Betting for beginners

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?

Just starting out as a sports bettor, you may be at a loss as to how much it is typical to wager on a given bet.  Do you think in terms of pounds or percents?  Is there a certain minimum amount you need to wager?  Where should you set the maximum ceiling?

In the USA, NFL betting is the most popular form of sports betting.  Here in the UK, NFL betting may not be as popular, but it is something you can get into if your betting site offers it (which most these days do). 

Why is NFL betting fun?

The preseason for American NFL football is an exciting time where fans and punters get a glimpse at teams in action and get to make predictions about how players and teams will fare in the upcoming season.  That makes this the perfect time to plan your NFL futures bets. 

While we have talked before about recognising betting site scams, and what to look for in an online betting site, one thing we haven’t talked about is how to find a trustworthy tipster or handicapper.  Anyone can call themselves a tipster and offer you sports betting picks, but that does not mean that you should take every tipster’s advice.  And if you are paying for tips, you should be extra careful.

How do you choose a trustworthy ?