Betting for beginners

While watching horse racing, you have almost certainly noticed blinkers on some of the horses.  Blinkers are cups which cover all or part of a horse’s eyes (one or both).  Different types of blinkers have different functions, but in general, they serve to help a horse to focus on the track ahead by screening out visual distractions.

If you watch a lot of horse racing, you doubtless have at least some familiarity with blinkers.  Blinkers reduce the scope of a horse’s sight, which can help a horse to stay calm and focused.  Did you know that there are many different types of blinkers?  Here are a few that are worth knowing about:

While rugby hasn’t yet caught on everywhere in the world, it is huge in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa for good reason.  It is one of the most intensely physical sports in existence, which makes it a thrill to watch.  But rugby is special for other reasons too.  It is one of the most inclusive, diverse sports out there, and the camaraderie on teams and even between teams is amazing - read here why you should bet on rugby.

Just getting into rugby betting and trying to decide what to wager on?  One of the cool things about rugby is that it is a vastly popular international sport and there is always something going on.  Rugby has a number of large and small ongoing events you can follow. 

Most people get into sports betting casually.  Maybe money changed hands while you were watching a football game with your friends, and you decided you would start placing bets with bookies the next time around.  Eventually perhaps you decided to take your betting career online. 

Whether you are serious about betting for a living or not, you probably want to make as much money as you can betting on sports, right?  How have you been making your betting decisions?  Do you go with your gut?  Do you make a prediction based on your knowledge of a sport, but without doing a lot of concrete research before a match?  Do you pick the team you hope will win?  Do you use someone else’s betting strategy or picks?

Do you dream of betting on sports for a living?  If so, this is the perfect time of the year to start thinking about how you can make improvements which will help you to turn that dream into a tangible goal.  One of the most important steps you can take if you haven’t already is coming up with a plan to manage your money.

Why is a money management plan so vital? 

How did you do betting this year?  Did you make money?  Lose money?  Do a bit (or a lot) of both?  How did you react to your wins and losses?  Did they compel you to put more money on the table and maybe lose more of it too? 

Whatever your mistakes or regrets from last year, a new year is fast approaching, and you have a clean slate on which to build.  This can be the year that you stop betting emotionally.  Emotional betting comes in numerous different forms:

In a recent set of articles on What Do You Need to Bet on Horse Racing, I discussed some of the supplies that you need to wager on horse racing as well as intangibles such as a system or method for handicapping.

One thing you may have heard that you need in order to bet on horse racing is “tout sheets.”  What are tout sheets, where do you get them, and do you need them to win?

When it comes to winning at sports betting, there is a lot of advice I repeat across the board. It is important to do your research, have a betting system, and maintain a money management system. But it is also very important to find a way to track the success or failure of the systems you are using. And that is where keeping some kind of a journal comes into play. That is important with every sport, and horse racing is no exception.