Want to start Betting? The Mistakes to avoid and 7 tips for a good start!

John’s story

On the advice of a friend, John decides to take the plunge and registers with the first bookmaker he finds on the Internet. He only has a small sum of money and bets almost all of it on the same day. The bets that he places seem to be a “sure things” and he is certain about winning. He’s so sure that he decides to increase his winnings by betting on "combos", i.e. by combining several bets to increase the odds and thus increase his profits.

But his luck’s out – his magnificent 5-match combo fails due to an unexpected draw. With no more money left in his betting account, he decides to close his Web browser and move onto something else. He decides that sports betting is too complicated for him and gives up.

John tests the miracle method

Less than a month later, he comes across a strange advert on the Internet: "How I earn £5,000 per month by betting on the Internet". John is curious and registers on the bookmaker promoted on this website and tries out this strategy which he considers to be promising. He’s overjoyed when he finds out that he has won twice the amount of his deposit by following this strategy. John can hardly contain his excitement. He can already picture himself buying the latest video game console with his winnings and can’t thank the webmaster of the miracle website enough. John is so enthusiastic that he decides to deposit a little money so that he can bet even more and increase his winnings.

However, to John’s astonishment, the method doesn’t work on this occasion and he loses everything! Convinced that it’s just a passing phase, he decides to deposit a bit more money to try and recoup his losses. But his luck is out again – John loses everything.

Discovering the Value bet

Furious about being ripped off, John decides take the matter into his own hands and tries to understand why he was conned. This is where he discovers new mathematical concepts. He learns that you must bet on value bets, that you should analyse the matches you are betting on more thoroughly and, above all, that you must never consider a bet to be a certainty.

From this moment on, John’s betting evens out but he comes out generally on top. He doesn’t wager more than 20% of his capital on each bet and analyses each of his bets in great detail.

One day, while sitting bored in front of his computer, John decides to tempt fate and follow a tipster with a good reputation on punters’ forums. As "parieurprodu75" hasn’t given a single bad tip in weeks, John trusts him completely and puts all his money on the recommendation of this gifted tipster. But John’s luck is out – “parieurprodu75” comes up short. John has just lost all of the profits he has made over the past month. Furious about this loss, he decides to insult the tipster vehemently.

John discovers the surebet

What a joy! While surfing the Internet, John finds a website offering an infallible method: the surebet! After a few quick calculations in his head, he realises that if he only makes 2% profit per day starting with £500 in capital, he will earn £2,500 in 3 months! Convinced that he has finally found the ultimate method (supported by mathematical proof), he takes the plunge.

But unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated the problems inherent to Surebetting. He had only just placed £300 on Betclic, when Bwin changed its odds! The surebet is no longer profitable. John curses his bad luck and feels jinxed. He starts over again and places a super tennis surebet at 6%. But he’s out of luck again because the two bookmakers don’t have the same rules about abandoned matches and Player A breaks his ankle. John has lost 40% of his capital because bookmaker A counted his bet as a loss and bookmaker B only refunded his initial stake.

What lessons should you learn from this for your betting?

Here are the mistakes made by John and the vast majority of sports punters:

• He waged all of his capital according to instinct and is overconfident in his choices.
• He placed 5-match combos
• He believed in the deceitful advertising of small-time conmen
• Having won at the start, he considered his strategy to be successful on all occasions
• He placed 20% of his capital on each bet, believing himself to be cautious
• He blindly followed a tip without assessing whether it was realistic. It was not Parieurprodu75’s fault and John only has himself to blame
• He placed too much hope in the surebet and still believed in the lies propagated on the Internet

Our Tips to start betting properly

Choose your bookmaker carefully

Avoid small sports betting websites which don’t seem to be really serious outfits. We have dedicated a section of this site to making this choice. To consult it, click here: bookmakers comparator.

Beware of odds comparators that include dozens of bookmakers. Certain bookmakers post excessively high odds to attract punters and then never actually pay them. Stay with bookmakers that have a licence in Europe, and don’t tempt fate.

Place combos featuring only a few matches

You may place combos but only those featuring a limited number of matches. Try to play it safe by avoiding multis with lots of matches. It is best to avoid combos, but if you do so, try to steer clear of combos with more than 3 matches.

A match is NEVER won in advance

so try to avoid including the same match in all your combos, especially if the odds are below 1.10. This means that you won’t win a lot, but it could prevent you from losing a packet ;)

Keep very detailed accounts of your bets

This is so you can really keep track of the winnings you have made, or conversely, your losses. Also avoid placing fanciful bets. Above all, opt for value bets.

Avoid "fullbank" bets on a single match

"It’s win or bust". Bookmakers generally earn money due to this type of behaviour. The maximum stake on an online bet must not exceed 10% of your balance. Healthy management of your capital would dictate that you don’t wager more than 5% per bet.

Be very patient and don’t try to restore your capital immediately after a failure

You should consider money invested in betting as being lost even before it has been gambled. Remember not to bet on matches whose outcome is a foregone conclusion. A team that has already qualified will not play to the same standard! The same applies to cup matches (especially the Football League Cup). Certain teams prefer to play their reserve team as they want to prioritise their performances in the league.

Avoid the fanciful strategies found on the Web

Certain crooks will try to make you believe in miracle methods by coming across as pro punters. However, it’s simple – there’s no such thing as a miracle method. Also, avoid martingale bets, which, while you may not lose very often, can be very dangerous if you get into a bad run. A martingale means you double your stake each time you lose.