When you take Bingo and the Lottery into account, about 85% of the US population has gambled at least once during their lifetime. Winning isn’t guaranteed, but with the right betting strategy, you may win big. But what is a winning strategy and how do you come up with one?
Read on to learn more about sports betting and how you can strategize your way into profits.
Some Quick Gambling Tips
Your strategy depends a lot on the type of gambling you plan to do. A solid strategy for winning poker isn’t going to work when the game is roulette. When it comes to sports betting, here are a few quick and simple tips to help get you started.
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Diversify Your Action
Every once in a while, someone puts all their eggs in one basket and ends up winning big. This is not the best strategy, however. Instead, spread your money around a little bit to help overcome bad luck and minimize variance.
Don’t Bet on a Long Shot
One key behavior regarding bankroll management is to avoid parlays and long shots. Betting on a long shot can be fun once in a while, but the odds are overwhelmingly against you. Instead, focus on bets with better odds.
Bet on the Underdog
The underdog is the team that’s expected to lose. Betting on the underdog can be a valuable strategy when you believe the popular team is overhyped.
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Respect Bankroll Management
Before you begin to build your winning strategy, you need to understand and respect bankroll management. Essentially, bankroll management involves protecting yourself from losing streaks that might arise from any type of gambling. To begin, create a gambling bankroll that’s separate from your day-to-day money.
The size of your bankroll should determine the size of your bets. For example, with a bankroll of over $200, your average bet size shouldn’t exceed 2% of your total bankroll. If your bankroll is below $200, stick with small bets no larger than $5.
These might seem like small numbers, but the name of the game is slow growth over time. Trying to win big right out of the gate is a recipe for failure. Generally, it’s better to make multiple bets with a small percentage of your bankroll.
Creating Your Betting Strategy
Below are some wagering techniques that have proven effective over time. Try to incorporate one or more into your personal betting strategy.
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Hedge Bets
Hedging your bets is a great way to reduce your exposure to risk while simultaneously guaranteeing profits. Essentially, hedging your bets means betting against yourself by placing a second bet that contradicts the conditions of your first.
Hedging bets most often apply to futures bets, in which the odds of your original bet change drastically in your favor as time goes on. When you hedge bets, you sacrifice a potentially larger payout for guaranteed profits.
Bet In the Middle
Also known as “middling,” betting in the middle involves making an early point spread bet only to watch as the line moves later on. By exploiting this move, you might be able to place another bet opposite of your first and end up winning both bets.
For example, suppose you see an NFL game where the spread is -7. After placing your bet, the spread moves to -10 on game day. You then place a +10 bet on the underdog after seeing this move.
If the favored team wins by 8 or 9 points, you win both bets. Even if you don’t win both, winning one can cancel out your loss from the losing bet and result in breaking even.
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Fade the Public
Fading the public is a fancy way of saying that you bet against the public. That is, against the majority of bettors. The majority of the public usually bets on the favorite, by fading the public, you’ll be betting for the underdog – the team the public doesn’t want to win.
Zig-Zag Theory
This strategy involves betting on NHL and NBA playoffs because they use a 2-2-1-1-1 format for home and away games. The strategy is based on two facts. Home teams typically have an advantage and teams tend to play harder after a loss.
The zig-zag theory holds that, should the road team lose the first two games, they become a strong bet to win the third.
Strategies to Avoid
Some betting strategies out there are duds. Here are a few popular ones to avoid.
The Martingale System
When you lose a bet, you double the bet size in order to recoup your losses and gain a little profit. This system would work great if you were guaranteed to win your next bet. However, that doesn’t usually happen.
Using the Martingale System, losing streaks can quickly spiral out of control and become impossible to come back from.
The Negative Progression System
In this system, you incrementally increase your bet size after each loss and then return to your base bet size after each win. The Negative Progression System was designed to be less chaotic and potentially devastating than the Martingale System. With small, incremental increases in bet size as opposed to automatically doubling your bets, you stand to lose less if you fall into a downward spiral.
It can work if your overall winning percentage is greater than your losses. But that’s not always the case. With the best betting strategies, you can lose more than you win while still maintaining a profit.
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Make Sure to Use Databases and Statistics Sites to Spot Trends
Your strategy is important, but knowing the teams, statistics, and trends is critical to your success. Your strategy involves making educated guesses based on as much information as you can find. Random guesses might win you some money in the short term, but it’s not a long-term strategy to build wealth with.
It Takes Time
If you’re new to betting, you have a lot to learn before you create your winning betting strategy. When you bet in the middle, hedge bets, and avoid strategies that are known losers, your odds of profiting from your efforts increase significantly.
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