Watching and following sports teams and cheering regularly for your favorite one can be stressful enough, even without higher stakes riding on a particular game. Sports betting is a fan-favorite form of pastime and gambling. Millions of sports fans and betters around the globe put in their money daily on the outcomes of professional sports. As a beginner, you need to know the basics well before you make your first bet. In this text, we will reveal to you five tips to know when betting on sports. Visit Newbettingoffers.co.uk to find out even more advice and make some bets.
1. What do the Odds Mean?
Out of all, the most important tip for the newcomers is how to read and understand the odds in sports betting. They are the bread and butter of the whole thing, something that you should always remember. The actual outcome of the bet is not nearly as important as the odds since they are the ones that determine if the bet had any value in the first place. To make it as simple as possible, odds are the inverse values of a specific probability that something will occur. The more unlikely a certain occurrence, the higher the odds for it will be, giving you more money if you guessed right. According to this, to make a good bet, the probability of occurrence must be higher than the probability the odds suggest.
As mentioned the higher the odds the more you will win. Therefore, always aim for the odds larger than 1.15. Odds larger than 3 or 4 are generally considered okay, while those in the dozens are the hardest to hit, but award the most. Still, if you believe that 1.15 odds will likely happen, you should go with your gut. The award will be low when you win, but if you manage to stack multiple small odd games together and win, your total odds factor is going to give you a large sum of money. Higher odds are of course considered more valuable, but low ones should never be overlooked. Pro players trust their knowledge of the sport and the surrounding factors more than the odds, which is why they tend to score big by betting on the underdogs or unlikely outcomes.
2. Setting Stakes
Apart from reading the odds, a difficult aspect of sports betting to master is setting the stakes. One strategy is never going to make you rich and it takes exploring all the possible ways of approaching games and matches to score big. However, blind picking and no strategy are even worse for your overall chances. For long-time success and remaining on the plus side of the earning and losing curve, bear with us here.
When you eventually end up on a winning streak, your judgment and common sense may feel unimportant. Players generally like riding the wave and enjoy the “high” that all the winning has been giving them. Even experienced betters and pro players find it hard to keep their stakes intact. Raising the stakes while on a winning streak is a dangerous practice for your funds. The feeling of invincibility, while everything is going your way, is amazing, and quite a rush to feel. Still, you must give it your all to remain focused. Always think twice or even three times whether or not your desired move makes sense, and do you really need to increase your risks and mess with lady luck. Your average stake should remain just that, average. Going too much over it may lead to a bad experience.
It could be just luck, or it could have something to do with your skills. However, since betting is after all a form of gambling, you must stay within limits and never feel tempted to go overboard. Remember that bad streaks are also possible and as a matter of fact more frequent than winning streaks. Keep a cool head in all situations and you will be fine. Do not judge your betting skills by the current streak and raise your stakes easily, but plan a strategy and stick to it.
3. Anger Management/Self-Control
Tightly connected to the many possible outcomes of the previous entry are the self-control element and the valuable skill of anger management while betting on sports. Every sporting event you choose to bet on has its level of chance and its odds. At the end of the day, it all comes down to luck, or at least the large amount of it does. In sports, anything is possible, and even the most probable outcome may not happen, ruining your chances of winning money.
Remember that a single human mishap can ruin the whole season of a team, or one bad step can cause a serious injury for a player, rendering their team defenseless for the entire match. Nobody can anticipate this, which is why players tend to overreact in a wide array of different ways. During both winning and losing, the outcomes of everything that happened before has nothing to do with your current situation, nor your bets in the future.
The easiest way to destroy your chances and lose money is to chase losses after big defeats and become carried-away with wins and increasing stakes. To cancel out the strong emotions you may feel while gambling, it takes high amounts of self-control and calmness. Anger management goes a long way while gambling, so if you are prone to outburst of anger and bad behavior, you must learn to control yourself no matter what happens, especially while still at the sports bar. Losing control is unbelievably easy, and it takes a bigger man to take it with dignity than to lose it. Doing yourself a disservice and digging an even deeper grave for yourself is no way to behave after losing. Your whole sports betting experience should be a thrilling and exciting ride, filled with fun and pleasure. If it feels like a burden and starts making you miserable, it may be time to avoid it for a while or stop completely.
4. Strategy
It should go without saying that strategizing is crucial when betting. Like with everything else, the knowledge and tactics you come in with greatly increase your chances of coming out on top. Although not a lot of things are under your control, a strong strategy is very important in betting on sports. To be successful, you need both time and effort. Research and obtaining information is the best way to stay knowledgeable, but it may take you hours upon hours to stay in touch with multiple sports, leagues and competitions. Even if you wanted to, you cannot follow everything. Therefore, pick only what you are very good at and bet on what you know. The best players specialize in a couple of sports only, some of them just on one. Even just one league, one team, or one individual athlete goes. What matters is that you know what you are doing and can predict the outcome, strategizing. This prevents hasty moves and bad calls since you will always follow your extensive knowledge and skills instead of something else.
