imply put, sports betting is pitting your opinion against that of the bookmaker (or, more accurately, his odds compilers). Increasingly, there are also sites offering person to person betting, where an individual has the chance to play bookie and offer his (or her) own odds to the market.

The bookmaker will issue betting odds on the outcome of an event that you the customer will decide if you want to have a wager at any of those odds.

But before making a wager, satisfy yourself that the odds you receive from the bookmaker represents value.

Contents:

Basic Steps
Risk vs. Reward
Common Bet
Handicap Betting
Spread Betting
Search For Value
Don't Follow The Crowd
No Place Like Home
How's The Weather
Be Smart
Money Management
4to1 Betting Tips

Basic Steps

An essential part of your betting strategy should be to formulate an opinion before placing a bet.

Three simple steps that can aid you in forming a betting strategy are to doing so are:

1. Analysing your own data
2. Forming independent opinions
3. Placing calculated bets

Gather as much information as possible about a specific game or event on which you want to place a bet. This knowledge will help you to make an informed decision and will improve your chances of winning.

Oddsmakers are human. With over 500,000 propositions to put to market ever year, they will make mistakes with prices or odds. It's up to you to catch them out whenever possible.

However, there's no shortcut to achieving a successful betting strategy.

To regularly beat the bookies, you need to be better informed than they. Your opinion and knowledge is equally valid as that of the bookmaker. The bookmaker uses his own strategy in creating odds. You need to find an approach that will allow you to best form your betting strategy.

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Risk vs. Reward

Never bet with money (no matter the size of the wager) that you cannot afford to lose.

Every wager you make should involve a process of evaluating the potential rewards against the potential risk.

If you believe the risk involved in attaining the reward is too high, then don't place the bet.

But if the potential reward outweighs the risk involved in losing your betting stake, then take a considered plunge.

"There's no such thing as a sure winner" is an adage worth bearing in mind when weighing up the risk versus reward.

Also worth considering are factors beyond your control including weather, injury, natural disasters, turmoil, warfare, illness, just plain bad luck and more, can have adverse effects on your wager.

But if you act sensibly, sports betting can be a source of great pleasure and a fun way of getting involved in the action and occasionally gaining some profit.

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Common Bet

The most common type of sports bet is a wager on the outcome of a single game or contest in which there is usually a favourite and an underdog.

One well-known example of a favourite and an underdog scenario was when Goliath met David in battle.

In that encounter, Goliath was the overwhelming favourite to win the battle and David was the decided underdog. The odds in that battle we think would have been reflected like this:

Goliath in this instance was the odds-on favourite.

When you back an odds-on favourite, the amount you wager exceeds the amount you win. If you win, you'll receive both your winnings and also get back your original stake.

David as the underdog was odds-against.

When you back the underdog, the amount of money you receive should your selection win is greater than your stake (all winning bets return the stake with the winnings).

Using the above odds as a guide, to win 1 unit on Goliath, you would need to wager 10 units.

If Goliath won the battle and your money was on the giant, you would have received a total of 11 units back (the 10 units you wagered plus the 1 unit you won).

To back the underdog David, you would have wagered 1 unit to win 6 units. The winning bet would have gotten you 7 units back in total (the 1 unit you bet plus the 6 units profit you won).

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Handicap Betting

Oddsmakers often handicap an event in order to make a one-sided contest more appealing to bettors.

This handicap is most commonly applied using a point spread, but can be any element that is used to even up an apparently one-sided contest.

Bookmakers know that they are much more likely to attract two way volume business in competitive events.

When a handicap is given you must decide whether the handicapper has given the favourite too much to do in order to win, or has not been handicapped enough.

American football matches are amongst the most common forms of handicap betting.

Dallas might be 2.5 (2½) point favourites over Miami

If you think Dallas will win by more than three points, then back Dallas.

If you think Dallas will win by less than two points or lose the match (Miami win) then back Miami getting 2.5 (2½) on the handicap.

Final score was Dallas 20, Miami 17:

Backers of Dallas (Dallas beat Miami 20 -19½ on the handicap) are winners. Consequently, backers of Miami on the handicap lose the bet.

Note: In the UK and Europe bookmakers tend to show their odds as fixed odds - and are less likely to move handicaps in response to betting activity. The Vegas bookies prefer to keep the odds constant and alter the handicap.

Check the odds when looking at handicaps and point spreads. Bookmakers may offer an increased handicap, but often at shortened odds.

Oddsmakers would display their odds for a level two two-team contest by making the odds as 10/11 (expressed as 210 in European terminology and -110 in American parlance) for either side. This means that if you are successful you will get a return of £21 for each £11 staked.

There are also a number of other options in wagering besides betting on single games or events.

You can wager that two or more teams will win their games. The payoff on this type of wager (known as an Accumulator or Multiple in Europe and a Parlay in North America) is larger than on two single games bet separately, because in order for your bet to win all of your selections must win.

Football adds the "draw factor" (the third possible result after winning & losing) to Sports betting. Aside for winning and losing sides in football matches, there is also the possibility of a draw deciding the outcome of a match.

In addition, football matches rarely involve handicaps or point spreads.

Although there are instances when a team is heavily favoured, the fact that the draw increases the number of possible outcomes from two to three means that there are fewer odds-on favourites, compared to other sports where there must be a winning as well as a losing side.

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Spread Betting

Spread betting offers a range of betting opportunities across a broad spectrum of sports and, unlike fixed odds, activity often allows you the opportunity to close out your position and take a profit, minimise a loss, or make a bet before the event reaches it's conclusion.

However, spread betting can be volatile and is not recommended for novices.

A wager where the result goes against you can result in your exposure being much greater than you estimated and, unlike fixed odds betting, the stake is not necessarily apparent when the wager is made.

The City of London watchdog, the Securities and Futures Association, closely monitors all activity.

Spread Betting on Totals

The number of runs, goals and points scored, decides outcomes of events and most spreads revolve around these totals.

If you believe the quote (spread) is too low then you would "buy". Conversely, if you believe the quote is too high then you would "sell".

Profits and losses are made in proportion to the stake that you choose (see example below).

Spread Betting & Performance Index Bets

Points are awarded to contestants or teams according to their finishing positions in an event, series of events or league tables. Several events lend themselves well to this concept.

Points are awarded depending on finishing positions and your profit or loss in this type bet is the difference between the figure that you buy or sell your choices and the points that they ultimately earn (or don't earn).

An example of an American Football Spread:

The Spread: Dallas over Miami 2-5

If you think Dallas will win by six points or more, then buy Dallas at five points.

If you think Dallas will win by less than one point or lose the match (Miami win) then sell Dallas at two points.

Final score: Dallas 29 - 10 Miami

Dallas would have supremacy of 19 points (the margin of the final score).

Hence, buyers of Dallas at five points would win 14 times their stake (the difference between the buy price of five and the supremacy of 19).

Sellers of Dallas at two points would lose 17 times their stake (the difference between the sell price of two and the supremacy of 19).

An example of a Golf Spread

Who will play well and who will play badly?

Scoring: 50 points to be awarded to the winner of the group; 25 points for 2nd place; 10 points 3rd place.

Result: 1st: Woods - 50 points, 2nd: Clarke - 25 points, 3rd :Mickelson - 10 points.

Buyers of Woods (those who thought Woods would do well) at 19, would win 31 times their unit stake. So if you bought at £5 per unit, your winnings would be £165 (31 x £5).

Sellers of Woods (those who thought he'd do badly) at 16 lose 34 points times their unit stake. So sellers would lose £170 (34 x £5). Buyers of Clarke (supporters of Darren) at 8 win 17 times their unit stake. Sellers of Clarke (those who opposed him) lose 19 times their unit stake.

In the above example all other sellers (those who opposed any of the other five players in the group including Mickelson) would be winners and buyers would be losers.

Caution: Spread betting can create an exciting element to wagering but be aware of the risks involved. The volatility of the Spread markets can create large losses, as well as providing big winnings.

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Search For Value

Look for value on every one of your bets.

Loosely defined, value simply is getting better than true odds (the odds on a particular event that you believe they should be).

For example, if the bookmaker says "Team A" is the 3-point favourite, but you believe "Team A" should be the 6-point favourite, then 6-points are your true odds.

Value wagering is also defined as when you regard the risk/reward ratio as being weighted in your favour.

Don't be put off backing an underdog - if you think that the oddsmakers have got it wrong and they are decent value.

If every favourite won, there would be no bookies.

A poor team favoured by many points doesn't need to beat its opponent in order for you to win the bet.

You can often determine value in sports such as tennis, golf, and athletics simply by looking at the motivation, comportment and attitude of the individual athlete.

Knowing how players react when in the spotlight and lose to winning, adversity, or even bad luck can make the difference between a winning and losing bet.

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Don't Follow The Crowd
Teams such as Manchester United, the NBA Los Angeles Lakers and baseball's New York Yankees all attract huge international followings, as does certain individuals including Tiger Woods.

The bookies' odds commonly reflect that following and are often artificially low in anticipation of the support that they attract.

With so many fans backing these favourites, oddsmakers are frequently forced to bias their odds and spreads in accordance.

And a value bet may very well be had when you bet against the popular teams.

Why?

Because the underdog team will receive better odds that ordinarily might be expected and a larger prices (odds) than is deserved.

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No Place Like Home
The home field (stadium) advantage should never be underestimated.

Sleeping in their own bed, playing at venues they know well, and being reunited with family can all combine to give the home team a decided advantage over their visiting opponent.

But take care. Punters may discover the odd team that actually plays better on the road. It does happen and in that instance, good value may be had when backing these teams away from home.

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How's The Weather?
Natural elements can often affect the outcome of a wager.

The wise punter will cast a glance at the weather forecast as he prepares his betting strategy for an event or race that is held outdoors.

Teams that fare well on fast-track surfaces may be hampered in wet or muddy conditions. Windy conditions can wreak havoc with kicking games, while high temperatures (or altitude) can slow down teams and athletes not accustomed to those conditions.

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Be Smart
Professional bettors rarely make the mistake of chasing their losses. You'll occasionally find yourself in a losing streak - don't worry, it happens to the best.

But if you do lose several bets on the trot, avoid the temptation of increasing the size of your bets in order to make up for your losses. The clever option is to either cut back your wagering until results start to fall in you favour.

Remember, there's over a half million betting propositions each year upon which you can wager. Don't be fearful of taking short wagering breaks.

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Money Management
Managing your winnings wisely is an important key to long-term betting success.

A bettor's cardinal rule should be to never bet with money they cannot afford to lose.

The second most important rule is to bet more money when winning and less when losing. The old stock market adage works well here: "Cut your losses, but let your winnings roll."

A generally accepted betting practice is for individuals to begin wagering with a pool of money sufficient enough to comfortably carry them over a long-term betting strategy.

Never risk the entire pool of money on one single event, even if you think you have a "can't miss" proposition. It's much better to be cautious and to stay in funds rather than to be rash and possibly blow the whole pot with one losing bet.

Never risk more than 3-5 percent of your total available betting capital on one bet.

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