Sports Betting Strategy

Many people who bet on sports may be simply betting on the games to make them more exciting, or are betting on their favorite teams, but if you are like me you are betting on sports to MAKE MONEY.

Making money betting on sports can be tough, but there are a lot of sports bettors who consistently win, and there are even a lot of professional bettors who make a good living off of sports betting. Everyone who is betting on sports is going to have rough patches where they take losses, but if you are winning more often than you are losing you can profit from sports betting in the long run.

Advanced Sports Betting Strategy Articles

» Teaser Betting Strategy
» Prop Betting Strategy
» How To Get Max Value When Betting
» Future Betting Strategy
» NFL Bye Week Betting Strategy
» Parlay Betting Strategy
» Pleaser Betting Strategy
» Sweetheart Teaser Betting Strategy
» How To Win at Sports Betting
» Current Betting Market

The Basics To Sports Betting Strategy

In order to help yourself make money or a profit from sports betting there are a couple of basic sports betting strategies or tips you will want to understand and follow. None of these sports betting strategies are secrets by any means, but following them will help you win money betting on sports.

The people who don’t follow any of these sports betting strategies are often referred to as “squares” and those are the type of bettors that the sportsbooks will make their profits from.

#1 Sports Betting Strategy – Money Management/Bankroll Management

When you are betting on sports you should always set aside a certain amount of money, which we refer to as your “bankroll”, in which you can afford to lose. Like with any type of gambling, you never want to bet betting on sports with money you cannot afford to lose. Set aside a certain amount of money that you can use for your bankroll for the week, the month, or the season. A general sports betting strategy for money management is to only make bets with 2%-5% of your bankroll. For example, if your bankroll for the NFL season was $1000 you would be making $20-$50 bets on each NFL game you wanted to bet on. It is also very important that you do not chase your loses with bigger bets. It is common for some sports bettors to be down money and feel in order to win it back they need to increase the size of their bets. This is putting yourself in the wrong mindset and will often lead to you losing even more money. Work with the size of your bankroll, and look to slowly increase it over the length of the season.

#2 Sports Betting Strategy – Bet Sober and Don’t Go on Tilt

Although betting while sober seems like common sense, you’d be surprised how many people bet on sports under the influence. Is it a coincidence that the Las Vegas casinos offer free alcoholic drinks while you are gambling? I don’t think so. I don’t want to sound like your mother here, but betting while under the influence will impair your judgement and should definitely be avoided if you want to become a winning sports bettor.

The second part of this sports betting strategy says “Don’t Go on Tilt”. Going on tilt or “tilting” is a commonly referred to term with poker players and basically means letting your emotions take over, which often leads to bad decisions. If you are angry or upset at something, such as a couple bad beats with your sports bets, you shouldn’t be placing any more bets. Take a break, go for a walk, get your mind clear before you start making anymore sports betting picks.

#3 Sports Betting Strategy – Do Your Homework

This is maybe the most important sports betting strategy. You will always want to do your research before placing your bets. Although going with your hunch when betting your favorite sport may work some of the time, in the long run it will not lead to you winning money betting on sports. In order to profit from sports betting you will need to research, study, and do your homework for each pick you make. Look at stats, find trends, create sports betting systems, analyze past games – basically do everything you could possibly do to ensure you have a good shot at winning your bet before you place your wager.

#4 Sports Betting Strategy – Line Shopping

A very big step to becoming a winning sports bettor is to make sure you are shopping for the best lines. What this means is that you will have to have an account at a couple of different online sportsbooks and when you are ready to make a bet on a certain team or outcome you check the different sportsbooks and find which book is offering the best line for you (this ties in with our advanced how to find max value article). For example, if you are looking to bet on the New England Patriots on a 7 point spread, you would want to check a couple different sportsbooks to see if any of them are offering the Patriots at 6.5 points, or at the very least find the best price you can get them at 7 points at. Over the course of a sport betting season you can win yourself a lot of money from shopping the lines that would otherwise would not be one. Line shopping is definitely one of the best sports betting strategies used by winning sports bettors. To see a list of sportsbooks we recommend signing up for visit our Online Sportsbook section.

Other Sports Betting Strategies

Above are the four main sports betting strategies you will want to follow in order to become a winning sports bettor, but there are a couple of other tips you can use to help you win money.

For one you can try following a sports handicapper who is using a proven sports betting system. You will have to pay for the picks, but if you are betting a significant amount of money it can result in you winning back the money you paid plus a lot more.

An old sports betting strategy is to bet on home underdogs. Home dogs in all sports in the past would have often makde you money and historically have a higher winning percentage. Teams are usually more inspired to play at home, and they will often not fold if they are down like they may when on the road. This isn’t true as much anymore.. you can read the current betting market article to learn why.

The last sports betting strategy or tip we can tell you is to place your bets at the right time. With lines shifting from the time they are posted to the time the game starts, you will want to get your bet in at the time when you are getting the best price. Favorites are usually bet on heavily from square bettors which results in the lines going down closer to game time, therefore if you are betting favorites it is usually best to get your pick in early and if you are betting an underdog you should place your bet closer to the start time. Of course that is just a guideline, but it is a proven sports betting strategy.

NFL Bettor? See our NFL Betting Strategy Guide