How to succeed in sports betting: 5 winning strategies

This article is here to help you sort out the methods that work and those that don’t. This is a list of all the essential tips, all those that allow you to succeed in sports betting.

#1 Avoiding the pitfalls

This is the first tip for success in sports betting, and it is obvious as there are so many traps to avoid in sports betting. These are mistakes that are often made by beginners, but not only because some experienced players are also fooled.

Among the most common mistakes is betting randomly on a match, or worse, betting on the team you like best. Why is this the wrong way to bet? Because in this case you forget to analyze the match.

Betting without analyzing a game is the same as playing a game of chance. This is not the way to win at sports betting in the long run.

Of course, when you bet on your favorite team, you will clearly lack objectivity and therefore have a greater risk of making a wrong choice.

Another type of game to avoid are the games between neighboring (and rival) teams, of course, derbies. This kind of match is above all a question of pride, and in these matches both teams will be fully motivated to win the match.

The stakes are high for both teams, and the smaller team will want to beat the bigger one. In practice, predicting the outcome of a derby is much more complex, as surprises can happen.

Beginners in sports betting should also avoid making live bets. Indeed, when bettors bet on live bets, they often forget to analyze the match correctly.

This is obviously a big mistake. There is also the risk of getting caught up in the live betting interface with all the odds going up and down in real time and making irrational choices.

Those who are new to sports betting should avoid this trap, only experienced bettors can get the most out of live betting

Finally, the other trap to avoid, the one that many bettors fall into, is of course combination betting. Because even if they allow you to win (potentially) a lot of money with a small bet, they are not profitable at all.

Clearly by betting on combination bets, you will lose far too often. Instead, we recommend that you play single bets.

#2 Play simple bets

To be successful in sports betting you should avoid combination bets, and prefer to play single bets. The reason is simple: by betting on simple bets you will have more chances to win.

And of course betting on single bets is much safer than betting on combinations. So only by making simple bets can you be profitable in the long run.

Obviously, betting on simple bets is not enough to succeed in sports betting, there is an essential step to succeed: the analysis.

#3 Successful analysis

When you want to succeed in sports betting, analysis is really the most important step. And obviously when your analysis fails, it is your bet that inevitably loses, so it is the basis.

However, in order to succeed in analyzing a match, there are certain elements that you should consider. Of course, the first of them is statistics.

Before taking a bet, you should always consult the statistics that will prove to be relevant and that will support your choice. The bookmakers provide you with some basic statistics: ranking, latest results, history of confrontations, but they can be incomplete.

The best thing to do is to consult a site specialized in statistics, in order to find data that can help you in your analysis. This type of site exists for each sport, and for soccer soccerstats is a reference site where you can find a lot of information.

Especially the stats are adapted to the different types of bets that you can find on sports betting sites. For example, you will find stats on over/under, clean sheet or BTTS bets (both teams score).

Of course, there are many other elements to take into account for an analysis such as the weather and sports news. You also have to take into account the possible absences (injuries, suspensions) which will have a direct influence on the course of the game (and therefore the result).

The state of form and the fatigue also go a lot and will be taken into account. Finally the stake of a match is primordial to take into account, because it is according to that that we can try to predict the motivation of each team (or players).

A great team may be more motivated by a great European match than by a simple championship match against a team from the underbelly.

Remember earlier in the article when we talked about derbies, these are games with a lot at stake for each team. In a derby the motivation is high and each team wants to win.

The stakes of a match can only be analyzed by taking into account the upcoming schedule of each of the protagonists. It is only by looking at the upcoming events that we will be able to determine the stakes of a match, but it is obviously fundamental not to miss this aspect.

As you can see, there are some main elements to take into account in order to succeed in your analysis. And it is thanks to the analysis that you will be able to make valuebets.

#4 Betting valuebets

What is a valuebet? A valuebet is a bet where you think the odds are overestimated by the bookmaker. This means that you have analyzed the bet beforehand, and you believe that the bet has a better chance of coming true than the odds suggest.

Keep in mind that the odds are really the result of a probability. The more likely a bet is to go through, the lower the odds. Obviously, if the bet has a low chance of passing, the odds will be higher.

Let’s take a quick example so you can see what we’re talking about. Let’s say you want to bet on a Chelsea win at 2.20 and you estimate the odds of winning at 50%.

With a table like this one, you will be able to see at a glance if it is a valuebet.

The table explains that when you estimate a 50% chance of your bet passing, your odds must be higher than 2. In our example the Chelsea odds are 2.20, so it is a valuebet.

The linked article allows you to calculate the valuebet more precisely, which will help you.

Clearly the valuebet is the best possible method for successful sports betting. Only with this way of betting you can be profitable in the long run.

However, value betting has some drawbacks, the main one being the risk of error.

The main one is of course the risk of error. There is the risk of making a mistake in your analysis and misjudging the probability of a bet passing. It is only by learning more about the sport you are betting on, and the competition, that you will correct your mistakes over time.

The other problem is that bookmakers make few mistakes, so valuebets are rare. And when they realize that they have made a mistake, the bookmakers readjust the odds, which makes the value bet disappear.

This forces bettors to be reactive when they think they can bet on a valuebet. Another interesting thing to do in order to detect valuebets is to specialize.

#5 Specialize

Specializing in certain sports bets is clearly a good idea. Because one of the big flaws of many bettors and tipsters is that they bet on any sport and any league.

Those who bet in this way have much less results than those who focus on 1 or 2 sports, or on certain competitions. Therefore, it is important to avoid spreading yourself too thinly and to specialize in certain disciplines or competitions.

Another important thing is that bookmakers are very strong on the mass markets, i.e. on soccer, tennis and basketball. On these sports, valuebets will be rarer than on smaller sports.

For these sports the good idea is to specialize in certain competitions, especially those that are less publicized. By becoming an expert on a particular competition you are on a level playing field with the bookmaker, so you have a chance to get valuebets.

Another good idea is to specialize in minor sports, the so-called niche sports. Since these are disciplines in which the bookmakers are less strong.

Sports betting sites have less data and information on these small sports, and therefore have more difficulty in setting the best odds. If you become an expert in a small sport, you will have opportunities to be one step ahead of the bookmaker, and to take advantage of the bookmaker’s possible misquotes.

Specializing in a small sport or an unknown competition is clearly a good idea for success in sports betting. But success in sports betting also means knowing how to manage your bankroll.