Do You Have a Betting Plan?

When you bet on sports, what do you need?  You need a strategy, a schedule, a money management plan, and so much more.  In fact, an additional thing you should have (but which a lot of punters skip) is an overarching plan which includes all of these and ties everything together.  This is an idea taken from the world of investing, where a lot of traders have a “trading plan.”  What should be in your sports betting plan?

• Your betting strategy.  You should write down your strategy in as much detail as possible, because you can use this as a checklist while you are betting.  Especially with complex strategies, it is easy to forget something important, especially in the heat of the moment.  If you have it all written down, you will not forget anything.  You may also want to write down a list of important questions to ask yourself about a bet before you enter into it. 

• News you will follow and how you will factor different types of events into your strategies. 

• Types of wagers you are willing to consider gambling on and specific rules for each.

• Notes and procedures for shopping the lines.  You need specific notes on how you will recognize a good deal from a bad one.

• What times of day you will research, test strategies, or wager live.  You may also want to include notes about time off if you have workaholic tendencies.  Taking breaks is important. 

• What sports you are going to be wagering on and how many.

• How many wagers you are willing to enter into simultaneously. 

• How many betting accounts you will have open at once and on which betting sites.

• Rules for hedging, if hedging bets is something you are interested in doing.  You may just wish to file this under your strategy section. 

• Your money management plan.  How much of your account are you going to risk on any one wager?  How will you calculate that amount?

• Your short-term and long-term goals as a sports bettor.  Why list your goals on your betting plan?  Because you will be looking at your betting plan frequently, and goals help you to stay focused and motivated.  The more often you look at them, the better.

You may think of other things that are important and which should go into your betting plan.  As you can see, there is a lot for you to keep track of every day.  When you start gambling seriously, you are essentially starting a new business, so your betting plan is like your business plan.  Except unlike with many conventional businesses, you really do need to look at your plan every single day.  I recommend putting it in a file you keep on your desktop and open before wagering each day, or even printing it out and posting it on your wall next to your computer.  Odds are you will revise it regularly, so be sure to keep up with changes!