A truly great bettor is one that is disciplined, is good at tracking their own money and betting patterns, and that has solid bankroll management.
In anything in life, having a routine and creating habits is important to success. The same could be said for betting. There are simple steps that you can take that will help you along the way become a more consistent and disciplined sports bettor.
#1 Take notes on teams you might bet on
Start by taking a look at the sport you’re betting on and write down a few notes on teams. Ask yourself questions like which teams should you stay away from? or which teams have cushy schedules?
Once you have your notes, you can create straw man scores. These scores come from power ratings that you can create yourself for teams. Having scores for games is critical when it comes to betting spreads, totals, etc.
Then you can apply your own scoring. For example, you have Florida 40, Ole Miss 20. You know that taking UF -10 and the OVER 55 is a great bet. Taking into account weather, injuries, travel is critical. Then find the best odds and go place that bet.
#2 Diversify your bets
In the same way, having financial diversity is important for wealth, making diverse bets is important in sports betting. It is better to have multiple small bets than a couple of massive bets. In other words, don’t want to put your eggs into one basket. Remember that hitting 53-55% of your bets is the mark of a great bettor.
An average Jane likes that number, but a pro bettor wins 60% of the time. Many of these pro bettors are profiled and sportsbooks don’t give them any outs, or means of betting. Pros use multiple outs to bet multi-thousand-dollar bets in a way that allows them to obscure the fact that they’re winning.
#3 Shop around for odds and bet flat
Odds shopping is perhaps one of the best ways to give yourself an edge, and certainly one of the steps you need to take to make yourself a successful bettor.
Some bettors say you should bet more units on games that you’re more confident in, while others prefer having a flat amount that is bet on each game. For any new bettor, going with the flat approach isn’t a bad idea. This means you decide before you bet any games on an NFL Sunday that you are going to bet $10 for each game.
You can be a flat-rate bettor, a multiple-unit bettor, a precision percentage bettor, or a Kelly Criterion bettor. All of them are fine, but you must find what works for you. We know that having a bankroll is important, but also deciding when that ends and begins is key. Maybe it’s every month, every week, or every sports season. But pick one!
After all that, it becomes easier to calculate your ROI and your profit/loss which you should also have a defined period for. You need to know what you are winning and losing and those two ways of calculator will tell you a hell of a lot more than a winning or losing percentage can.
