Tips for Wagering on NFL and College Football Games

Do you usually sit down on Friday nights to do your research before NFL weekends?  Do you then wonder why, despite your best efforts, you continue to lose your wagers?  While you may think you are ahead of the game because you are putting in several days of effort, the reality is that you are still behind the sharps and the real professional handicappers.  Even if this is your part-time job, you have to treat it like a full-time job in order to be successful.  And that means taking the whole week to keep up with NFL teams. 

Whether you are betting on NFL games or college football games, you are taking on an enterprise that requires considerable ongoing effort for success.  It is time to put your expectations in perspective.  Cramming just is not going to work in most cases, because you will miss critical events that took place earlier in the week and now have scrolled out of the headlines.  Instead, it is better to block out some time each day to study.

• Monday:  Read up on the previous weekend’s games.  And no, that doesn’t mean reading the short summaries of the games.  You need to read the full play-by-plays online.  This information is every bit as important as the final score, often more important.  The summaries leave this vital information out.

• Tuesday:  On this day, you can focus on the quantitative information.  Check out the stats for recent games as well as historical games, and look for trend information. Also familiarise yourself with the key numbers in NFL betting.

• Wednesday:  Read up on what coaches and players have to say about their own teams and performance.  This is a good way to psychologically profile how a team is doing.  Look for injury reports on this day, but know that not all injuries are reported. 

• Thursday:  Check up on the lines to see if they have moved over the past week based on information you have seen as well as the public’s general opinion. 

• Friday:  Now, instead of cramming, you should simply be checking out last-minute changes and updates.  You should actually be feeling pretty confident of how you are going to bet.

• Saturday and Sunday:  Actually watch the games as often as you can!  This is better than reading play-by-plays the next day, though you should still do that for additional perspective.  But nothing is better than actually watching the games. 

As you can see, betting on NFL and college football jobs is something that requires your diligence every day of the week.  You cannot simply think of it as a part-time job you do on the weekend.  Even if you cannot dedicate a huge amount of time in the beginning and middle of the week, try and at least dedicate some regular time on Monday through Thursday.  As your knowledge of football grows and you start to firm up your schedule, it will get easier and you will start getting more out of that time—and it will pay off!