If you are on our site and reading this, you have probably known that you can make a living from betting. You may be interested in knowing how you can be like those professional gamblers who have made fortune out of betting. We are here to guide you on that and we have listed below some very useful tips on how to start betting like a pro. With the right understanding on how betting goes, you can start right away towards becoming a bettor (also called wagerer or punter).

  1. Start gambling on sports that you already know

Before you start, you need to ask yourself why you want to bet on sports and if sports betting is right for you. If you have answered these two questions satisfactorily, then you may proceed with selecting the sports you would like to focus on with your betting.

To be successful in betting, you have to be familiar with a particular sport or game in which you would like to place your wager or bet. With many sports/games to choose from plus the many things that you need to consider involving betting, you can be bombarded with options and this can be an information overload for you.

As a newbie, stick to what you know. By focusing on a particular sport and probably solely on one league, you can become extremely familiar with its workings. Knowing the trends, latest news and doing some research can help you in deciding your betting strategy. However, avoid wagering based on your allegiance to a particular sports club. It is one thing to be a sports fan, another to be a sports gambler. Eventually, you can branch out into other sports, but still, have a solid betting platform in which you can always turn to.

  1. Have solid money management principles

Bet only what you can afford to lose by defining your betting bank. By defining your betting bank, you set an amount of money to use exclusively for gambling. To be able to do this, you need to know your over-all monthly finances and from there, establish the amount of money you will set aside for your gambling fund.

It may be a good idea to have a separate bank account to keep your betting bank so that your finances for your monthly bills are intact. No matter what happens, follow your budget and do not go over your betting fund.

  1. Choose a set percentage to stake each time you bet

Find a bankroll management system (a system in which to keep your supply of betting fund) and stick to it to prevent you from betting too much per game. Many punters suggests converting your betting bank into percentages. The recommendable percentages that you can stake is between 2% for conservative gamblers and 5% for more aggressive gamblers of your total bankroll on each game. Keep this stake amount the same and wager within this range only for every other bet you place regardless if you win or lose.

  1. Pick safe and reputable bookmakers

A bookmaker or bookie is the one accepting and paying off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. As internet can seem a daunting place, picking safe and reputable bookmakers is essential.

Opening accounts with multiple books gives you more options in terms of odds and the number of games available for betting. It is also easy to shift your bankroll (the entire sum of money you have set aside for gambling over a given period) between books if you need to, as there are widespread use of book-to-book funds transfers. You can do this once you are acquainted with the league that you are focusing on and you are intending to branch out to other leagues. Give yourself time first to get used to the way bookmakers lay odds, the actual interface used to place your bets, and to understand the ebb and flow of sports betting profits.

When you start placing bets, you need a mechanism to track your bets or earnings and improve your betting process. As a newbie, you can start by creating your own spreadsheet (can be done in Google sheets or Excel sheets) that may contain some of the following data.

  • Date
  • Sport / Selections / Sportsbooks
  • Event
  • Bookmaker / Exchange
  • Teams / Opponents
  • Odds
  • Tipster
  • Type of bet / Stake
  • Bet Selection
  • Closing Line
  • Win/Lose / Result
  • Net winnings / Grade
  • Notes

You may customize your spreadsheet according to your needs and may add automatic calculation to get a whole range of statistics that you can use to help track your performance. However, using spreadsheets, especially in Excel, may be prone to errors.

For a hassle-free tracking of your betting performance, our betting tracker application comes in handy since the data is always available only to the user, from any device. Our application has a much nicer user-interface and offers more than what you can have with a regular spreadsheet. With our betting tracker application: you can quickly add your bets; add as many bookmakers as you want and keep bank on each of them; add multiple tipsters and track their performance; and the most important thing of all is it can automatically keep track of your return on investment (ROI) and yield. , just

  1. Set up accounts at three different types of sportsbooks

A sportsbook or a race and sports book, or simply called book, is where a gambler can bet on various sports competitions like football, basketball, mixed martial arts, boxing, etc.

By setting up accounts at three different sportsbooks, bettors will frequently get lines that are at least 0.5-point better than the market average. Adding that additional half point can increase your long-term winning percentage by 2%. A line on a game reflects an odds maker’s prediction not only of the outcome on the field, but also of the action on the game among bettors. It is set up in an attempt to get a roughly equal amount of money bet on both sides of each game, so that the sportsbook does not have to pay out more than it takes in.

Following are the three different types of sportsbooks and what they typically offer.

  • Square books – offer the best underdog lines
  • Sharp books – offer the best lines on favorites
  • Reduced juice books – great for everyday betting because with -105 juice on most games, bettors only need to win at a 51.22% clip to break even.

You may do your own research to shop for the best lines. We also invite you to visit our site frequently to check if we can have recommendations or give list on some of the sportsbooks available and more exciting topics.

  1. Make the right choice by looking for value when selecting a bet

Betting on a crowd’s favorite, which is the most basic strategy, is not always the best option when it comes to betting. In betting, what matters is how much money is on a certain side of a game. Betting against the public or against the team receiving the majority of wagers is one of the cornerstones of our sports betting philosophy.

For your regular day to day and/or week to week betting, the prime thing that you should look for are value and a reasonable probability. Look at long-range wins and losses and decide whether the cost, the risk and the benefit are enough to consider a value bet (a bet packed with good-looking value for money).

  1. Follow a winning system by working out a proper strategy

As a newcomer in the world of wagering where it can get really complex, stick to the basics by placing wagers on the outcome of games you are familiar with and starting with just a couple of bets.  From there, record and monitor your betting results and analyze past data in order to identify trends.

Assess the risk factor of each bet you place, making sure that you reduce your losses. Work out a level stakes profit/loss and alter your bankroll management strategy accordingly at the end of a set period. Always have a plan based on your betting fund and do not deviate from it. If you can only afford to lose a few bucks in a month, spread out those funds over several bets. Small, steady profit is successful betting and it is a great psychological boost. However, do not increase the stake of your next bet after a win.

Bettors should always look for a mathematical edge rather than rely on their impulses. Choosing the best type of bet to place depends on you (as the bettor), the sport you are betting on and the circumstances. Each type of wager has its merits in the right situation. Make sure that you do not bet unless you are entirely sure how betting works.

Listed below are some of the betting tactics/strategies. You are welcome to visit our site regularly for more information on the betting tactics/strategies that you can use for yourself.

Betting Tactics/Strategies:

  • Bet everything, every time
  • Fixed wager
  • Martingale
  • Fibonacci
  • Proportional betting (Kelly Criterion Formula)
  1. Consider the timing of your wagers

As odds fluctuate over time and in most sports, prices are fluid, deciding when to bet is also important. Thus, you should consider many things when betting. Monitoring line moves and bet signals is important but understanding why lines are moving is more important.

News about a player’s injuries, breakthrough performances and the action of other bettors all have an influence on the odds being offered by a sportsbook. A heavy favorite’s odds may not last until it gets to the opening play and betting on an underdog can cost less if you bet far in advance than if you wait until game day.

It is also important to understand the impact of downtime (a time of reduced activity or inactivity) as it affects different sporting leagues in different ways. Consider how much time has passed between your team’s last game and the contest you are betting on.

  1. Be a disciplined gambler

As sports gambling involves money, discipline yourself to exert self-control and patience all the time. Take betting seriously but do not be carried away and let your emotions get the better of you.

The fact is that you will lose bets. There will be times when you will see yourself in in a bit of a betting hole. The important thing is to have a long-term outlook and not to panic bet in trying to make amends for a losing bet. If you panic, you could end up eating further some of the profit that you could have won from previous bets.

  1.  Enrich yourself in the world of betting

You need information about the sport, the teams, the players, etc. Research and understand the sport/league you are betting on.

  • Read some books about the world of sports wagering.

Have books by either investing on some or looking at free trustworthy e-books you can find on the internet. This will make you a more informed wagerer and gain for you insightful information on strategies and concepts that can increase your chances of winning in a bet.

  • Participate in online sports betting forums and message boards

Some veteran gamblers would be happy to share advices especially with newcomers like you in online sports betting forums and message boards.   Search for a community of bettors that caters to your favorite sports and wagering types. Look for advice from veteran bettors and an active back-and-forth exchange and in-depth discussion of odds and the pros and cons of different online sportsbooks. A possibility to find all this information is to read betting blogs regularly.

  • Utilize bookmakers and sportsbook’s customer services

Most bookmakers or sports betting sites will explain things to you if you need clarification, so do not be intimated to ask even those that may seem to you are dumb questions. Select an online bookmaker and/or sportsbook with an easy to contact customer service staff. Look for chat options and toll-free numbers where their service is available 24 hours a day.