Effective sports bettors are an extremely very rare breed. Statistically speaking, it is not very common to find a person who is profitable over the long haul on sports betting. Regrettably, luck as well as basic sports knowledge will only get you so far. These successful bettors have a tendency to have some common traits which aid them in being better at sports betting as opposed to the rest of the pack.

Here are some of the key to effective sports betting.

Understand The Concept Of Value

This is critical. If you don’t have this, walk away. Sure you may be certain that a 1.25 favourite is going to win, however are the odds being offered giving any value?

Plenty of times we’ve heard casual bettors say, “There’s no way this team is going to lose this game.” Well they might be legitimate favourites, however there is the probability of them winning better as opposed to the odds being offered? Betting with this attitude is a little like saying an over-priced wide-screen TV was good value just as you really wanted it. It doesn’t work.

Value is a straightforward concept, however most of the betting public don’t really understand this. And possibly, thankfully so, as it’s this naive or ‘square’ money which can skew the market, leaving fantastic opportunities for the minority of bettors who do know how to recognise value.

Being able to recognise value means which you are able to spot odds that are too high, consistently and systematically – and then capitalise on those opportunities.

What Are The Basics of Sports Betting?

The easiest way to show the math behind a sports bet is to make up an example. Let’s say you and then your buddy walk into a casino, each of you with $200 burning a hole in your pocket. There’s a huge game on tonight, the Cowboys vs the Redskins, so you go into the sportsbook in order to check up on the most recent news about the game. While you’re sitting there, you have a look at the wagering board, with some odd numbers on it. It looks something like this:

• 428 Cowboys +175, and
• 429 Redskins -4 -200 38.

Some of this is simple enough to read. The Redskins -4 means the Redskins are favoured to win and they need to do so almost five points for a bet on the ‘Skins to pay out. The following number (-200) is the money line, in this case the Redskins, are a 2/1 favourite. The last number in the list (38) is the total, the over/under of the likely number of points that are scored in the game.

In order to be effective, sports bettors need to be flexible, adaptable as well as resilient. An effective sports bettor will know that things change over time, and that in turn means that their plans – as well as their strategies – must also change. Being flexible and adaptable is key. Those who are unwilling to change their ways are less likely to be effective over time.