Sources of Stress in Betting Part 4

If you are hoping to become a full-time sports bettor, then you may think that you have found an escape from work-related stress. In reality, sports betting can be as stressful, if not more stressful, then whatever it is that you are doing now. In the first three parts of my series on sources of stress in betting part 1, part 2 and part 3, I have talked about some of the different types of stress that you'll encounter as you strive to become a professional sports bettor. Now I want to get into just a few more.

1. Losing money

I have talked in the previous parts about how difficult it can be to make money slowly when you are already struggling to get by. That in itself would be harrowing enough, but what really adds to the burden of stress is the fact that you'll be losing money along the way.

Even if you are doing everything right, you can expect to lose nearly half of your bets. This can become quite exhausting. It can be very difficult for some punters to detach themselves enough from these repeated and regular losses to look at the big picture. If you allow yourself to be caught up in every loss, you will not have enough faith in your process to keep moving forward. If you give up, you'll never see the long-term gains you are looking for.

It is a mistake, however, to blindly accept the losses that you do suffer. I suggest that you use betting tracking software to help you get some perspective on your wins and losses and how they fit into your overall portrait of success or failure. This will help you over time to distinguish between expected, acceptable losses, and unexpected, inexplicable losses which you need to do something about in order to maintain a reliable win percentage.

2. Uncertainty

This relates to another type of stress which can get you down when you are betting on sports, and that is the strain of coping with uncertainty. It can be difficult not only losing money on a regular basis, but knowing that there are no guarantees of winning. With similar investment activities such as stock trading or Forex, you can expect a higher win percentage. When you are winning 80% of the time, things are a lot more predictable and you have a bigger margin for error and a smoother ride. But when you are winning 55% of the time, you are literally relying on that 5% over halfway to make a living. That is not a wide margin for error, and it doesn't take a whole lot of volatility to throw you out of the game.

Learning to live with this kind of uncertainty isn't easy, and will require a lot of adjustments if it isn't something that you thrive on. It can be done, however; it is up to you to figure out if it is worthwhile for you. For some bettors, the stress is simply too much. But many people who are risk-averse still manage to become successful in this career. There are some advantages to being risk-averse. So your challenge is to balance those positive traits against the psychological drawbacks that come with intolerance of uncertainty.

3. Clashes of expectations with reality.

Finally, I would say that the clash of bright expectations with harsh reality is probably the single biggest killer of burgeoning careers in sports betting. Nothing is more stressful than believing that you have found the fast track to wealth and a final escape from hard work and uncertainty, and then finding out that the exact opposite is true. Sports betting can be rewarding and profitable in many ways, but the drawbacks are many, and the vast majority of would-be sharps will fail. Those that maintain realistic expectations and take steps to recognise their stress and get it under control are for more likely to succeed. The rest will burn out.

The bottom line is that sports betting is not a sprint but a marathon. It takes a great deal of perseverance to become successful, and it is a high-pressure job. Whether it pays off for not is up to you.