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Top 15 Sports Betting Mistakes that Every Bettor Should Avoid!

Nobody is completely sheltered from errors and knowing what to avoid is not always sufficient. We have singled out in this betting guide the sports wagering mistakes most frequently committed by players. Read them, so you can learn without paying the price for the lesson.

Some of the sports betting mistakes to avoid can be sorted with proper bankroll management. This helps prevent the damage caused by emotional betting, such as chasing losses. Others are more technical, such as spread betting mistakes. They include everything from Asian handicaps to regular handicap betting and system bets. Relying too heavily on betting advice and sports betting tips is also one of the common sports betting mistakes.

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Top 15 Sports Betting Mistakes You Must Avoid

Alert

  1. Not setting up a bankroll for betting
  2. Betting with the heart instead of the mind
  3. Betting beyond your means
  4. Chasing losses and betting under pressure
  5. Failing to understand the value in odds
  6. Not analyzing the outcome of your bets
  7. Failing to compare odds and lines
  8. Setting unrealistic expectations
  9. Betting too much or too often
  10. Failing to track the odds movement
  11. Not understanding the sports you are betting on
  12. Viewing betting as a source of income
  13. Gambler’s fallacy – The risks of the Martingale system
  14. Always betting on favorites
  15. Only using accumulators

When you are looking for the best sports to bet on these are the 15 most common mistakes responsible for most of the avoidable losses that punters suffer daily. By the time people realize the fact that they’ve been committing such sports betting mistakes, losses have already piled up. The good news is that they are preventable. Anyone can take immediate action to mitigate the negative impact they have on their bankrolls. In the paragraphs below, we’ll explain every single one of them and teach you how to avoid these betting common mistakes.

1. Not setting up a bankroll for betting

The most important thing that any successful sports bettor should do is to establish a bankroll. It should be dedicated exclusively to betting, using the bookmaker’s currency as a standard. This amount should be reserved for gambling and based on its value, people should adjust all their other betting strategies. It is strictly prohibited to mix the sports betting bankroll with the money used to cover everyday expenses. In addition to protecting players from the risks of gambling addiction, the bankroll can also determine the right staking.

Risk-averse punters should bet no more than 1% of their bankroll, regardless of how favorable the terms appear. Those who don’t mind taking more chances for the sake of bigger winnings can adjust their sports betting strategy with a 2% value in mind. By exercising perfect bankroll management, players protect themselves from common sports betting mistakes. Some of them include chasing losses and betting beyond their means.

2. Betting with the heart instead of the mind

The sooner people realize that there are no safe matches and no invincible teams, the better they will perform. The goal should always be to find the good things to bet on. Betting on the favorites is a common sports mistake that even experienced punters commit now and then.

What happens is that punters simply bet blindly without analyzing the value behind the best odds offered by the bookmakers. They are also tempted to bet larger amounts with complete disregard to odds news scores trackers and any relevant details.

3. Betting beyond your means

This costly betting mistake happens when people overestimate their skills and financial means. Proper bankroll management can help protect players against this risk. Unfortunately, this only happens if they set unrealistic expectations. The best approach is to allocate less than you can afford to lose and gradually increase your bankroll as you earn profits. Ensure that gambling remains fun and safe by focusing on selecting the right wagers. Also, pay attention to the sports betting strategies before making any deposits through one of the bookmaker’s payment methods.

4. Chasing losses and betting under pressure

If you wonder how sportsbooks make money even from experienced punters, take a closer look at how people act when betting under pressure. This is when most of the sports betting mistakes are committed because people no longer think rationally. Chasing losses is a huge problem for everyone. Whether they are betting for fun or profit, tilt is an insidious threat that can rear its ugly head when least expected.

When people lose a string of bets they are tempted to recuperate their losses quickly. Others choose to bet larger amounts or increase the betting frequency. These are the last things to do if you lose a bet. They will only amplify your losses and what begins as an affordable defeat can lead to the biggest bet ever lost. Maybe even bankroll ruin.

5. Failing to understand the value of odds

To avoid most sports betting mistakes safest betting sites provide punters with guides and tutorials to help them early on. What they rarely teach people is how to find value in sports betting, even though this is the most important thing in the long run. There are no safe or risky bets and it all comes down to how much value there is in the best odds offered by bookmakers.

The easiest sports bets to win are not necessarily the ones that you should be chasing if they don’t add up in the long run. The only thing that matters is to always bet on matches where the odds value exceeds the risk so stay profitable in the long term. Learning how to find its value is the real challenge, but it comes with experience. Proper research and the ability to interpret odds news scores can make the learning curve smoother. Check here our best staking plan for low odds to learn more. We have also prepared a value football betting guide to better clarify this subject so you can avoid football betting mistakes. Make sure to check our other guides too to avoid other problems, such as horse racing betting mistakes.

6. Not analyzing the outcome of your bets

Even if you are on the right track you will end up getting run over if you sit there and fail to make any adjustment. One of the common mistakes in sports betting, made even by professional sports gamblers, is failing to check the betting results. People tend to get overconfident when they win and depressed when they lose, but in both cases, they fail to analyze the outcome of their bets.

Instead of trying to determine how to win a bet every time, the focus should be on avoiding the common sports betting errors. Take the time to analyze your betting patterns and determine if your losses were caused by bad luck. It may also be one of the sports betting mistakes we’ve talked about, so this is the time to be critical about your work.

7. Failing to compare odds and lines

The Golden Age of online gambling is now, as punters have a wealth of alternatives and can choose from different betting sites. This variety provides them with the opportunity to shop for the best odds and lines. This happens especially in the realm of digital currency betting, instead of relying only on the offerings of a single sportsbook.

Before wondering how to place a bet, look around and try to find the best value, and even use a bet calculator if needed. Keep in mind that this is a highly competitive industry and you need every advantage you can get to prosper.

8. Setting unrealistic expectations

Many of the most common mistakes are simply the result of people allowing themselves to get carried away by the adrenaline rush. Whether they play straight bets or accumulators, novice bettors set their expectations too high for all the wrong reasons. People fail to make the distinction between betting for fun vs betting for profit and end up being unhappy with the results, no matter what.

Trying to achieve more than it’s possible is one of the frequent sports betting mistakes and also a very costly one. Beating the house edge even by the narrowest of margins is a huge performance and you should be happy with it. When you bet on sports you are always the underdog, so staying profitable is an accomplishment.

9. Betting too much or too often

Sports betting can be an exciting activity and, quite often, punters let themselves fully immersed in the adventure. When they think they came up with winning bet ideas that can make them rich, people tend to forget about prudence and responsibility. Finding bookmakers to bet at is the easiest task since there are plenty on the market. Instead, the hard decision one has to make is to know when to stop betting. This is true especially when online bookmakers offer the possibility of betting nonstop. Additionally, they increase the stakes arbitrarily.

This is one of the biggest mistakes in sports betting. When people increase the frequency and the stakes of their bets, losses pile up much sooner. The truth is that only a few of the matches available are worth betting on and most offers should be avoided.

10. Failing to track the odds movement

The top online betting sites bring together tens of thousands of casual and experienced punters who are betting on dozens of sports. Sportsbooks set the odds depending on how likely the outcomes are, but they always adjust them based on how players wager. The betting odds payouts also change quickly when many people bet on the same outcome, which makes it essential to monitor the market trends. If something goes wrong, then you can opt for hedge betting.

Tracking the odds movement will allow players to extract maximum value from the odds available. In the long run, this is the recipe for success, so use news score trackers and pay attention to the odds variations.

11. Not understanding the sports you are betting on

Learning how to win at sports betting can be a difficult task. Tempting as it is to try different markets, this is one of the sports betting mistakes to avoid. Not understanding the sports and markets makes you susceptible to poor betting decisions. It is recommended to identify one or two sports you know and like and focus on them for starters.

Football is the most popular sport and there’s plenty of information available for its matches. That’s why it is easier to make money betting on football than betting on sports you don’t understand. There is no shortage of tips and football betting strategies even for games from lower leagues.

12. Viewing betting as a source of income

The main reason people learn how to bet on football is to make money. Winning is exciting and when you have something to show for, you are more motivated to excel. However, most common sports betting mistakes start from the idea that sports winnings are a source of income. The moment you start relying on the money made from betting, you put yourself under tremendous pressure.

Having a sports betting bankroll is the first ward against such risks. This allows you to bet sensible amounts and mitigate the pressure caused by losing streaks. It gives you time to find the best betting odds and when these are not available, refrain from betting altogether.

13. Gambler’s fallacy – The risks of the Martingale system

Crypto betting sites and modern bookmakers allow players to deposit large amounts. This creates the illusion that punters can pursue any betting strategy demanding huge bankrolls. The Martingale is a shining example of such a risky strategy aimed at offsetting losses. You always double the stakes after you lose and in theory, one win is enough to recuperate all the losses and make a small profit.

The gambler’s fallacy states that if an event hasn’t occurred in a while, it is more likely to happen. This leads to one of the football betting mistakes to bet progressively larger amounts on one team. Others prefer the draw for such system bets because of odds exceeding 3.00 but they are still wrong.

14. Always betting on favorites

Risk-averse players are frightened by the prospect of underdog betting. Instead, they only back the favorites regardless of how low the odds. This is one of the common football betting mistakes not seeking value in the odds available. Due to the house edge, even though upsets are relatively rare, you don’t make enough money to offset these few losses.

Some players try to get creative with a sports betting system that focuses heavily on favorites. The downside is that even though the odds are multiplied, so are the risks. If you add enough events on the same betting slip, it is likely to lose one, despite the low odds.

15. Only using accumulators

When resources are scarce, accumulators look great on paper. One of the sports betting mistakes committed by many sports bettors is adding too many events on the betting slip. Because their total bankroll doesn’t accommodate large bets, they will do little with straight bets. They can’t afford parlay betting either, because this has them lock money in long-term wagers.

Betting sites allow punters to add a high number of pregame and live bets on the same betting slip. They even boost the odds if many selections are featured simultaneously, but this is a trap. It is very difficult to predict six or more games and one mistake is enough to lose the entire bet.

Avoid the Most Common Betting Mistakes Starting Today!

Sports betting is a fun, but rather a difficult enterprise, and the fact that the house always wins is a sad reality for most punters. Beating the odds is difficult but not impossible, as long as you know how to avoid the most common sports betting mistakes. But to keep yourself up to date and to be sure that are you avoiding some mistakes, read our article about online vs offline betting. These are responsible for most of the losses suffered by punters.

In most cases, they render any profits made by using correct sports betting strategies virtually irrelevant. Start making small, but important changes to your betting patterns today, and you will be amazed by how your performance will improve. We are here to help you avoid betting mistakes. Good luck out there!

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FAQ About Sports Betting Mistakes

Set up a betting bankroll, bet on the sports you know, and set reasonable targets. Use common sense when something sounds too good to be true and remember these words:” When in doubt, don’t!”

Follow tipsters and experts for several weeks and months and bet virtual currency. At the end of the trial period, see how much you won or lost. Proceed with small bets and don’t rely blindly on them.

Cognitive biases have a huge impact on casual and recreational punters. The illusion of knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance, so don’t overplay your hand and overestimate your insights.

Adhere to strict bankroll management principles and don’t bet more than 5% on a single game. During a losing streak, decrease the amount you wager and take breaks from betting altogether.

Understand the most common betting mistakes made by fellow punters. When in doubt, go over the list, and don’t allow emotions and instincts to guide your decisions.