Rather than just randomly picking football matches to place your bet on, there is a recent trend in fixed odds betting to employ a 'betting strategy' or 'betting system'. Almost all systems rely on some sort of points rating scheme where a team is awarded a certain number of points depending upon aspects such as home advantage, league position, recent form etc.
You must know the rules and regulations of the sport you want to bet on in detail before you develop a strategy. This means that you have to be a football fan already. It is a lot easier for those who have prior knowledge of the sport whether as a player, spectator, or a tactician. For those without prior knowledge, watching and analyzing football matches can help you learn the rules of the game quite easily.
There is no betting system that can achieve 100% success; however, some are far much better than others at predicting the outcome of games. One football season might see one betting strategy work and another fail, whereas the following season the roles can be reversed. For example, many punters study the rankings table in order to predict outcomes of games.
One punter might use a system which says that if the home team is 3 or more places higher than the away team, then he would back the home team to win every game. This may prove to be quite correct many times, but over the course of 2 or 3 seasons it would be guaranteed that he would be as effective as earlier. Of course to improve upon this system the punter would need to study current form, goal difference, injury problems in teams etc. and then balance this against the odds which are being offered to him.
Price percentage betting
The bookmaker earns his living through what is known as 'the bookies over-round'. There is no way to bet on all 3 outcomes of a game; win, lose draw and expect to win. The three different odds on offer usually know as price percentage, will work against you and eventually you will lose the bet. You must remember that in order to win money at fixed odds betting you must be able to guarantee long term profits.
The art of success is to guarantee a long term returns on bets. Successful betting on fixed odds football matches can be sound financial investment advice if you have a sound system.
In order to get good returns you need to gain an 'edge' over the bookie. 99.9% of amateur punters fail to do this for various reasons. You must a excellent knowledge of betting, football and statistics.
The do's and don'ts of football betting:
- Don't place a bet just because you 'fancy having a bet'.
- Don't waste money on high accumulator bets.
- Don't persist with losing systems.
- Keep a record of all the bets placed
By John J. Jordan
