Sports Betting Strategy
Making money betting on sports can be tough, but there are a lot of sports bettors who consistently win, and there are even a lot of professional bettors who make a good living off of sports betting. On this page you will find sports betting strategy and tips to help you become one of the winning bettors.
Below I talk about the basic sports betting strategies for beginner bettors, but if you are more experienced you can check out the advanced sports betting strategy articles towards the bottom of this page.
Parlay Strategy A parlay bet is a popular form of sports wagering most gamblers are familiar with. In case you’re not, this bet is rather easy to understand. A parlay is simply a combo bet where, rather than betting several teams individually, you group them into a single wager. Instead, using this sports gambling strategy the bets are placed on both participating teams or players often called as no risk matched betting, sure win betting, arbitrage or arbs betting, therefore the outcome of the game is not relevant. What is relevant is how.
The Basics To Sports Betting Strategy
In order to help yourself make money or a profit from sports betting there are a couple of basic strategies or tips you will want to understand and follow. None of these sports betting strategies are secrets by any means, but following them will help you win money betting on sports.
The bettors who don’t follow any of these strategies are often referred to as “squares” and those are the type of bettors that the sportsbooks will make their profits from.
#1 Money Management/Bankroll Management
When you are betting on sports you should always set aside a certain amount of money, which we refer to as your “bankroll”, in which you can afford to lose. Like with any type of gambling, you never want to bet betting on sports with money you cannot afford to lose. Set aside a certain amount of money that you can use for your bankroll for the week, the month, or the season. A general sports betting strategy for money management is to only make bets with 1%-5% of your bankroll. For example, if your bankroll for the NFL season was $1,000 you would be making $10-$50 bets on each NFL game you wanted to bet on. It is also very important that you do not chase your loses with bigger bets. It is common for some sports bettors to be down money and feel in order to win it back they need to increase the size of their bets. This is putting yourself in the wrong mindset and will often lead to you losing even more money. Work with the size of your bankroll, and look to slowly increase it over the length of the season.
Here’s a video going over Bankroll Management strategies for sports betting:
#2 Bet Sober and Don’t Go on Tilt
Although betting while sober seems like common sense, you’d be surprised how many people bet on sports under the influence. Is it a coincidence that the Las Vegas casinos offer free alcoholic drinks while you are gambling? I don’t think so. I don’t want to sound like your mother here, but betting while under the influence will impair your judgement and should definitely be avoided if you want to become a winning sports bettor.
The second part of this tips is “Don’t Go on Tilt”. Going on tilt or “tilting” is a commonly referred to term with poker players and basically means letting your emotions take over, which often leads to bad decisions. If you are angry or upset at something, such as a couple bad beats with your sports bets, you shouldn’t be placing any more bets. Take a break, go for a walk, get your mind clear before you start making anymore sports betting picks.
#3 Do Your Homework
This is maybe the most important sports betting strategy. You will always want to do your research before placing your bets. Although going with your hunch when betting your favorite sport may work some of the time, in the long run it will not lead to you winning money betting on sports. In order to profit from sports betting you will need to research, study, and do your homework for each pick you make. Look at stats, find trends, create sports betting systems, analyze past games – basically do everything you could possibly do to ensure you have value in your pick before you place your wager.
#4 Line Shopping
A very big step to becoming a winning sports bettor is to make sure you are shopping for the best lines. What this means is that you will have to have an account at a couple of different online sportsbooks and when you are ready to make a bet on a certain team or outcome you check the different sportsbooks and find which book is offering the best line for you (this ties in with our advanced how to find max value article). For example, if you are looking to bet on the New England Patriots on a 7 point spread, you would want to check a couple different sportsbooks to see if any of them are offering the Patriots at 6.5 points, or at the very least find the best price you can get them at 7 points at. Over the course of a sport betting season you can win yourself a lot of money from shopping the lines that would otherwise would not be one. Line shopping is definitely one of the best sports betting strategies used by winning sports bettors. To see a list of sportsbooks we recommend signing up for visit our Online Betting Sites section.
I’ve created a line shopping video and posted it on YouTube (seen below):
#5 Avoid Buying Points
Avoid falling into “square” tendencies such as buying favorites down or underdogs up. For example, some bettors always feel the need to buy an NFL favorite of -3.5 down to -2.5. The sportsbooks are smart enough to charge more juice to do this, mathematically making it a bad strategy. The same goes with buying an NFL underdog from +2.5 to +3.5 for example. In 99% of cases I would advise against it. Check out the video I made below about buying points on NFL underdogs.
Other Sports Betting Strategies and Myths
Above are the four main basic strategies you will want to follow in order to become a winning sports bettor, but there are a couple of other tips you can use to help you win money.
For one, you can try following a sports handicapper who is using a proven sports betting system. Be careful of scammers out there though. If they don’t show their past records long term plus proof I would pass, and in most cases I wouldn’t be paying for picks at all.
An old sports betting strategy is to bet on home underdogs. The theory is that teams are usually more inspired to play at home, and they will often not fold if they are down like they may when on the road. Betting home dogs in the past could have made you money, but this isn’t true as much anymore. You can read the current betting market article to learn why.
The last tip I have for you is to try and place your bets at the right time. With lines shifting from the time they are posted to the time the game starts, you will want to get your bet in at the time when you are getting the best price. Predicting line movements is extremely hard but it is worth looking into. Check out the video below that I made titled “When To Place Your Bets”.
Advanced Sports Betting Strategy Articles
» How to Place a Bet
» How to Win at Sports Betting
» Sports Betting Math
» Teaser Betting Strategy
» Prop Betting Strategy
» How to Get Max Value When Betting
» Future Betting Strategy
» NFL Bye Week Betting Strategy
» Parlay Betting Strategy
» Pleaser Betting Strategy
» Sweetheart Teaser Betting Strategy
» Current Betting Market
» How to Research Your Bet
» Mistakes You Need to Avoid
» Things Beginners Need to Know
» Win/Loss vs Value
Trying to predict the outcome of any sporting event is no easy task and the mental side to sports betting is arguably the most important aspect.
As sports fans, our opinions and thoughts on the sporting action all differ hugely and having an allegiance to a particular team and/or player can have a detrimental impact on our betting performance.
In addition, the notion of ‘chasing a win’ can have a huge mental impact on the way in which people place bets and can push people into a negative psychological spiral.
Developing a measured and informed betting strategy can help hugely to lessen expectations and allow punters to enjoy the wins when they come.
Here is a guide on how to develop a winning sports betting strategy:
Bet with your Head, not your Heart
Everybody who follows sport has a feeling of affiliation towards particular teams/individuals, but this can be detrimental when sports betting.
Always look to stay impartial and view the action objectively when betting on sport and try to refrain betting with emotion.
Having a clearer mindset when betting will not only help you win more often but will also reduce the losses on fixtures you are already emotionally invested in.
Get to Grips with the Odds
Understanding how the bookmakers operate is hugely important for punters when starting out on their sports betting journey.
Choosing between decimal and fractional odds is an important decision to make and familiarising yourself with both formats is key.
In addition, familiarisation with payouts and how much money you stand to win (or lose) can help you have a much clearer frame of mind when placing stakes.
Don’t bet on EVERYTHING
The sheer number of sporting events available to punters is both a positive and negative within the betting sphere.
Having a wealth of sports to choose from, with events kicking off all over the world 24/7, is hugely enticing and potentially lucrative to bettors.
However, having so much choice can encourage punters to bet on too many events and chase a win, in a market where perhaps there is no value.
If you don’t fancy a particular result in a match or horse in a race, sit back and let the mind and the bank balance have a break.
Stick to YOUR plan
Implementing a clear plan and strategy is the first step towards betting successfully on sport.
The next (and arguably most important step) is to stick to that strategy.
For example, if your strategy were to place no bets over $10 and that is a fundamental rule that your betting plan is built upon – so don’t waiver from it, as it could derail you with all future bets.
Being true to yourself when betting will always pay more dividends and it will help you from chasing the wins down a mental worm hole.
Listen to the Experts
Sports Betting Strategy 100 Profit
Every sports fan feels they know the most about the action but there are multiple sources punters can access to help them win big.
Whilst having your own view is always helpful, try to seek out expert opinion from those in the know and make your informed betting decision from there.
When it comes to accessing the latest sports betting offers, tips and welcome promotions Oddsmanager is the go-to place for all levels of sports punter.
Always use the Bookmaker Offers
The number of sportsbooks available to punters has never been higher and as a result they are all fighting for custom.
Most bookmakers offer welcome promotions to new players as well as free bet bonuses to existing players.
Sports Betting Strategy Books
Sports Betting Strategy Books
Developing a betting strategy that incorporates bookmaker offers can help punters both mentally and financially as it can take the pressure off a particular bet, knowing that it is a free punt.