Spend time grading your sports handicapping skills if you want to be a successful bettor. The holiday season provides both the end of one sports betting campaign and the start of another.
You cannot change your overall results for the past year.
However, you can learn from them.
There are always new and different angles you can take to improve your overall return on investment betting on sports.
The best way to start the evaluation process is to give yourself an honest and accurate overall grade. There is no grading curve for this class, so if you lost money for the year, you failed.
No sports fan bets on the games to lose money. You could always chalk these losses up to an entertainment fee. However, that does not take the sting out of a sports betting bankroll that is in the red.
Evaluating your performance needs to be both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Winning or losing money over the long-haul is the basic quantitative measure. Knowing where and how you won or lost money starts to move into the realm of a qualitative measurement.
Your Results Do Not Lie
Whether you work with a single online sportsbook or multiple sites. Your online betting history for the past year can provide a very clear picture when summarizing your results.
Maybe you made money betting the NFL but lost your shirt betting other sports. Perhaps your point spread bets were well over the 52.4% breakeven point while your total line bets drained your bankroll.
It is almost next to impossible to improve your sports handicapping skills if you do not understand all of your particular strengths and weaknesses. These become almost crystal clear when compared with detailed performance records.
Sports Betting Strategy
Another important qualitative measure is your overall sports betting strategy. Too many recreational sports bettors become painfully predictable with their wagers on sports.
For example, if you bet the same exact amount of money on every bet you place, that does not help maximize your return. Professional sports handicappers will release a unit play along with each betting selection.
The amount of that betting unit has no bearing on this particular strategy. It simply has to be realistically in line with your overall sports betting bankroll of discretionary funds.
The unit itself is tied to the level of confidence in that bet. The higher the confidence the higher the unit total. For example, a seven or eight unit play reflects a very high level of confidence in that bet. Betting three or four units would be in line with an average level of confidence.
Sometimes the Bet You Don?t Make is Your Best Bet
Going hand-in-hand with the unit betting system is the idea of walking away from a game. Betting any game just because you want some action on it is not productive to your overall strategy.
Pros will walk away from a game if they do not get the betting line or odds they are looking for.
The primary goal is to place sports bets where you already have a good deal of confidence in predicting the actual result. Doing this will make grading your sports handicapping skills much easier. Adding extra units to that play needs to be a discretionary tactic due to the added financial risk.
Use a Common-Sense Approach
The best way to improve a poor grade this year is to adopt a common-sense approach to betting on sports next year.
Do not take unnecessary risks such as 10-team parlay plays. Look at developing a prop betting strategy.
Never let outside noise add bias to your picks. Follow the advice and tips from handicapping pros when formulating your sports betting strategy. Do your homework with the use of up-to-date injury reports, relevant sports stats and useful betting trends.
You cannot change your overall results for the past year.
However, you can learn from them.
There are always new and different angles you can take to improve your overall return on investment betting on sports.
The best way to start the evaluation process is to give yourself an honest and accurate overall grade. There is no grading curve for this class, so if you lost money for the year, you failed.
No sports fan bets on the games to lose money. You could always chalk these losses up to an entertainment fee. However, that does not take the sting out of a sports betting bankroll that is in the red.
Evaluating your performance needs to be both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Winning or losing money over the long-haul is the basic quantitative measure. Knowing where and how you won or lost money starts to move into the realm of a qualitative measurement.
Your Results Do Not Lie
Whether you work with a single online sportsbook or multiple sites. Your online betting history for the past year can provide a very clear picture when summarizing your results.
Maybe you made money betting the NFL but lost your shirt betting other sports. Perhaps your point spread bets were well over the 52.4% breakeven point while your total line bets drained your bankroll.
It is almost next to impossible to improve your sports handicapping skills if you do not understand all of your particular strengths and weaknesses. These become almost crystal clear when compared with detailed performance records.
Sports Betting Strategy
Another important qualitative measure is your overall sports betting strategy. Too many recreational sports bettors become painfully predictable with their wagers on sports.
For example, if you bet the same exact amount of money on every bet you place, that does not help maximize your return. Professional sports handicappers will release a unit play along with each betting selection.
The amount of that betting unit has no bearing on this particular strategy. It simply has to be realistically in line with your overall sports betting bankroll of discretionary funds.
The unit itself is tied to the level of confidence in that bet. The higher the confidence the higher the unit total. For example, a seven or eight unit play reflects a very high level of confidence in that bet. Betting three or four units would be in line with an average level of confidence.
Sometimes the Bet You Don?t Make is Your Best Bet
Going hand-in-hand with the unit betting system is the idea of walking away from a game. Betting any game just because you want some action on it is not productive to your overall strategy.
Pros will walk away from a game if they do not get the betting line or odds they are looking for.
The primary goal is to place sports bets where you already have a good deal of confidence in predicting the actual result. Doing this will make grading your sports handicapping skills much easier. Adding extra units to that play needs to be a discretionary tactic due to the added financial risk.
Use a Common-Sense Approach
The best way to improve a poor grade this year is to adopt a common-sense approach to betting on sports next year.
Do not take unnecessary risks such as 10-team parlay plays. Look at developing a prop betting strategy.
Never let outside noise add bias to your picks. Follow the advice and tips from handicapping pros when formulating your sports betting strategy. Do your homework with the use of up-to-date injury reports, relevant sports stats and useful betting trends.
