10 Tips To Successful Handicapping Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

We have 10 tips to help you better handicap your games and put yourself in the best position for success.

#1 - Be Selective. It's important to be selective when choosing your plays for the day. Generally, game lines are quite accurate reflections of the public's opinion, which makes finding value difficult. This is the major reason why professional bettors and reputable handicappers do not play or recommend many games in any one-day. Be wary of sports services that offer numerous releases for every sport each day - especially when it comes to nationally televised sporting events like Monday Night Football.

#2 - Keep Records of Your Action. If you don't know what games you are playing, you will never know whether your winning or losing. Keep records of your action throughout the season just as you would keep track of any other type of investment. Once you have your records in place, you can get a better picture of your overall success, which will help you to manage your bankroll.

#3 - Manage Your Bankroll. In addition to keeping track of your action, you should also pay attention to your bankroll. The only way to win and make money is to monitor your bankroll on a regular basis. If you don't know whether your bankroll is increasing or decreasing, you cannot effectively determine the appropriate amount or frequency of your plays.

#4 - Set Realistic Goals. If you are serious about winning you must come to understand the most important truth of sports wagering - nobody wins every game.

#5 - Think Long-Term. In addition to setting realistic goals, you must measure success in the long-term. Short-term hot and cold streaks do not make or break a season. Don't over react to short-term results; rather keep you eye on the ultimate prize - long-term profits. Strive towards winning over the course of a season and you will not fall into bad habits that could turn temporary losing streaks into a season ending disaster.

#6 - Read Information Carefully. There are literally thousands of sources of sports information available today, so you must be able to differentiate between those that are helpful and potentially harmful.  Most information is riddled with opinion instead of facts. Your job is to discern the facts from opinions to be able to determine what’s important and useful.  The internet can be very helpful, but it can also provide you with wrong information to make your decisions.

#7 - Use Statistics Effectively.  Statistics can be quite deceiving and often do not tell the whole story. If you are going to crunch some numbers when performing your game analysis, do so with caution. Specifically, you should understand that past seasons' numbers shouldn’t carry much weight when trying to forecast how this year's teams are going to play. The modern day of free agency has made the dynasty a thing of the past. Today’s teams are not going to perform just like they did a few years ago. Be careful when using statistics.

#8 - Watch The Games.  Watching the games themselves will always give you truer pictures of a teams' ability. There is a lot of valuable information that can be gained by watching the games that you could never learn by spending unlimited hours studying statistics. So learn by watching as many games you can to gain an added edge & you’ll have fun at the same time.

#9 - Create Your Own Lines. This is a crucial element in handicapping that most people simply do not take the time to do. It’s very important to make your own game lines because it will give you a completely unbiased picture of what you believe the odds should be. Avoid looking at the real lines until you’ve made your own lines so you’re not influenced by outside sources of information that can skew your perception of the day’s matchups. Compare your homemade lines to the posted lines and look for games with significant value (the difference between the posted line and your line). These are the games that you should be looking to play.

#10 - Be Flexible & Patient. Winning big takes time. You must set your goals and put together a solid plan to achieve those goals. However, even the best plans will need some adjustments as the season (or year) progresses according to your actual performance. Just as teams on the field have to make changes and adapt to the situations they confront, you must too. So be patient and flexible on the road to winning.

By doing the above, you'll be a better sports bettor and enjoy the game more.  "Good" luck!!