February 21st, 2012
Sports betting has a lot of variations. Because of that, success often lies in the strategies you employ while betting. A chronic loser will have no strategy at all, while the professional will adhere closely to his systems and their built in strategy.
One of the most common strategies found on the web, and off, is progressive betting. Because of the magic of leverage, sports betting snake oil salesmen can create systems that will win a very high percentage of the time. But progressive betting is not a very good way to make a lot of money. Just one loss in a progression of three will set you back about 8 units. If you don’t win 97% of the time you lose your bankroll. A couple of ill timed losses early on can drain a bankroll dry.
Much better is straight betting. You make a bet, and if you lose you go on to the next one. The wise sports betting strategist will always bet using straight bets. He will never chase a loser with good money. He will always bet the same amount, and that will be a percentage of his starting bankroll. He has a plan and he sticks to it.
But those are only the strategies for putting up the wagers. Money management. That does not require a great deal of skill, just discipline. If you have not learned the value of straight betting a like amount every time, you one day will. Then you will no longer have to worry about betting strategy.
More important than the way you bet is your strategy for handicapping and picking the games you will bet on. That is the often forgotten part of the betting and handicap system. A lot of folks waste a lot of time in the stats handicapping teams or players.
For handicapping strategies, the wise sports bettor looks only at specific situations. The teams are not even relevant. He will always bet on the same somewhat predictable situations he has found to increase his probabilities. He will always bet that situation, regardless of the name of the teams, so long as the game meets the criteria for his system.
A common team picking strategy for the NFL used to be pick the home underdog. I have recently read in several places that was not a good bet and those dogs only beat the point spread about 45% of the time. An observant sports betting strategist would not let that kind of useful research go to waste. Obviously, if the home dog loses 55% of the time in the NFL, if you bet against them you would that same exact percentage of your bets. Debunking one team picking system has actually shown betting against it would be profitable. Note: I have not verified those numbers, just pointing out a different way to look at things.
Some sports betting strategies rely on the outside world. There are many handicapping newsletters you can sign up for and someone else will do all the work for you. Just like in any other pursuit, shortcuts will not lead to success. The sports betting game is between you and the bookie. Relying on outside assistance is not a good strategy in the long run. By the time you count the sometimes astronomical price of some of those picks, you have to win 60% of the time just to break even. Since the best handicappers rarely achieve that figure, it is a losing proposition from the start. The only difference is who winds up with your money.
The best sports betting strategy for you is the one you design for yourself. It will take into account your bankroll, as well as your stomach for risk. It will be simple and you will know it inside and out because you built it. After a little tweaking and testing from an initial concept, it will perform consistently well at its handicapping functions and ensure your money is managed to profitability.
In the end, it’s your money. Why leave your sports betting strategies to someone else?
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