Football, basketball, tennis, horse racing; a large number of sports are offered for online betting. At the beginning however, in order to increase our chances of making money in sports betting, we have better focus on a particular sport, a specific league or even a single team! This specialization in online betting will provide us with knowledge and understanding of the peculiarities of a particular sport.
As we know, knowledge is power and in the sports betting world this knowledge translates into money!
A recent discussion with a friend, who was thinking of taking sports betting more seriously, motivated me to write this article.
After we chatted on the way of thinking, a player must acquire in order to reach to the point of making money at a steady pace from sports betting, we ended up discussing how much time a gambler may need to devote for finding his daily picks.
He was thinking that with a little daily preoccupation, he would be able to predict several matches accurately.
Moreover, as he was interested in betting mostly on football, he considered perfectly reasonable to bet only on well known leagues, particularly in premier leagues of countries such as Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany. On these matches he would have increased possibilities of securing a day-to-day income from betting, according to his estimations.
Although I think England’s Premier League and Italy’s Campionato are wise choices, I stressed the importance of further specialization on only one specific national league. “But that means I would only study 15 to 25 games per week,” was the expected answer, wondering “how much money could I make betting only in one league?”.
Well, he was wrong exactly there!
He jumped to the conclusion that he already is a better tipster than most players in online betting! According to his way of thinking, the problem lies on the false assumption of not being able to win a lot more, because of engaging in a single football league.
It is a common characteristic of many people. Before they even start dealing with a task, they take everything as granted – not to mention their self appreciation of being almost an expert to everything.
Their only concern is what they are going to do with all the money they are going to make from their ground-breaking idea!
If indeed we are spot-on at our predictions in sports betting, it takes no more than a proper money management, in order to earn sufficient money each and every year. But, before we get to that chapter, we have to prove that our betting tips are really good!
Returning to the question of time and expertise, I asked him how long it would take to study each game. We estimated together that he would need at least half an hour, during which he:
- would study the league standings table, compare the statistics that interested him;
- find historical data and form of the teams;
- analyze their strengths and weaknesses;
- read the latest news; and
- decide how key injured or missing players would affect the team’s play.
Even if you manage to complete all of the above in 30 minutes, we are still talking about approximately 15 games per league. In other words, it would require an 8-hour study just for one league!
Of course, something like that happens mainly on weekends. Just a few leagues have midweek matches. Yet, during the week a number of news hit the headlines, concerning the league that we are interested in, which could influence our decision on the next day.
An unpredicted injury during the team’s European obligations, a negative sentiment growing among coach, the management and the team and several other issues may emerge during the day, which we must evaluate and adjust our bet accordingly for the best prediction. By staying committed only in one league, no news would ever skip our attention.
Say now you decide to bet on the 5 European leagues mentioned previously. Only the first league of each would require a total of 40 hours of study, under the condition that league games take place only on Saturdays or Sundays. Does a player really have the time to get adequately prepared for all those games within 1 or 2 days?
When we study a single league, we gain confidence on that particular one. All we have now to prove is our ability to predict accurately in practice. After continuously ripping the fruits of success, bet after bet on a large number of games, then we can move to safe conclusions.
If there is available time, we could add one more league under our microscope only then!
Still, we must be careful to avoid psychological stress or time pressure, which could harm our initial tips in the league that we have become experts.
If it is the first time you consider sports betting as a hobby, with the likelihood of making money long term, specialize on a sport or a league or – why not – on a single team. It should not take long to gain confidence, before you begin expanding your expertise to other sports or leagues.
