Sports Betting Guide & Tips – What You Need to Know When Gambling Online

Best betting sites >> Online Betting Guide

After online gambling really took off, it became easier than ever to find betting markets online and wager bundles of cash in a blink of an eye. On the flip side, seemingly, not enough is being done by the bookies to educate the masses on responsible gambling. Things, such as bankroll management and understanding how odds scraping works lay the foundations for a positive gambling experience.
Even if you’re not trying to make a living out of sports wagering you could still benefit greatly from a more systematic approach. It all starts with setting goals that are well within one’s comfort zone. Of course, we can’t afford to let the chips fall where they may, but are ought to adjust our betting strategy in accordance with our winning percentage.

Good Bankroll Management Is the Key to Steady Growth

Good bankroll management will have a positive impact on your game regardless of whether you’re a professional gambler or not. Adhering to a neatly organized betting system is usually the best way to go.

• Make a monthly budget with regards to what you can afford to lose, this is what’s called a bankroll and use that money only for wagering on sports like football, horse racing, golf, tennis and many more.
• Set clear rules for your betting strategy. Determine a certain percentage of your monthly budget for each wager. It’s a good idea to bet a fixed amount each time in order to keep your bankroll balance healthy.
• Bet with a view to reaching your long-term goals, and not under the influence of a losing streak, losing is part of the game. When on a winning streak some people find themselves raising the stakes, but a disciplined punter should stick to the plan and reap profits in the long run.

*New customers only. Register with BETFRED50. Deposit £10+ via Debit Card and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply. #AD

Understand Live Betting

The dynamics the different sports have to offer are not one and the same. For example, in football, players must be on the ball all of the time because two quick goals could spell disaster, while in tennis, the worst that could happen is to lose the set. So it’s quite common, even in the top tier tennis matches, the favourites to lose games and even sets when they don’t want to invest too much energy, but fight tooth and nail for the important points. Some players even go as far as to lose sets to zero only to disturb their opponent’s rhythm of play.
Therefore, you should not be surprised, that there is a world of difference in evaluating odds for points, games, legs, and match winning. All these intricacies must be well-known to you if you want to take full advantage of the best betting sites.
You should always take into account the winning conditions, the stage of the competition and last but not least, the motivation to win. Let’s talk a little bit about all of the above. Some say that “winning ugly” or with minimum expense of energy is a sign for class. Maybe so, but this could affect your live betting in a number of ways. We’re all familiar with Fergie time and how it brought about a hefty amount of three-pointers to Manchester United. This comes to show that, by inference, the big teams are more likely to score in the last minutes, so even if the match looks pretty even a final push could be all that it takes to steal the victory.
Why take into consideration the stage of the competition? So many factors come into play here: how well players fare under pressure, experience, rest etc. Even the best can’t deliver with nothing left in the tank but can lean on their experience to mitigate a negative outcome. Another important point to make is that teams’ performance varies between tournaments.
While the big clubs partake in a number of tournaments each year, only the major ones are of high priority to them. That being said, the small clubs are always willing to put up a good fight if a title is on the line. This, coupled with the lower expectations make every underdog a dangerous opponent. That applies to individual sports as well.

Daily Fantasy Sports – Alternative Way of Looking at Sports

Daily fantasy sports are all about the ability to gain insight and recognize the players with potential. This betting market is an attempt on behalf of some of the top operators to combining the best of two worlds, those of tournament betting and prop betting. Here is the deal, punters get to assemble their own teams of real-life professional athletes from a particular league or competition while staying within the announced salary cap. Once picked, the players commence winning you points based on their real-life performance. That being said, the players who deliver will win you more points but are more likely to cost you more, so just like in real life you have to be on the lookout for undiscovered talents.
This concept certainly brings the excitement of team management, but nonetheless can be very rewarding for the knowledgeable punters. As with tournament betting, all entrants pay an entry fee, the total of which forms the prize pool. A small share of the prize pool goes to the provider in the form of rake revenue and the lion’s share goes to the punter with most points. Normally fantasy sports are conducted through the course of an entire season but the “daily” version takes into account a much shorter time span, thus making it easier for new enthusiasts to join in.

There are some good ways of enhancing the chances of turning a profit in the long run. Many shrewd punters know and use betting systems to their advantage. Which systems already have their proof of concept and how exactly to exploit their merits while avoiding the drawbacks? Let’s go through our list of potential candidates.

All Roads Lead to Success with Arbitrage Betting

An important note is that most of the best online bookmakers don’t take to arbing with particular liking. Arbitrage betting or arbing is a mathematically backed up decision to bet on all possible outcomes of a sports event when profit is guaranteed in each scenario. As we mentioned earlier the most favourable way to lay a stake is on a two-way event. This is where arbing thrives and ensures a win-win situation. Let’s say decimal odds (for European markets) the simple math to be done is add the odds together and divide them by their number.
If the mean is higher than 2 (for two-way events) then, at least on paper, you are guaranteed to win if an equal bet is placed on both odds. This, however, is only true if you take into account the commission your bookie is taking for each wager. Sometimes you’ll need to go odds hunting with several sportsbooks until you find a true pricing discrepancy to take advantage of. All in all, arbing is the way to go if you feel like shipping your sports betting welcome bonus, but be sure to check first if this will count towards your rollout requirement.

Hedging Will Stand You in a Good Steed

Hedging is designed not only to help you secure a win but also to recuperate from a bad decision or wrong bet. Hedging is a very viable option under such circumstances, but for the purpose of this online betting guide, we have included just the first use.
Every now and then a nasty mistake could slip into your betting routine and cause you to make the wrong wager. The top sportsbooks are not a public service, once the wager is confirmed you can’t hit the rewind button. There’s no denying the frustration of a potential loss, however, hedging can weather the storm, at least to a certain degree.
Let’s say that you were debating wagering on a 1v1 meet and the odds are 1.4 for the favourite 3.00 for the underdog. You ended up backing the underdog by mistake and you know that sitting and waiting is not the brightest idea. If the chances of the outsider to win the match are so slim, then it’s worth staking the other outcome too. The key is again the stake amount. If you’ve already invested £10, that’s a £10 potential loss and a £30 potential payout. By betting another pound on the favourite at 1.4 you will manage to cut the potential losses to -£6 and your profit to + £10.

Variable Staking Plans Are the Wise Choice

There is a lot much to staking bets than simply aiming at the desired payout, and variable staking is one way of describing it. This betting system calls for a more sensible approach, based on certain criteria, which may, or may not, be incorporated into a formula. With our confidence level being the deciding variable, we would stake more when we are certain about the wager’s chances of winning.
We can also bet with our bankroll size or potential return in mind. A more elaborate way of looking at variable betting is the Kelly Criterion because it encompasses a couple of parameters. It is a fantastic way of approaching the best online sportsbooks. To start off, let’s look at the simple formula we’ll be using to calculate the recommended stake amount. And here is the definition of each letter:
b – the multiple of our stake that forms our profit only
p – the probability of winning
q – the probability of losing
f – what part of our bankroll we should stake
It’s particularly easy to calculate the multiple of our stake we can win if we work with decimal odds. We do that by just deducting 1. With odds of 2.4, our potential profit multiple is 1.4. Next up is the probability of winning. This is up to us to decide, at what chances we evaluate the probability of our wager to win. Once we come up with the percentage, we should divide it by 100 and that will give us the final number for parameter “p”. Then we do the same with “q”- divide the leftover percentage by 100.
Lastly, the result, calculated with the formula, should be multiplied by 100 to obtain the recommended percentage of our bankroll we should stake. What’s more, this formula could be an irreplaceable advisor to tell us if we should place the wager at all. To put this into perspective, let’s imagine that the output you received is a negative number. This comes to show that, there is no value in this bet. If you prefer to go by the book and place well-portioned bets you can put your sports betting bonus to work with this system.

Parlay Betting Brings in the Big Numbers

Parlay bets, also known as accumulators are the perfect way to take a flyer with a relatively small investment, as the odds of your selections amount up to what could be a considerable multiplier. The simple logic behind parlay betting is to combine a number of individual bets together under the conditions that every single one of them must be correctly predicted in order for the whole bet to count as a winning one.
On account of that, your profit margins go through the roof, while your chances of winning diminish. If managed well, parlays can be used as a defensive bet that could rectify any losing bets or in turn add up to your winnings, depending on your own view.

Over/Under Betting – a Coinflip or There’s More to It?

Over/Under bets, or simply, Totals, are one and the same. What the bet boils down to, is a binary decision, whether particular parameters or points will exceed or fall short of the predetermined number. This is a widespread betting market because it is applicable to any sport with points involved. Granted that the odds are 1 to 1 on each outcome, most of the time you would hit a double-up on your stake. The neat thing about Over/Under is that you can watch the biggest comeback or unprecedented upset unfold before your very eyes and still meet the winning conditions. As you may have guessed, Over/Under bets are more or less statistical.
For example, you know that a team plays rather offensively, then it’s a no-brainer to put a wager on Over Goals/Points scored. This “loose cannon”, being the aggressor, will either manhandle their opponent or make critical mistakes defense-wise. In both cases, points/goals are sure to go off the charts. This betting system definitely proves a point. Combined with a nice size betting bonus it can quickly build up your bankroll.

The Point Spread Makes It a Fair Game

Point Spread Betting has gained huge popularity among the best sportsbooks largely due to the unique mechanism used to even the odds between two unevenly matched opponents. Basically, one of the teams or players is given a head start in the form of points for the purposes of the particular betting line. What sets apart the point spread from the simple win bet is exactly the spread. A valid win for the favourite is awarded when they manage to clear the spread.
If the spread is let’s say -8 they have to end up winning with over 8 points. On the flipside, the underdog will be considered a winner if they don’t lose by more than 8 points. Granted that the odds for each side are offset against each other, betting on either team would double your stake if the bet wins. This is the bread and butter of the American market, be it American football or NBA, though some punters still favour the straight win bet.

Betting with Handicap Gives You Flexibility

The point of handicap betting is to diversify the betting slip rather than just making two opponents equal favourites. In a nutshell the execution is the same as with point spread bets, but the stress is on the multitude of options given to the customers. So it’s in your hands whether to handicap the favourite by one or several goals. These types of wagers prove to be profitable in the high tier leagues where the relatively smaller teams survive on points won at home, because being behind to start with, makes the favourites’ mission significantly harder against a well-defending opponent.

Moneyline Betting – What You See Is What You Get

With moneyline betting, the odds offered are reflecting the risk involved. In simple terms the higher the probability for the bet to win, the lower the odds. This way, the prospects of winning are adequately evaluated and it’s up to the punter to decide should they pick the lower risk – bigger reward option or the other way around. Essentially it boils down to whether to back the underdog with a point spread or play it safe and opt for a moneyline bet on the favourite.
There is no universal rule as to how to find the right balance between payout and risk. The higher reward doesn’t always justify the higher risk and vice versa. One good advice is to follow the money. Find a way of winning five out of every six bets even if the odds are minute and then put the scheme into practice. Don’t be demoralized by the small profit margins, remember that it’s very easy to scale by just boosting the stakes. This is where joining the top bookmakers makes the difference because you can benefit from the higher odds and this adds up in time.

Betting Exchanges – Are They Different from Betting Markets?

The betting exchanges effectively give you the chance to step into the bookies’ shoes and lay odds however it pleases you. Maybe there was a time when you were dead sure that a particular team does not possess the capacity to win, but the possibility of a blank score was also creeping into your mind, then just lay odds against them winning and stake the odds with a sum you like.
Wagers made in this manner sit well with multiple team accumulator bets, as it gives you 2, not just one winning scenarios. In addition, the betting exchanges are not governed by a bookmaker on the hunt for profit margins, meaning that you are likely to find higher odds. Another thing is, you can sell already made bets, meaning that you don’t have to wait for your earner.

How to Choose the Right Bonus

Simply put, the secret to choosing what bonus to opt-in for lies within your betting strategy. Once you’re clear about what route you’re willing to choose, it’s time to pick a suitable bonus offer that will compliment your style of betting. Generally, the sign up bonus is what cranks up your bankroll the most, so you might as well want to check out what welcome bonuses are on offer out there.
In terms of promotions, not often will you be constrained to a single choice, therefore it’s important to be informed of the various promotions and how they function. We have designated a section that deals with the issue. Last, but not least, always read carefully the terms and conditions of the respective bookies and if you struggle to figure out something contact the support before you take the plunge.

To Sum Up

The implication of system betting is huge, mainly because it prevents loose, on the spur of the moment bets. The different betting systems may require more sophisticated research and dedication, but ultimately the effort is worth it because figures don’t lie. Even if you have an algorithm of betting of your own you have to put it into the perspective of a few months in order to really test it out, and that means to stay disciplined throughout a long period of time. All in all, this applies to all betting systems because they make little sense when used once in a while.