All great sports betters have one thing in common: They’re all masters of their craft. They know the odds, they know their player’s tendencies, and they have the confidence to bet on themselves as well as others. You can become a master of your own sports betting skills by following this advice and by following the top sports betting sites.
Sports betting is an art form at best for professional gamblers, but it doesn’t have to be hard or expensive for you—not if you follow this advice. Great sports bets are often easy bets because the player knows exactly what they’re doing and has both experience playing under these circumstances and knowledge in how to make the right moves during a big game or point spread.
Great sports bettors don’t get that way by accident, though. It takes a lot of studying and practice, both to learn the moves and to work up the courage to make bets that lose or risk losing big amounts of money. That’s why you can’t just go out there and start betting your paycheck on every sporting event you hear about—you have to practice and learn how to make smart bets first. It’s not that difficult, but it does take time and effort on your part.
The good news is that becoming a great sports bettor doesn’t have to take too much time. You don’t need to be on some exclusive sports betting list or even in the top few percent of bettors in order to make smart bets. You just need willingness and some knowledge of how to bet smartly and how to recognize situations likely to win big for you.
Step #1: Know Your Odds
The No. 1 key to becoming a skilled sports bettor is knowing the odds on your favorite teams, players, and games. These odds are listed at every bookmaking site by the hour and are generally posted under every event as well, so getting at least a quick glance is easy enough.
If you’re going to know your odds, though, you should learn to look at them in three different ways. First, you should compare the spread with the odds that the game will go into overtime, if it’s an event with a point spread. This means that if a team is favored by three points and they beat the spread but no one wins in overtime, you haven’t had a winning result. The exception here is parlay betting, which normally only requires a win on your first bet to pay out dividends on all subsequent bets.
Soccer fans especially will want to be familiar with the different ways soccer odds are reported. The best bookmakers offer odds for each action, such as a team winning by two goals or three goals, and that’s generally the action that you should always bet on if it’s available.
The second way you should be looking at your odds is by comparing them with other events and teams, such as how many times a player has been involved in a game where he was involved in scoring. You can also look at what percentage of a team’s wins they’ve managed to produce and whether or not they have any championships under their belts.
The last way to look at your odds is to look at the bookmakers’ combined odds on all events. This will take a bit of study, but in the end, you’ll learn exactly how much money you stand to win on any given event with this approach.
You can also use these three categories in your daily handicapping, which is betting on who you think will win any given day’s matchup.
Step #2: Bet Early
Sure, that sounds like common sense, but it’s still an important step to becoming a great sports bettor. The early birds always get the worm—or in this case, the sports betting opportunities.
The best time to make your bets is when you first see the odds posted—you don’t have to wait for a bit more information to come out or for someone else’s opinion before you open up shop and start betting. If you’re relying on a favorite player to do well in order for your team to win, go ahead and bet on that team immediately. You’ll win or lose based on their performance either way, so why not bet sooner rather than later?
Step #3: Bet Big
Betting big is one of the easiest ways to get ahead at sports betting because you get a bigger payout with less risk involved. That’s why so many people do it, and you can do the same if you follow these steps.
First, you’ll need to know which action on a game is the best way to win big. For example, a straight-up bet on a team winning or not winning as an event in points isn’t going to pay out as much for you compared to a full-on parlay wager. You’re going to want to find a way to mix in one or two other bets with your first bet that will come out big for you eventually.
That’s where knowing your odds and your betting schedule comes into play. You can use your odds to look at other events and see which ones you think are most likely to pay out for you. Maybe you’re betting on a team who’s a huge favorite early in the season, but after they’ve lost a few games, their odds are better than they would be later in the year. If that’s the case, it might be better to parlay that game with another one where the favorite still has great odds regardless of how well they’re doing currently.
Step #4: Use a System
There are several different sports betting systems out there that claim to help you move past beginner sports betting and into skilled wagering. Some of the more popular methods are:
Parlay betting. This involves betting on multiple games at once in hopes that you’ll win enough to get a big payout. Gambling experts say that even if you’re betting on all favorites, you’ll have a 50% chance of winning.
Betting against the spread. This is another popular method because it requires you to win fewer bets than your opponent in order to win the bet overall. The key here is to find out how many points spread by how many points your team needs to win in order for you to be on top again.
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