Does anyone know why so many people lose at
sports betting? Most think it is because of poor handicapping. While this can
be true, it is not why most people lose. We know hundreds and hundreds of folks
that are excellent handicappers or have access to winning picks that still lose
their shirts year in and year out.
Quite simply, the vast majority of all gamblers maintain poor money management
skills. That simple reason above all others is why they lose money. There are
those that manage money poorly because they are uninformed and there are those
that manage poorly because they are undisciplined. Unfortunately most often
times, gamblers are uniformed and undisciplined.
We could write an entire twelve Volume Encyclopaedia length case study on this
subject. Given our space and time, we are going to summarize and hopefully you
will get the gist. We want to talk about betting discipline and bet size. They
actually go hand in hand.
If you are serious about success, it is imperative that you make a plan and
remain disciplined. Your plan must entail proper bet size per unit or per game.
You should never risk more than 5% of your bankroll on any one play with an
average play being roughly 2% to 3% of your bankroll. We would guess that 99.9%
of gamblers are wagering too much on each game and we strongly urge you to not
fall into the same trap.
Most people will wonder, 2% of bankroll? How the hell am I going to make any
real money that way? Our answer is very simple. Exert a little patience and a
little discipline over a period of time. If you do this, 2% of a growing
bankroll can earn you a full time living no matter how small your bankroll is
to start. Not too long ago, we wrote an article showing how a $2,000 bankroll
could turn into $7,000,000 in twenty years playing 4% on each game and picking
only 55%.
It is imperative to bet a low percentage of bankroll to achieve success. Over
the course of any season, and especially in the daily sports, you will
encounter winning as well as losing streaks. If you are betting too high of
bankroll percentage, one losing streak could eat up your entire bankroll and
put you out of business. We cannot stress enough how important this concept is
to your success.
A typical example would be a player that has a bankroll of $1000 and bets $100
on each game. One of two things will happen to this player. He will either hit
a cold streak and be out of the game before he knows it, or he will hit a hot
streak, up his bets to $200 or $300 per game and then hit a losing streak and
be forced out of the game. Quite simply, there is no way to win if you are
betting 10% of your bankroll on each game. Losing streaks will happen, as
simple mathematics dictates this fact.
The next area we need to focus on is discipline. This is where most folks fail
miserably. We have been betting full time for nearly many years. In the
beginning, we were unsuccessful because we lacked discipline. We always could
pick winners, but sticking to a very strict plan was the problem. If there is
any one piece of advice we could lend amateur sports bettors it is this; you
are not going to win every day or even every week. Do not concern yourselves
with the battles and focus on the war.
Do you know how often we get emails from clients that sound like this, “I was
wondering about the free service I am entitled to because of the losing week we
had”. We will read this, scratch our heads for a moment and reply back.
“Losing week? You should have gone 7-3 and picked up 9 units. We went 1-0 on
Thursday, 1-0 on Friday, 4-0 on Saturday and 1-3 on Sunday. How did you lose
money going 7-3?” To which the client replies.
“Well, I was betting $100 per game Thursday, Friday and Saturday and made
$600. On Sunday I decided to up my bets to $300 a piece in the morning and went
1-2 and lost $360. Since I was down over $300 dollars for Sunday, I bet $700 on
the Sunday Night Game. This way I could win back the $360 lost earlier in the
day and still show a Sunday profit. Well, the Sunday Night Game lost and now I
am in the hole $530 for the week and you all said of I did not show a profit I
would get free service.”
Basically, this person had turned a 7-3 weekend into a lose money proposition.
In other words, the picks he bet went 70% and he lost money. Day in and day out
we receive similar emails with similar type circumstances.
The difference between professional gamblers and amateur gamblers is 20% the
quality of picks they are playing and 80% the way they manage money. In the
case we had described above, the individual failed to accept that Sunday was
not going to produce a net profit for him (the battle). Instead of realizing
that Thursday through Sunday was a great success that netted a significant
profit (the war), they chose to lose site of the overall plan.
We wish we had more time and more space to help you all understand these
concepts, as they are extremely valuable. It pains us to see folks lose over
and over because they do not understand money management and the concept of
long term profit as opposed to near term foolishness. Make a plan, establish a
bankroll, stick to the plan and you will make money. Don’t do those things
and you will not.
[Editors Notes ; Due to the large amount of emails on this topic we know it
should be a popular article. However, if you have any feedback please feel free
to post in our forum. Article
Courtesy of www.superiordaily.com]
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