Betting for beginners

A lot of sports bettors look at what the betting public is doing before they place a bet.  Some bettors even make that their primary strategy (although this may not be the best strategy to use over the long run).  But who exactly is the betting public?  Why are they contrasted with betting sharps?

Usually it is a good idea to stick with betting on sports you are intimately familiar with.  Betting is complicated enough as it is, and it only makes it more difficult if you are struggling to understand a sport you do not regularly watch.  If you never watch hockey, for example, why would you want to put yourself through the hassle and confusion of learning about hockey just to place a bet on a sport you don’t know?  While avoiding these situations usually is a good idea, now and again you may want to step outside of your expertise and yo

It is very common to use averages in sports betting.  The idea of an average is very simple and straightforward, and provides a useful quantification for performance statistics.  But what type of average do you use when you are doing your analysis?  Have you considered the shape of the distribution data?  Or are you only looking at the overall picture while ignoring the details?

Do you know your odds?  Nevermind figuring out if the odds you’re being given are fair—what if you are so new to sports betting that you don’t understand the odds you’re getting at all?  Odds can be confusing if you’re a newbie, and to add to the confusion, there are several different ways odds can be expressed.  The four most common are fractional odds, U.S. odds, decimal odds, and Hong Kong odds. 

In the investing world, traders talk about “paper trading” before trading live with real money.  Paper trading is essentially just what it sounds like.  Traders “follow along” with live trading on paper, keeping track of their imaginary wins and losses.  The goal is to replicate the live experience as well as possible without risking real money.  Just as investors “paper trade,” you should “paper wager” before you wager live. 

If you are just venturing into the exciting world of sports betting, it is a smart idea to check your assumptions before you get started.  A lot of novice bettors go into sports betting without a clear understanding of what they are doing.  These starting misconceptions can take a toll on you financially and emotionally.  It is best to know what you are getting into in advance so you can get off to a good start.  Here are 5 myths you may have about sports betting.

Newbies to sports betting online often worry about getting scammed by disreputable betting sites or purchasing picks offered by less-than-savory dealers.  There certainly are online betting scams out there, but there are also plenty of reputable and very well-known websites you can bet on.  What most new sports bettors don’t realize (or don’t want to admit to themselves) is that the most likely scam isn’t going to come from anyone else—it’s going to come from yourself.

A lot of new bettors jump straight into sports wagering (and subsequently lose money).  If that happened to you, you probably switched to what you should have been doing in the first place, which is demo testing.  How long do you wager “on paper” before you start betting live with real money, though?  How do you know when you’re really ready? 

Losing isn’t fun to talk about, but it is inevitable that sooner or later you are going to have to deal with several losses in a row.  As a beginner, this sort of thing may actually happen quite often (which is why it is a very good idea to bet on paper before you bet with real money!).  Even if you become a successful bettor, however, you will have to face the occasional losing streak. 

When you are looking for a website site to bet with (or several), it can be easy to overlook really important features in favor of more gimmicky features which are not as essential.  A lot of online betting sites attract customers through their bonuses and promotions.  Bonuses and promotions, while great, are not as important as many other more practical features that help you to manage your money and bets.  Be cautious when signing up with a new betting site, lest you be distracted by these offers from areas where the site is lacking