How To Improve Your Chances – Betting Strategies & Tips For Getting An Edge
Each type of successful betting venture, whether in poker games, casino games, or sports, entails using strategies specific to individual games.
But they also involve some higher level strategies that work to help you whatever the circumstances.
And when I talk about strategies I don’t necessarily mean on how to play or how to pick selections in certain circumstances.
The strategies specific to each type of opportunity are covered in my dedicated sections, here I’m going to cover those at a higher level that will help make the most of your winning opportunities:
Study, study, and learn
If you’re trying to win money by playing on any games of pure chance, there’s not a great deal to learn. You just need to know how to play, sit back, enjoy it, and take your chances.
As soon as any form of skill or choice is required it gets more interesting, and there are ways to get an edge by building up knowledge. Poker is a great example, where experience and strong attention to strategy really can hugely increase your chances of successful play. Horse racing is another where understanding that individual horses can run well in specific circumstances (and run badly in circumstances that don’t suit them) is one of the keys to long term profits.
The importance of study (and experience) cannot be underestimated.
Understand the types of bets
Understand the types of bets available in your chosen betting events. Calculate in advance how much you can win relevant to the amount you’re betting. You (nearly) always need to know what the risk level is, and how much you’re likely to win for the amounts that you’re risking on the bet.
When the rewards are potentially life changing that’s not so important of course, but it’s certainly true in any betting ventures that are designed to get you a longer term steady income.
Use information
Information which can help you comes in many forms, from free or paid betting tips or selections, through to forums, magazines, and dedicated sports websites. You can get a lot of valuable advice and suggestions by reading through various online betting websites.
Manage your bankroll effectively
This is one of the most critical factors for betting successfully, especially in games of skill where you’re searching for a long term profit. The point to remember is – if you’re following a system or strategy that you know should make you a long term profit, then the way to maximise that profit or in fact realise it will be by careful management of your bankroll. There are many facets to bankroll management, way too many too mention here, but I will write a dedicated page on it later when time allows.
Wherever possible, bet against other people
Betting against other people gives the maximum chances of winning (see the page on betting exchanges). Partly this is because you’re backing against human frailties – greed, fear, over confidence, lack of confidence, and ignorance too.
With the correct knowledge and strategies you can position yourself above many other punters. Where they make mistakes, you can capitulate on them.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in poker, where strategy plays a huge part in winning or losing. But you can clearly see that playing poker against a machine – that is most of the casino poker games – is different from playing against other players just like you.
Use the free money offers
Make the most of bonus and promotional offers. Virtually all poker, casino, and other betting operators give valuable free money bonuses either as additional bankroll added to a first deposit, or in some cases as free no deposit bonuses which give you a chance to try out games for no outlay. There are very few reasons why you wouldn’t want to take advantage of this – if only to use free betting money to learn and gain experence.
Shop around
Use every option available to choose where to bet and who with. Competition between the betting operators is fierce, and you can get better odds, payout options, or bonuses by shopping around.
There are a number of odds comparison websites which will show you all of the odds available from different operators for the same events. While odds are generally fairly close within ranges, it’s surprising at times just how much they can differ. Why take 14-1 about an outcome when you can get 18-1 somewhere else?
Keep a record of your bets, losses, and winnings
You’ll find that errors are very rare with online bookmakers or other gaming rooms. But they do happen occasionally. If you have good records it’s much easier to show what happened if a complaint becomes necessary.One good way to lower the risk of this is to make sure you’re only betting on websites which are of course reputable and store histories of bets placed.
The other key reason for keeping records is that it’ll show you which types of your bets are most profitable over a period of time. None of us can be jack of all trades (and hope to do it supremely well), so knowing what works for you and what doesn’t will show you where to concentrate efforts.
Don’t give in
I say don’t give in. But of course I don’t mean ‘don’t give in’ if you’re clearly going to keep losing and/or can’t afford it.
What I mean is – as long as you know that you have found a situation that sooner or later will result in a winning result for one of your bets – then don’t let that potential winning situation go by without having the bet.
This reinforces the importance of bankroll management – making sure you have enough money to make the bet when the situation is right. It also brings into play the importance of patience. Good things come to those who wait, and holding on till you get the right opportunity can be a very successful strategy.
The problem is that emotion also comes into play.
Let’s take horse racing as an example. This is a simplistic example but does work as an illustration.
You know that a certain horse wins one in every five of its races that are run on soft ground over 3 miles. Every time it runs in those circumstances its odds are 10-1. Clearly if you bet it for the same amount (known as level stakes) every time it runs you will make an overall profit as long as it keeps winning at the same rate.
BUT what happens is you have to place 4 losing bets. You know that statistically the next race might be a winning one, but you know from experience that it doesn’t always come out that way. So emotion and doubt starts to creep in, you pull the bet just before the races, and watch your selection run first at 20-1!!
The point I’m making here is – if you have identified a set of circumstances that throws up winning bets with any reasonable regularity, you need to have the patience, commitment, strength, and bankroll to let you place losing bets and accept them as part of the strategy, while keeping faith that the one winner that clears all previous losses and gets you an overall profit is waiting to happen.
And don’t think these opportunities are impossible to find.They DO happen, and they ARE there. You just have to find them!
Two’s better than one – Betting Syndicates
Syndicates have a useful place in the betting world. They’re perhaps best known as a way of groups of friends or colleagues playing the lottery to increase winning chances. Of course, a win would mean splitting the prize, but who wouldn’t want a share of $10 million on a series of numbers that someone else picked?
Lotteries are not the only example. Syndicates are often put together where there are big prizes at stake, but need a lot of permutations or entries to increase the chances of collecting a prize.
A good example is UK-based horse racing. Every week there is a jackpot where you need to pick winners of six races. If it’s not won on any particular Saturday the fund rolls up to the following week. Each week the prize grows exponentially as more people get interested in the growing prize.
Ultimately there will be a number of big syndicates laying out many thousands of pounds on different permutations to try and get a good cut.
Competition Among Betting Operators – & How It Increases Your Chance Of Winning
With the option for any visitor to a website to click away in a few seconds if they don’t find quickly what they’re looking for and find somewhere else to place a bet, operators have realised that they need to compete with each other to give the best, easiest to use, and most rewarding experiences.
This leads us on to the next section showing how and where to find the best betting websites:
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