Guidelines

 Several areas should be discussed in regards to helping you become more successful with your sports betting.​

​GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Before you get started with anything else, establish a set of goals and objectives as to what you realistically hope to achieve. Do you just want to have some fun and make a little extra money? Do you want to supplement your income and treat your betting as a more serious monetary commitment? Much of this depends on your bankroll, how much you can afford to lose and how willing you are to put in the time required. Don't deceive yourself into thinking that you can make a killing overnight. As I said before, sports betting should be conducted as an investment which will produce positive results over time if done properly.​​

​​RECORD KEEPING

Keep accurate and meticulous records of all your plays. Use those records to determine if certain plays aren't producing good results or vice versa. You obviously need to keep track of your bankroll and how much money you're up or down within these records.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

Under the right circumstances; parlays, teasers and other non-straight type bets can offer value if done properly. Money line parlays are a good example of offering great value under certain circumstances. Many sites have thorough explanations on the wisdom of betting or not betting into these and how to take advantage of situations that offer value with these types of bets.

​SYSTEMS AND TRENDS

A system can be defined as using key factors arising from past events that apply to any team when the same factors present themselves. A trend or angle is basically the same but they apply only to a specific team. There can be relevance to trends in the right situations but I'm more partial to systems. Relevant systems require research and record keeping to determine which systems hold up over time. Most of the time any system is more reliable the larger their historical database sample size. Systems that have the fewest parameters within them are usually the most reliable. In other words, it's best to keep these simple, straightforward and have a long track record of consistent results. It's also very important to note that any system should be considered only when combined with proper game analysis. If betting a system based game and you find one or several compelling factors that make that play questionable, don't bet that game. As the legendary sports bettor Lem Banker (RIP) once famously said, "They play the Star Spangled Banner somewhere every day."

I've found consistent systems in all the sports I handicap. Some are situation based and others are statistics based but all have very few simple parameters.