Surviving “The Dip” as a Sports Bettor Part 4

In the past few articles in this series Part 1 and Part 2, I have talked about what business guru Seth Godin refers to as “The Dip,” and how it can impact sports bettors.  “The Dip” happens when you are putting a lot of money, energy, time, and work into sports betting but it is paying you less and less back. 

This is the point in many sports bettors’ careers when they consider giving up completely. In fact, over time most bettors with ambitions of becoming professionals will quit during one of these “dip” phases.  In the previous installment of my series Surviving the Dip as a Sports Bettor, Part 3, I talked about two different issues involving quitting, but not quitting altogether.

I discussed the situation were you might want to consider quitting betting live with real money temporarily while you work toward overcoming whatever hurdles are holding you back. I also discussed times when you might want to consider tossing out the strategy that you are using and finding a new one. Now I want to talk about a couple more issues.

1. Should You Quit Any of the Services You Are Using?

A betting strategy of your own may not be all that you rely on to make money. You may for example purchase picks, or even buy strategies developed by other punters or follow their proposed tips of the day. This is a good time to take a long hard look at the services you are using and whether they are really worth your money. Sometimes all it takes to stay in the game is to give up on a bad service. Of course that may mean that you need to be prepared to do more hard work yourself.

2. Should You Quit Betting Altogether?

If you have tried everything else and nothing has worked, you may be at the point where you are thinking about quitting betting altogether. Most would-be professionals end up going back to casual betting just for fun. Betting professionally is certainly not for everyone, and in some cases this really may be the best answer. After all, you can always try again later.

Before that though I would certainly consider taking a vacation from sports betting. You may think that in order to make progress, you always need to be putting a lot of thought and hard work into a pursuit. Sometimes though when you are too close to something, this actually ends up costing you perspective. Backing off from sports betting for a while may actually give you insights that you are lacking and help you to see the bigger picture. Who knows, it may be just what you need to save your burgeoning betting career!