To be a successful football bettor, you need to have a thorough knowledge of the sport. You also need to have all information about the teams, players and the latest happenings in the world of sport. If you think staying abreast with all this alone will help, you are partly mistaken. There are some psychological factors that work behind betting, which affect the outcome adversely. So, let’s take a look at those biases that you develop and how to overcome them to become a successful bettor.
Fight the desirability bias
While betting, it may happen that you bet in favor of the outcome that you want and not what the statistics reveal. This bias is okay for a fanatic who is watching the sport and betting on it only for recreational purpose. But if you desire to taste success as a professional football bettor, you need to beat the desirability bias.
Desirability bias arises when you have affinity for a certain team or a player. Your mind is still glued to the days when your favorite team was at the top and your favorite player was grabbing all the headlines. So, you want to bet only in favor of favorite team or player. It may result in loss. So, the safest strategy is to avoid betting on those matches which your favorite team is playing.
Don’t give in to averting loss at any cost
Loss is a part of the betting game and it is bound to occur at some point of time. Hence, playing too safe so as to avoid loss can adversely affect the thought process. As a result, as a bettor, you end up making wrong decisions and not try even those bets which could have given you a win.
To overcome the tendency to avert loss, you have to take two necessary steps. First, don’t chase the loss. If you have faced loss in some bet, chasing it and betting double the amount does nothing more than adding to the risk. If you are fearing too much that you will face loss, it is better not to bet because betting is always about taking the calculated risk. And if you have chosen to bet, then the best tipsters strategy will be to bet with a disciplined approach and practice bankroll management.
Overcome confirmation bias
Confirmation bias occurs when you stick to an outcome strongly thinking that this is the only outcome possible. It mostly occurs when a strong and a weak team are facing each other. The bettor is too sure in his mind that strong team only will win, and so, bets without probing further. But what if other factors are in favor of the weak team? So, the correct strategy to overcome confirmation bias is to oversee all factors prevailing and not make decision solely on the past records. However, there is no sure shot way to overcome the confirmation bias. It is just the way our brain is wired to think and make decisions. So, evaluate whether the risk is worth taking and go with the decision.
Focalism does affect betting decisions
Our brain focuses more on the information that seems more beneficial. If you come across a good spread, you are most likely to take it at its face value because it is going to benefit you as per your thinking. Even if you have a different spread initially, you start considering a good spread a good choice for placing a bet.
The trick to overcome anchoring bias or focalism is to review the whole situation again and from all perspectives. There is no certain way by which you can eliminate anchoring bias completely, but reviewing and identifying an overvalued bet can certainly help.
Availability bias can be set off with deeper reviewing
Our brain tends to believe a fact more that has happened recently and more often. If an underdog has won a game more recently or has done it often, it can simply be a trend worth not paying attention. But the brain is inclined to believe that the underdog will redo the magic again and so most of the bettors will support it. Further, herd mentality forces a bettor to do what others are doing.
The solution to this bias is difficult to find. It is because we don’t even realize that favoritism has crept in the decision-making process. So, the best solution is to review wholly before clicking the ‘buy odds’ button. The bettor can take into consideration a bigger sample size to ascertain whether the underdog is worth giving the attention or not.
Backing the underdog because of odd size
As a bettor, the aim is to maximize the profit. So, defying the odd serves the best opportunity to do so. Since going against the odd seems more challenging and thing of a brave heart, many a times, the bettor chooses to go against it. This may work in favor if there is value in the bet. The bettor has to recognize that value to proceed further.
It is not 100% wrong to do so. Sometimes, the bookmaker has inflated the odd or skewed it too much in favor of the favorite team. Hence, evaluating the reward and comparing it to the risk involved is an important tip to consider. The bettors can keep all the match conditions and off-field happenings in mind to decide if backing the underdog is worth the risk or not.
To conclude,
Biases are bound to creep in, and as a bettor, the challenge is to beat this tendency. Some biases have sure shot solution while others may not. Hence, it is advisable to learn bankroll management and bet in a very disciplined manner. Make the betting budget and stick to it so that you lose only what you can afford. There is house advantage also to deal with apart from biases. That is why, reviewing the situation with the help of advice available with tipster at footballtipster.net can be the best approach for tasting success as a professional football bettor.