Sports betting can be done for fun or as a profession. If you’ve been reading our betting guides, you’ll know we lean towards the professional side. This article covers self-development to refine those betting skills.
Those of us who intend to bet on sports professionally should use all the tools at our disposal to make sure we are actually beating the bookies. While we have already discussed how we must develop the strategy, learn to control our emotions and handle the ups and downs, we have not touched too much on developing as a sports bettor.
While it may seem that there isn’t too much to sports betting and that those who win will simply need to learn a “system” and then follow it, this could not be further from the truth. Sports betting is an ever changing industry and there is much difference between different winning players.
What we mean to say is that some people are just barely beating the bookies, using various tricks, while others are actually winning tons by consistently placing good bets that come from analysis. So, what can we do to become better at sports betting? Let’s find out.
Paper Trading : The Value Of The Sheet
Paper trading is the technique of following a certain league or sport, finding good value bets and instead of actually placing the bets, simply entering the bet into a sheet, with the odds and time of betting. Then after some time, you will have a sheet full of potential bets and you will know the outcomes. If you can get a large sample of such bets, you can know whether your logic is actually working.
Paper trading is a great thing to do when preparing to enter the sports betting market, but also when you are looking to expand to new leagues, sports or markets within your favorite sport. Doing paper trading is something most bettors should include in their repertoire but many choose not to because it simply isn’t as exciting as actually betting.
We recommend paper trading for everyone, whether you are a beginner or a more experienced bettor and of course, we also recommend keeping track of all the bets you actually do place. We already said that you should take it easy moving into any new league or sport, and paper trading is a great way of doing just that.
Data Analysis: The Analytical Approach
There are two types of data you should be analyzing as a sports bettor. The first batch of analysis must be done before you place bets, to determine which bets are worth it. This includes analyzing the odds, finding current information on the teams and comparing how teams have done against each other in the past etc.
The other part of statistical analysis should be done every once in a while and includes analyzing how you did over a course of time. This type of analysis includes analyzing if you won or lost and why exactly. What type of bet was the most profitable? What was the bet type where you lost some money? Could you have done stuff better? This is the kind of analysis successful bettors do all the time.
Mentors and Tipsters
Many great sports bettors became great because they had a top notch mentor to show them the ropes. It can help massively if you have someone who knows how to beat the bookies and has been doing so for a long time and who can help you understand how it is done. Mentors are a great tool and worth paying for if you can’t find a free one as long as you know this is a person who is an actual long term winner.
Another option for many new sports bettors is to follow tipsters. There are actually quite a few successful bettors out there who sell their tips online or post them for free on social networks and some of them are quite good. If you can find a good tipster to follow, this is great, but you should also be trying to figure out how he/she comes up with their bets. This way, not only will you learn how to bet for the time when he/she is no longer around, but you may also find some bets of your own while following their tips.
Conclusion : The Path Of Constant Improvement
Sports betting is under no circumstances a profession that you simply do and repeat for the rest of your life. It is a complex endeavor that absolutely requires you to constantly develop your skills and hone your radar in order to stay on top.
Constantly developing your skills will allow you to remain a successful sports bettor for years or even decades to come and may be your path to complete financial freedom. On the other hand, allowing your skills to stagnate and not improve is what may lead you to stop being a winner after some time even if today you are actually winning.
It only takes some time to do proper analysis on a regular basis, so make sure you are not lazy and you invest the time and effort and the end results will absolutely blow you off your feet.
