10 Amazing Ways to Up Your Sports Betting Prowess
Everyone that bets on sports wants to be better. It doesn't matter if you're a pro or bet as a hobby, I bet you want to win more.
've put together a list of 10 amazing ways to up your sports betting prowess.
I guarantee if you're not a winning sports bettor already you'll find at least one thing that'll help you win more games.
1 – Watch more Games
This may seem like a simple one to start with, but tons of sports bettors bet games every week without watching games. They rely on stats and systems, which are not always bad, but you can learn a great deal about teams and players by watching them play.
The two areas I learn the most about by watching games are injuries and fatigue. Player's get injured all the time, but if you can see them get injured and how they act afterward it can be advantageous over just reading about the injury.
Player's also get fatigued as the season goes on. Running backs can wear down in the NFL and NCAA and pitchers and hitters can wear down in baseball. An area that's ripe for handicapping is late season baseball games based on the fatigue level of starting pitchers.
Following the use of each team's bullpen is also helpful. Knowing when a baseball team's closer isn't available is a huge edge for handicapping. If the closer pitched each of the past three or four days he may not be available.
2 – Get Some Help
You can look for all kinds of helpful things as a sports bettor, but the one I'm talking about here is either joining forces with another sports bettor or hiring a freelancer to collect some of the statistics you need.
Either way can free up a great deal of time to work on improving your sports betting prowess.
Even if you only outsource 10 hours a week of work you'll have an extra 10 hours to test new theories and systems and work on your old ones.
If you join forces with another sports bettor you can possibly double your productivity. If you each work 50 hours per week on your business, by sharing resources you might be able to eliminate half of each other's work load. Imagine if you had an extra 25 hours a week to focus on improving your sports betting.
3 – Offer Your Sports Picks For Sale
This one only works as long as you keep at least some level of ethics. Most sports pick sellers don't care about their customers and don't perform better than flipping a coin. All they want is to keep you paying for picks.
If you care about your clients you'll have an added incentive to work hard and make the best picks possible.
When you know other bettors are relying on you to invest their hard earned money it can be the boost you need to get over the top in your own sports betting.
4 – Read More
You won't find many good sports betting books, but every book you read doesn't need to be about sports betting to improve your wagering abilities.
You can read books about mathematics and statistics and many business books can help you run a better sports betting business.
Maybe you need to give your mind a break so you can read a book by your favorite fiction author.
Of course there's always a balance between how much time you spend working on your business and how much time you spend reading, but reading generally makes you smarter, helps your brain work, and can help you do a better job handicapping games.
5 – Use a Spreadsheet Program
A spreadsheet program is a software program for a computer that is used to store numbers and statistics and can be used to calculate mathematical formulas.
They can be particularly helpful if you already use a great deal of stats in your handicapping because once you get them set up correctly they can save you loads of time.
If you aren't using any statistics in your handicapping, a spreadsheet can be the perfect companion when you start using more. It's difficult to be a winning sports bettor if you ignore stats, so start learning how to use a spreadsheet program today.
Popular spreadsheet programs include Open Office and Microsoft Excel.
6 – Stop Betting While You're Drinking
I shouldn't have to include this one, but thousands of people bet on games while they've been drinking every day. Most of them even know it's a bad idea but they do it anyway.
When you're drunk you don't make good decisions. It's extremely hard to beat the sports books when you're sober, so don't stack the deck further against you.
If you want to drink while you enjoy the game, place all your bets before the game and don't start drinking until after you place your wagers.
7 – Find Better Lines
Improving your sports betting prowess isn't always about picking more winners. Sometimes it's about making more money in other ways.
One of the best ways to make more money while betting on sports is finding better lines. If you handicap a game and decide to bet on the favorite at -6, if you can find a line at -5 or -4 you'll end up winning a few games every season you would otherwise lose.
You still need to focus on your handicapping, but when you finish take the time to shop for the best lines. It can be worth quite a few thousand dollars to you over the course of a season or year.
If you live in Las Vegas or elsewhere where you place bets locally you may need to visit different sports books. But if you place wagers online you can quickly see different lines by keeping a bookmarked folder of the places where you have an account.
8 – Find Reduced Vig
This tip goes right along with the seventh one above. If you can place bets with less vig or no vig you can win more money on the same bets you're placing now.
Most sports books require a vig of 11 to 10 (the same as 110 to 100) but if you can find ones that let you place bets at 105 to 100 you've cut the vig in half.
It's even better if you can find people to bet with that aren't books or bookies. Any bet you can place with no vig is the same as adding around 3% to your bottom line. (This is based on needing to win almost 53% of the time to beat the vig at most books.)
9 – Place Bets As Late As Possible
Being a winning sports bettor is about information. The more information you have the better your chances to place winning bets.
If you wait until the last possible moment to place your bets you can access the most recent details about injuries and important players.
I've read a theory that professional sports bettors tend to bet underdogs early in the week that can move lines (in the NFL and NCAA football seasons) and you need to take this into account. I'm not convinced the theory holds much water, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
What would you do with this information if it were true?
If you knew professional sports bettors were betting heavily on the underdog early in the week and you wanted to bet the favorite you should first ask why you don't agree with the pros. If you feel strongly that you're right and the pros are wrong you should wait until they move the line as far as possible before placing your bet.
If you agree with them you would want to bet as soon as possible to get the best line before they move it too much.
10 – Avoid Exotic Wagers Until You're Winning Consistently
Some exotic bets can be handicapped successfully, but the real reason to ignore them until you can win consistently on other bets is because you shouldn't divide your attention.
If you can focus all of your attention on specific areas of sports betting it gives you the best chance to win consistently.
Exotic wagers include parlay bets, teasers, in game bets, and anything else offered by the sports books beyond simple line bets, money line bets, and over / unders.
I suggest concentrating on a single type of bet first, but sometimes a money line bet or over / under offers value that you can see from handicapping straight line bets.
Conclusion
You may be able to find dozens of ways to improve your sports betting prowess, but if you start with the 10 listed above you'll have a great start. Most of them are fairly easy, so implement a new one every week for the next 10 weeks. By the time the next sports season rolls around your sports betting should be much better.
