses and increase your odds by putting into practice some advanced gambling techniques.
This post will guide you through some of the more popular options to choose from and hopefully enable you to put them into practice and, with lady luck by your side, help you win!
Understanding The Basics Of Sports Betting
Before diving head first into the various strategies, it’s worthwhile taking time to understand the basics. By gaining a deeper understanding, you will be better prepared to put into practice all of the tactics you learn.
The first high to consider is knowing how to read and use the various data that can be utilized to help you make better decisions. You can often find all this online on dedicated sites for football scores and more, where you will gain a deeper insight into the numbers. This will give you a massive advantage over others who simply rely on intuition or rumor and conjecture.
The numbers never lie, and although past perforce is never a solid indicator for future performance, you can glean an immeasurable amount of information that you can use to place bets with a higher level of confidence than without.
Odds And Probability
Odds are a representation of the probability of a particular outcome occurring. They can be expressed in American, decimal, or fractional formats. American odds are represented with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, indicating whether the outcome is an underdog or favorite. Fractional odds represent the profit, excluding the original stake, for every $1 bet.
Understanding odds and probability is crucial for making informed bets. A good rule of thumb is to look for value bets, where the odds the bookmaker offers are higher than the actual probability of the outcome occurring.Â
Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is the practice of managing your funds to maximize your profit potential and minimize your risk of ruin. A fundamental principle of bankroll management is never to bet more than you can afford to lose. This means setting a budget for your betting activities and sticking to it.
Another essential aspect of bankroll management is to use a consistent staking plan. This means betting a fixed percentage of your bankroll on each bet rather than varying the amount based on the perceived value of the bet. A common staking plan is the Kelly Criterion, which takes into account the odds offered and the probability of the outcome occurring.
Advanced Betting Strategies
Now that you have a better grasp of the main principles, you can begin to learn about and then implement some of the more advanced strays used by serious bettors. While you don’t need to follow all of the following options, knowing about them will allow you to use them for different sports when the opportunity arises.
Hedging
Just as with anything else that involves hedging, the idea is to increase your chances of winning while simultaneously reducing your chances of losing. It is frequently used in the finance industry for this very reason and is so effective because it enables you to introduce enough risk into proceedings to make a win worthwhile but also stops you from losing the shirt off your back if things go south (which can happen in the blink of an eye in this game).
Hedging involves placing additional bets to reduce or eliminate potential losses on an initial bet. For example, if you bet on a football team to win the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season, but as the season progresses, that team begins to struggle, and their chances of winning the game decrease.
Instead of losing your initial bet, you can hedge by placing additional bets on other teams with a better chance of winning the Super Bowl. This way, if your initial bet does not pan out, you can still profit with your hedging bets.
Arbitrage Betting
This technique goes by several other names, but regardless of what you call it, it can be a great way to spread your risk and take advantage of the betting industry itself. It is a technique whereby you look at the different spreads that the various sportsbooks offer and then place a bet on all possible outcomes using this knowledge.
However, this is classed as an advanced approach because it requires a large amount of research and involves a long process that you need to begin far in advance of when an event is planned to occur. Moreover, you must be aware that you can never make that much from this method unless you place significant amounts of money on the line.
Prop Betting
Prop betting, or proposition betting, is a type of sports betting that involves placing wagers on specific events or outcomes within a game or match. This can include things like which player will score the first goal, how many points a team will score in a quarter, or even non-sport-related events such as the length of the national anthem before the game.
The principal advantage of this option is that you will gain more chances to profit from all aspects of a game (even if seemingly unrelated to the sport in question). However, it’s worth mentioning that because these bets can be based on all manner of things, the variables start to become unwieldy, adding volatility into the mix.
Value Betting
Value betting involves identifying odds that are higher than the true probability of an event occurring. Essentially, it’s finding a bet where you have the advantage, and the potential payout is greater than the risk you’re taking.
Nevertheless, if you want to succeed with this method, you need to have a good understanding of the sport you’re betting on and be able to calculate the probability of different outcomes. You can then compare your calculations with the odds offered by bookmakers to identify where the value lies. After all, as already alluded to, the money is in the data!
As you can see, you have various possibilities for placing bets over and above conventional options. However, they aren’t for the faint-hearted and require a lot of research and planning if you are to pull them off effectively. Nonetheless, if you can, you are more likely to be rewarded handsomely than otherwise!
