The Ultimate Guide to Football Betting Strategy
With the right strategy and prep, you'll be ready to bet on football like never before.
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Every day there are hundreds of football matches going on around the world across dozens of leagues from over 100 countries.
The best football betting sites will cover the vast majority of them meaning endless opportunities. But successful football betting isn’t as easy as it seems. You’re going to need to put in place one or more football betting strategies that have been proven , you also need to know important football betting rules to be successful. Here are some of the best football betting methods.
Top 10 Football Betting Strategies to Maximize profits
Focus on one league
A big mistake that lots of football gamblers make is to try to be an expert on too many different leagues. No-one can master 4-5 different leagues in terms of knowing everything about the teams, stadiums, trends and style of football; so, it’s better to master one, than not master any of the 4-5 you’re betting on.
Specialise in fewer betting markets
The same goes for trying to be an expert on too many different betting markets. The odds, research and details of an over/under 2.5 goals market is very different to that of a first goalscorer market so as obvious as it sounds, knowing one market inside out is easier to cash in on, than on several ones.
Always get ‘best price’
After doing your research, you decide that Chelsea v Liverpool will definitely be an ‘overs’ bet on the over/under 2.5 goals market. So, you bet at the first bookmaker you have funds in, at any price, right? Wrong.
The best football betting strategy in this case is to find which bookmaker is offering the highest odds on that particular outcome. If you already have an account with them, so much the better. If you don’t, it may be worth opening an account with them. An over 2.5 goals bet at 2.1 with Bookmaker A is very different to an ‘overs’ bet at 1.8 with Bookmaker B.
Have accounts at several bookies
Getting ‘best price’ is one reason why it’s worth having numerous betting accounts but it’s not the only one. Other reasons include: some bookies having leagues, betting markets and products that others don’t, such as livestreaming and stats that could help you with your football betting. By having several accounts, the smart money is that one of your accounts will have what you need.
Use the bookies’ money
And here’s yet another reason why it pays to have several bookmaker accounts: you’ll get more bonuses to use. Free bets and risk-free bets are good examples of bonuses where you’re using the bookies’ money to place bets rather than your own and the more bonuses you have, the less of your own cash you’re risking.
Side markets have more mistakes than the main ones
Wrong prices, where the odds offered are higher than expected, is far more likely to happen on a side market like team corners or player shots on target than the match winner or over/under 2.5 goals. That’s because bookies put more effort into pricing up the most popular markets than the side ones. So, look to the less popular ones to find wrong prices.
Don’t delay in placing your bet
This doesn’t just come under the category of the best betting method for football, but for all sports, such as cricket. If you see a price that looks too good to be true, don’t let that get in the way of placing your bet. Strike the bet as soon as you see it and before the bookie slashes the odds on it, when they realise their mistake.
React quickly to team news
Bookies are ‘on the ball’ when it comes to team news but maybe not as quickly as you! If you find out by whatever means that a player who is normally as defender is playing in midfield that day, you might be getting a bigger price than you normally would. Similarly, a midfielder playing as a defender might be available at good odds to get a booking.
Accas and Bet Builders are best left alone
Sorry, but it’s true. Though accas and Bet Builders (BB) are fun to play and can offer big returns when they win from time to time, they’re not your best football betting method. Not only is it the case that there’s often one leg that lets you down when playing them but the house edge on an acca/Bet Builder is applied to all selections in the acca/BB. So, the payouts are actually considerably lower than they should be.
Bide your time and bet in-play
If you have the chance to watch some of the match and bet in-play instead, use it. Bookies don’t always react so well to what’s actually happening after kick-off and instead rely on stats. If your eyes are picking up on what might happen better than the bookies’ eyes, wait for good in-play opportunities.
What is the best betting method?
It’s one we haven’t mentioned. The single best football betting strategy is to bet based on betting value.
This means always betting at higher odds than what a selection should be. If you think Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes should be a 2.2 chance to score in an English Premier League match and is available at 3.0, he’s a great value bet because the returns are far bigger than they should be. Consistently getting betting value means bigger payouts on all wins and your best chance to long-term profit.
Which strategy is best for football betting?
All the football betting methods mentioned above will help you when betting on football and the more of them you follow, the greater your chances of success. Some are more important than others but getting betting value is King among them.
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