Smart Tips for a Beginner Bettor

1. Define Why You Are Betting

It’s crucial to know your goal. Are bets a way to regularly earn money, or are they simply a weekend hobby, where you enjoy cheering for your favorite team?

If it’s the former, you need to approach betting like a business. Specifically: set your bankroll (the amount of money allocated for betting), choose a strategy, and stick to it (e.g., maximum and average bet sizes, average number of bets, etc.). Stay up to date on the events you bet on, read about betting, and engage with other bettors.

If betting is just a weekend pastime, then you can skip this article. The only advice in this case is: don’t bet too much. For those looking to improve their betting skills, some online sports betting tips could provide additional insights.

2. Bet Only with Large Bookmakers

Bookmakers are somewhat like banks. The bigger they are, the more reliable they tend to be. Larger bookmakers typically have a history and value their reputation. On the other hand, fly-by-night bookmakers can shut down at any time and run off with your money.

So, don’t reinvent the wheel – use trusted bookmakers. Avoid dubious platforms that offer tempting odds. The history of post-Soviet betting has seen its share of bankruptcies, so stay alert.

3. Forget the Word "Sure Thing"

Beginners often use the term "sure thing" to describe being completely confident that one team will win or betting on a clear favorite. Both of these assumptions are problematic.

The key point is that you can never be 100% sure about anything in betting, just as in life. A big mistake is when someone relies solely on odds when choosing a bet. Remember, odds generally only reflect the overall strength of the teams, and they are detached from your financial and strategic approach.

Ask yourself, is this bet really necessary? What’s the odds-to-probability ratio?

4. Forget About Betting on Favorites with Low Odds

The most common bets in bookmakers are on the favorite teams winning. While favorites do win most of the time, they also sometimes draw or lose.

A loss on a favorite can be very costly. For instance, you decide to bet on "Barcelona" winning against a mid-table or bottom-tier team at 1.20 odds. "Barca" draws, and you lose your bet. You staked 100 units.

To break even, you’d need to win at least five consecutive bets with similar odds. But if your comeback stops after the third match, you’ll end up deep in the red.

Does that mean betting on favorites is a dead end? Not at all, but bet only at reasonable odds. For example, consider betting on their negative handicap, total, or clean-sheet win.

5. Forget About "Parlays"

Even a beginner knows the term “parlay,” which refers to a chain of events where the odds multiply. But if even one event fails, the entire bet loses.

Parlays aren’t inherently evil. Betting on a two-event parlay with 1.80 odds for each isn’t so bad. The risk is moderate, and the potential payout can be significant. But selecting the right events requires experience and knowledge.

New bettors often go to the other extreme, making "parlays" with odds of 50, 100, or 200. The allure of a big win blinds them to the probability of success, turning the betting experience into a lottery.

As a result, they end up with multiple parlays, depleting a large portion of their bankroll, and often each parlay misses just a few events.

6. Never Deviate from Your Planned Strategy

You should set a bankroll (the amount allocated for betting). Determine what percentage of your bankroll each bet will account for. Ideally, this amount shouldn’t exceed 3% for any single bet.

Set a game strategy — the ratio of singles to reasonable parlays. Also, plan the approximate number of bets you can place in a week. This number should be realistic so that each bet is carefully thought out and well-considered.

The day you stray from your strategy without a good reason will mark the beginning of your downfall. The most important rule: never change the maximum percentage of your bankroll for a single bet by more than a few percentage points. In Hollywood movies, the good guys win jackpots by betting everything, but in real life, it’s a fast track to bankruptcy.

7. Avoid "Tilt," and Feel Your Luck

Every bettor has moments when everything seems to go their way. Every bet on any event ends in a win, and you feel like the king of the world. In such cases, you should continue betting in the current mode.

As long as the "winning streak" continues, follow it. But as soon as you lose a few bets in a row, stop. Take a break, don’t bet for a few days, and entertain yourself without thinking about bookmakers and odds.

Once you've had some rest, you can return to betting. Otherwise, you’ll fall into "tilt." "Tilt" is a poker term that describes a negative psychological state, a kind of mental chaos. When you're in this state, you act emotionally, ignoring the potential consequences.

In betting, this often results in losing your entire bankroll in a short period. You lose one bet after another, try to get it back, raise your stakes, and end up broke.

8. Bet Only on What You Know

Don’t be a compulsive gambler, don’t bet on everything. Specialize in specific sports and leagues and stick to them.

Placing a bet on the Singapore football championship just because you have nothing better to do means you're playing on unfamiliar ground, and you're feeding the bookmaker. To bet, you need to understand the tournament standings, the recent performance of teams, and their dynamics over the season.

Be patient, wait for the matches you are knowledgeable about and prepared for. Watch as many games of the league you follow as possible, either on TV or online.

9. Avoid Bets Driven by Emotional Attachment

This could also be called “Don’t bet on your favorite or hated teams.” Often, inexperienced bettors forget that they are in betting to make money, not to root for a team.

Consequently, rooting for the team you’ve supported since childhood might lead to an ill-thought-out bet. Such a bet is often a direct path to loss. The same applies to teams you hate. Betting isn’t about fan loyalty.

10. Life Doesn’t End with Betting

Remember, betting is important, but it’s just betting. No matter how much you win or lose, life will go on. You have friends and family – spend more time with them. Don’t sacrifice one for the other and find a reasonable balance.