Gambling is sometimes defined as entertainment for people who don’t understand mathematics. Everyone has heard stories about a basketball bettor who has a great streak…but streaks tend to be temporary. Ultimately, bettors generally end up in the red.
But, winning basketball bets is possible if you’re smart and have a little good fortune.
Sports bettors…those who successfully wager on basketball or any other sport…tend to adhere to a pretty similar set of guidelines. Here are some good guidelines for basketball bettors.
1. Decide on a budget at the beginning of the season. Determine how much you want to bet on individual games, and the maximum number of games on which you will wager. Your budget should be low…an amount of money you can afford to lose without hardship. If at any point you are tempted to increase the maximums you have set, stop gambling immediately.
2. If your goal is winning, treat every wager as an individual investment decision. Research, analyze, and weigh the options.
3. Do not bet every game you think you have handicapped. Bet only those about which you have good reason to feel highly confident. Your percentage of winners is likely to be far higher.
4. Do not get too carried away with trends, particularly longterm historical trends. Are statistics from past seasons really important? Decide what data is really relevant.
5. Analyze your wins and losses to see if your methodology needs adjustment. Do you do better when you weigh guard play more heavily? Should you pay more attention to offensive rebounding statistics? Are you under or over weighing coaching? Are you betting too often on teams you like or teams in the more highly respected leagues?
6. If you do not understand how big an advantage the home court is in basketball, do some research. Playing at home offers a bigger advantage in college basketball than it does in any major sport.
The reality is, you may very well be able to win bets against your friends if you follow the guidelines above. And, even if you lose a little every season, you can have a lot of fun. Just don’t think you can win betting against the pros. Small wagers can make watching a great game even more fun, large wagers are for fools.
Rob Webster enjoys making small stakes wagers on college basketball. Aside from sports, his interests and areas of expertise include online degrees, financial aid, online colleges, and college life.