How To Win At Betting – Lesson 2 – Specialising In a Certain Field

Following up from my first betting tutorial about keeping things simple and betting on singles rather than going crazy on accumulators and multiples to try and make regular money, there are more very important lessons to learn if you plan on being successful at betting. This post will deal with specialising in a certain field in order to become an expert in your chosen sport to bet on.

You’ve heard the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” right? That’s exactly what you want to avoid becoming.

There are hundreds of sports available to bet on, thousands of specific markets that are just waiting to separate you from your cash. Be wise, specialise.

I’ve learned some very hard lessons over the years, and one of the first that really made me aware of how stupid I was being came in the early days of Betfair.

After a pretty bad day betting on football, I turned my attention to NBA basketball. What the hell? I didn’t know a thing about the game, but decided to go heavy and try and win back some of my earlier bad beats. This is called chasing (something I will go into in depth in a future post).

I then found myself skimming through other sports I didn’t have a clue about.. Ice hockey, NFL etc. Please don’t do it. Stick to the sport you are most passionate about, and then learn about it. Better still, specialise in a certain market within your favourite sport.

First and foremost, I’m a football betting man. Within football I would say I specialise in a couple of markets. I have a good eye for spotting incorrect match odds, and I also regard myself as a keen statistics analyst, which makes corners and bookings a big favourite of mine.

If you are just starting out, I can’t suggest strongly enough to concentrate on just one betting  market at a time. Get used to it. Study the odds. Get used to trends. This is all valuable information that quite often goes unnoticed amongst punters.

In time you will have all the tools you need to spot a great bet, and know when the bookies may have made a mistake with the odds, all from the information you have learned.

It’s a great feeling when you call something right and it makes you money. But it’s an even better feeling when you know exactly why you called that bet. This is when you begin to appreciate the work you have put in.

Knowledge also allows you to refrain from getting upset or stressed when you lose a bet. If you have the knowledge of your chosen betting market, and have put in all the work required to make your selection, and it loses…. It’s not your fault. There is absolutely no need to kick yourself.

The bad feeling only comes when you know you should’ve done something different, or that you were just guessing, and happened to make the wrong choice.

Doing your homework and becoming an expert in a particular field should be your objective. This eliminates you ever having to beat yourself up over a sill choice of bet. And once you’ve learned not to ever regret a bet, you are one more step up the ladder to betting success!

Next week I’ll talk about the importance of having a staking plan.