How To Become A Better Bettor

If you enjoy the occasional flutter, you’re in good company as around 4.2 billion people worldwide share your passion. While some forms of gambling, for example, the lottery, are very much games of chance, others involve a level of skill and knowledge. With gambling such as sports betting and casino games, it is possible to increase your chances of success through skill and experience and, in this article, we’ll take you through some of the ways in which you can become a better bettor. 

Nail your niche

“Blackjack is the only casino game an amateur can learn to play and at which he can definitely win.” Lawrence Revere (author and professional blackjack player)

Many people make the mistake of spreading their net too wide when it comes to gambling – placing bets on anything and everything in the hope that at least one wager will come through. This, unfortunately, very rarely works out. Instead, your best bet (quite literally) is to pick an area that interests you, for example, american football (amerikai futball) betting or Poker, and then put in the time and effort to learn as much about it as you possibly can. 

Get to know the rules inside and out and learn to identify the players , including figuring out their strengths and weaknesses. Not only will this make gambling more enjoyable for you but, it will also increase your chances of winning.

Review and reflect

After each bet, it’s important to take stock of what happened – if you won, what is it that you did right and, if you lost, what might you have done wrong ? The only way to become good at anything is to constantly analyze your betting behavior in order to hone your skill and to learn from your mistakes. 

As human beings, we have a tendency to form habits and behaviors which may not always be obvious to us. When we start to recognise these habits, we can then fine tune our behavior in order to screen out the things which may be holding us back. 

Tackling true value

“The majority of casino players leave too much to chance when playing in a casino. To put it bluntly, they don’t have a clue as to how to play.”Henry Tamburin (gambling author)

When we decide to place a bet, it’s often tempting to go for the ‘big score’ or ‘big win’ but, this isn’t always necessarily the best or most lucrative way. Instead, you want to be focusing on true value – this is done by calculating the implied probability, then calculating the true probability to work out the fairest odds. By ignoring the flashy ‘big win’ bets and, instead, using this formula, you can significantly increase your chances of a true win – i.e. one where you come out the other side with more profit. 

Banish the bias

Allowing your personal bias to take over is a really good way of becoming a loser in terms of gambling. For example, say you’re a football fan and you support Blackburn Rovers. You like the team and you enjoy watching them play – well done you – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should bet your hard earned cash on them winning. 

Many fans feel like they’re being disloyal if they bet on a team other than the one that they support but this is something that you really need to get over if you want to become a successful gambler. Which leads us to our next point………

Put emotion on the backburner

We have a natural emotional response to making a purchase and spending our money which, in some ways, serves us well – but not in gambling. To become successful at betting, you need to learn to put emotions aside and keep a cool head. 

Gambling is all about figuring out which team, number or event has the best chance of being a winner and this should be done through calculation and logic. Having said that, instinct can be a great tool when it comes to gambling – our intuition exists for a reason and, if you have a strong hunch about a bet, it’s usually a good idea to go with it. 

It all adds up

“If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stake, and the quitting time.” Chinese Proverb

Often, betting is all about mathematics as it is based on odds. For example, if a top tennis player has a match against somebody who is ranked 169, you can reasonably expect that the top tennis pro is going to win the match. I’m not saying that you need to go and get a degree in advanced mathematics in order to become a good gambler but, it certainly helps your chances if you have a decent grasp of how odds work and, more importantly, how they may work for you. Thankfully, there are plenty of tutorials available online which will help you to get started with learning how to use odds to your advantage. 

Shop around

If you’re using a betting site for your gambling, you’ll find that there are a huge amount to choose from. Before handing over your cash, shop around to see what kind of offers are available and, always, always read reviews of sites before committing. Sadly, as with anything else, there are betting sites out there which are not strictly legitimate – and these are a really good way of throwing away your money. If in doubt, move on to another site.

Know when to quit

One of the biggest – and most important – skills that a gambler can have is knowing when to stop. This is, in fact, the difference between a successful gambler and an addict. As a gambler, there will be times when luck just isn’t with you – for example, if you’re a poker player, you may find that, for whatever reason, you’re off the game. 

While this can be frustrating, the clever gambler knows that this is the time to walk away – and try again another day. Any professional gambler will tell you that the one most important thing for them is discipline – in order to be successful, a gambler must understand the task at hand. Like any kind of business, betting is about balancing the books – which means figuring out how much you can afford to spend – and losing.

Conclusion

Very few people have what it takes to become a professional gambler – and, if that is your goal, you’ll need to prepare yourself for years of practice and honing your skills. Although you may not yet be able to give up the day job, it is more than possible to become more skilled at betting by using logic and calculation. 

With many people and households feeling the financial pinch at the moment, lots are looking to get themselves a side gig as well as finding ways to make their budgets go further. Although gambling can be a good way of possibly making some cash while having fun, the reality is that losing is always a possibility. When taking part in any kind of betting or gambling, even the lottery, it’s always a good idea to set yourself a budget and then stick to it, in order to make sure that you’re not gambling with the rent!

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