A fool and his money are soon parted, and this couldn’t be more true in the world of betting. It’s very easy to become completely disillusioned with sports betting if you don’t have either discipline or a staking plan, and here I’m going to explain how to start controlling your wagers, stick to a familiar plan, and make regular and steady profits.
Discipline
Having discipline is an absolute must if you are to even be in with a chance of profiting on a regular basis. Every punter in the world has suffered a lack of discipline at some stage, and it’s something you either look back on and make correct, or continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.
The biggest cause of a lack of betting discipline is immediately after you have suffered a loss. A punter with this trait will look at the next available betting opportunity and try to win back what he has just lost. STOP!
This is known as chasing. No good EVER comes out of chasing, believe me. The chase bet is normally a knee jerk reaction, and it is unlikely you have put any thought into making your selection. Your stake is going to be too large because you are seeking compensation for your previous loss. DON’T DO IT. Take a deep breath, take your loss on the chin, and learn from it.
Once you have calmed down you will realise there are plenty more opportunities available to you. Forget the loss. It’s going to happen.
Losses are far easier to swallow if you have a decent staking plan in place.
Staking Plan
If you are serious about making money long term from betting you MUST have a staking plan in force.
I’m not talking about small weekend punters who do a £5 9-fold accumulator every Saturday here. These are fun bets for gamblers that just want something to look out for at the weekend, and hope for a nice little payout once in a blue moon.
This is in no way derogatory to small stake punters. As long as you can afford to put these little bets on, you go ahead and enjoy it. Every now and then I also try my luck on these multiple bets as a bit of fun.
Now on to the serious stuff. Serious punters should have a betting bank. A bankroll of cash available only for betting. This way you know exactly what you have available at any given time.
For this example I’m going to use a starting bank of £1000. I use a staking system that never allows me to stake more than 5% of my bankroll. With a betting bank of £1000 my maximum wager would be £50.
I also use a ‘points’ system based on numbers 1-10. A maximum confidence bet would be a 10pt bet; in this example meaning £50. A minimal confidence bet would be 1pt; £5.
So with an initial betting bank of £1000 my staking plan would be:
- 1 point =£5
- 2 points =£10
- 3 points =£15
- 4 points =£20
- 5 points =£25
- 6 points =£30
- 7 points =£35
- 8 points =£40
- 9 points =£45
- 10 points =£50
The value of the above points will increase and decrease with the size of your bankroll, and you should never waiver from these values.
Knowledge
There is no replacement for knowledge in your given field. If you know how a certain betting market works, and you are knowledgeable in a certain sport…stick to it. Don’t chop and change sports just for the sake of a bet. Where are we getting back to here? DISCIPLINE.
This guide is aimed at sports punters that have a good idea of what they are doing already, but may suffer some of the common downfalls of betting. Hopefully after reading this article you can follow some of my advice and make regular profits in the wonderful world of betting!