Betting guide

If you are already a rugby fan, you probably figure that this article begs the question.  But if you are not, you may not know a whole lot about this sport or why you should think about betting on it. 

There are numerous factors which impact the outcomes of football matches, but one which is often overlooked is the location of a tournament game.  Where a game like the European Championship or World Cup is held can give an edge to one team and take it away from another.  Sometimes it may strengthen a team which is already strong, or it may actually lend an edge to the underdog.  When you are handicapping a game, you need to think how the tournament location is going to come into play.

Here are a few considerations:

If you are not already familiar with a futures bet or outright bet, it is a type of wager you make far in advance of an event.  Often it means predicting the outcome of a season at the start of the season or before the season even begins.  For example, an NFL bet would entail guessing who will win the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season. An a UEFA Champions League bet would be on who will lift the precious trophy.

Whether you are thinking of placing a pre-season outright (also know as a futures bet) or you just want to get in on the action early, it can be difficult to place smart wagers early on in the season for any sport.  There are a number of challenges you face that tend to be elevated at the start.  Awareness of these challenges can help you to overcome them.

I want to talk today about how to manage your sports betting bankroll.  I am referring here to your total account, not the specific unit sizes you invest.  You should never wager more than a modest percentage of your account on each of your bets (around 3%), but how big should your actual account be?  What should your initial deposit be, and how much and how often should you add to your account?

I have talked in many articles about how you can choose a smart approach to managing your money, and with it, adopt a healthy attitude toward risk.  But what about simply learning to recognise the sports betting money management mistakes you are making now?  Sometimes just recognising your errors and unlearning bad habits is enough to turn things around.  Just by not making these common mistakes, you should start doing better right away.

You may think a lot about how you are going to wager going into a bet, and you probably feel pretty anxious during the bet, but what happens afterward?  You win or lose, but at that point, is your work done?  Do you go off and celebrate if you won, mope a bit if you lose, and then get on to your next bet?  If you do, you probably are repeating the same mistakes going forward—and also missing out on the opportunity to identify and hone your strengths.

How do you analyse the wagers you have taken after the fact?  There are a couple of great tools you should have on your side when you do.  The first is a betting journal, where you keep a detailed record about your wagering experience.  The second is a betting spreadsheet.  A spreadsheet is a streamlined version of your journal, and you can cross-reference it easily to your journal notes.

The two main advantages of a spreadsheet are these:

In a recent post about how often should you bet, I delved into the question of whether it is more important to have a higher win percentage or to take more bets.  Basically, it is up to you to do the math, but it can be beneficial to take more bets even with a lower win percentage in some cases.  The specifics depend on your situation, but you may very well discover that this is the case for you too.  Taking too much of a hit to your win percentage will just land you in the red.

Recently I posted about how much you should wager on your bets, and explained why it is best to try to wager only a small percentage of your overall account at any one time, around 3%.  But this brings up another question you probably have as a beginner, and may even have if you have been betting on sports for a while.  Should you always bet exactly 3%?  Or should you occasionally bet more or less?