It is common knowledge that the betting public loves playing favorites. It seems the public has a short-sighted mentality that says they are betting on the better team when they lay points with the “chalk.” But is that really the right way to go? I say “no” and I will tell you why.

First, let’s look at this from a strictly law-of-averages perspective. If you bet the favorite, three things can happen and two are not good. The favorite could lose the game straight up or the favorite could win the game, but not by more points than you had to give up. The only way you win is if your favorite wins the game by more points than you had to give up. So there is a two-out-of-three chance that you will lose your wager.

If you back the underdog, three things can happen and two of those things are in your favor. The underdog could win the game straight up or they could lose the game, but by fewer points than you are receiving. So there is a two-out-of-three chance that you will win your wager.

Two scenarios are common in the football betting world. First, a favorite comes out and exerts their will on their opponent, getting out to a huge lead. But in the NFL, there are no pollsters to impress, so what is the favorite’s motivation to continue running up the score? The players do not care about the point spread. So many times, they “let off the gas” and coast to victory. Have you ever lost a bet by the dreaded “backdoor cover?”

The second scenario sees the favorite come out flat, with a lack of motivation against what they perceive to be an inferior opponent. Maybe the favorite is coming off a huge win against a division rival and has another rival on deck. The underdog (players are almost always motivated in the dog role) comes out firing and takes the early lead. Many times, the favorite will storm back and escape with the win, but not the cover.

By no means am I saying you should only bet underdogs, but it would seem to be a good idea to back an underdog in the right situation as opposed to betting a favorite just because they appear to be the better team. Remember, the better team does not always win and sometimes the team that appears to be the better team really is not.

Records can be deceiving. For example, Team ABC might be 3-0, but they played three teams that haven’t won a game. Team XYZ might be 0-3, but they played three teams that haven’t lost a game. Don’t get caught up in records.

Statistics can also be deceiving. For example, Team ABC may be scoring 30 points per game, but they played against defenses that are allowing 30 points per game. Team XYZ may be scoring only 20 points per game, but they played against tougher defenses that are allowing only 20 points per game. Careful analysis is always required. Do not take statistics at face value.

Many times the stats are skewed or they are not as they would appear to be. For example, Team ABC allowed 400 passing yards last week. But what the stat sheet does not show is that half of those yards were allowed in garbage team after the team was up by 28 in the fourth quarter. Again, thorough analysis is required.

In summary, you should not bet all favorites or all underdogs. True professional bettors wager on primarily underdogs because, as I mentioned earlier, in that scenario, two out of the three scenarios work in your favor. So while betting all underdogs is not the road to betting riches, it is a good idea to first look at taking the points.

Dwayne Bryant owns Bullseye Sports. He has been handicapping successfully for over 20 years. Dwayne provides free handicapper picks, including NCAA football expert picks. Dwayne’s free NFL football picks are some of the most sought-after picks among sports bettors worldwide.

Being successful in sports wagering is more complicated than just being able to pick more winners than losers. There are certain guidelines that one should follow to increase one’s chances of sports betting success over the long term. Let’s take a look at these sports betting principles.

Do not bet more than you can afford to lose. Sports wagering can be an enjoyable thing if done responsibly. Betting money needed to pay bills or run your household is a quick way to find yourself in divorce court and/or out on the street. Only bookies, psychiatrists and bankruptcy attorneys benefit when you bet over your head and lose.

You must manage your sports betting bankroll properly. Don’t chase your losses. Don’t try to get even on the last game of the day or the last day of the week. And definitely do not bet a game just because it’s on television. Remember that it’s impossible to make every day a winning one, but it is very possible to make every day a losing one if you’re not disciplined.

Watch out for “sure things.” The expression, “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is” comes to mind. If you see a line that looks way off, it may not be a bad idea to bet on the team the book seems to be leaning towards. After all, the major sportsbooks are very good at setting solid lines.

Don’t let injuries dictate your wager. The more starters on a team, the less one injury will have an effect on the team. Football has more than 20 starters, so one injury shouldn’t have a major impact on the game. The one obvious exception is if the starting quarterback gets hurt on a pass-happy team and the backup has no experience or a poor performance history. Injuries are much more important in basketball, where there are only five starters and usually only about eight players see significant playing time. If a book has a line on a game in which a key player is injured, keep in mind the book has factored that injury into the line.

Do not only consider a team’s last performance when handicapping a game. In football, a team that lost badly last week is very likely to practice harder and may face a team this week that is overconfident. Recent form is important, but you should always consider at least the last few games.

Be careful when using certain trends as a basis for your plays. For example, Team XYZ has lost 10 straight games on Friday. Do you honestly think that team is thinking, “Uh-oh. It’s Friday, so we’re probably going to lose”? On the other hand, if a team is 0-5 this season against teams with a winning record and they’re playing a team with a winning record, then that is a good indicator of the team’s true strength and should be taken into consideration.

If you can follow these sports betting guidelines, your wagering experience should be an enjoyable one.

Dwayne Bryant owns Bullseye Sports. He has been handicapping successfully for over 20 years. Dwayne provides sports betting picks and his college football predictions are wildly popular in the sports betting community. Dwayne is also known for his amazing win percentage with his NFL expert picks.

A bettor must win 52.4 percent of his wagers to break even. Some bettors who win more than 52.4 percent of their bets still end up losing money. Why? The answer is because they do not use proper money management. Money management is just as important as picking winners. Here are some simple (yet sometimes difficult to follow) tips on proper money management.

My first piece of advice is to have money set aside for sports betting. This should be an amount you can afford to lose. It should not be money you need to pay your mortgage, car payment, utility bills or any other money you need to comfortably run your household.

My second piece of advice is you should never wager more than five percent of your bankroll. There are going to be losing streaks, which are unavoidable. It’s the law of averages and it happens to everyone. By keeping your bet percentage low, you are keeping yourself in the game until your luck turns around.

My third piece of advice is you should wager the same amount on each game. At most, have two levels of plays. Maybe you decide to bet two percent on regular plays and four percent on what you feel are really strong picks. But whatever you do, stick with the percentages you choose.

That brings me to my fourth piece of advice, which is do not chase your losses. That means if you lose four percent on today’s game, don’t bet six percent on tonight’s game. This is the quickest way to bankrupt yourself and the bookies are counting on you to fall into this trap.

My last piece of money management advice as it pertains to sports betting is you should never drastically increase your bet amounts. For example, you went 3-0 today. You bet $100 on each game, so you’re up $300 going into tomorrow. Tomorrow rolls around and you pick three more games, but this time you bet $200 on each game. You end up going 0-3 today. Because you doubled your wagers, you lost $660 today, which makes your two-day total minus $360. This also ties into betting the same amount on each game, but the temptation to double-up is very strong when you’re hot.

Sports betting is not just about picking more winners than losers. Money management is extremely important if you want to steadily profit in this arena. Your chances of success are much greater if you can follow the aforementioned money management tips.

Dwayne Bryant owns Bullseye Sports. He has been handicapping successfully for over 20 years. Dwayne provides free handicapping picks on his website. Dwayne has proven to be an expert among college football handicappers. His free NFL picks have also made his clients a ton of money over the years.

With the Internet age comes many choices. Shop at the store or shop on the store’s website? Go to the bank to transfer funds or transfer funds online? One choice sports betting enthusiasts have is whether to place their wagers with a local bookie or place their bets with an online sportsbook. Let’s look at why this question has an easy answer.

First, when you sign up with an online sportsbook, you will get a sign-up bonus. These bonuses range from 10% up to 100%. So, for example, if you sign up and want to deposit $1,000, you can expect to have an additional $100 to $1,000 added to your account balance. So, for your $1,000 deposit, you could have up to $2,000 to start betting with. Not bad, right? If only my local bank had a program like that!

Online sportsbooks also offer reload bonuses, which work just like the initial sign-up bonuses, except the reload bonuses are for existing account holders. Each sportsbook has their own limits in regards to the amounts of these bonuses. When was the last time your local bookie gave you even one bonus like that?

Online sportsbooks also offer reduced vigorish or “juice” on certain days or during certain times. While your local bookie offers NFL sides and totals at -110, it is possible to get them at -104 or lower if you’re in the right sportsbook at the right time. Some even offer free bets at times through player reward programs. Think your local bookie has a rewards program for you?

Betting with your local bookie usually requires you to call him. While you can phone in your bets with online sportsbooks, you can also bet through the sportsbook’s website. How many times have you tried calling your local bookie five minutes before kickoff, only to get a busy signal?

Online sportsbooks also give you many options in regards to how you want to deposit and withdraw money. You can use a credit card, Western Union transfer, online accounts such as PayPal and Neteller, electronic funds transfers from your bank account, etc. I would be willing to bet your local bookie only deals in cold, hard cash.

There is one more reason why an online sportsbook is a better option than a local bookie. You have to deposit your money first. Most local bookies will let you bet whatever you want and then “settle up” at the end of the week. This way, it is far too easy to get in way over your head. By depositing only what you can afford into your online sportsbook account, you don’t have to worry about owing several times more than you can afford to lose.

As you can see, there are many reasons why an online sportsbook is a much better option than a local bookie. The internet is the home to many online sportsbooks, which mostly operate offshore. Take the time to do some research and you will find many online sportsbooks with solid reputations for bonuses and timely payouts.

Dwayne Bryant owns Bullseye Sports. He has been handicapping successfully for over 20 years. Dwayne provides winning sports picks and his free football picks are wildly popular in the sports betting community. Dwayne’s free pro football picks are some of the most sought-after picks among sports bettors worldwide.

If you watch any amount of poker on television you will see that the winning players win big. Even those who come in 8th, 9th, and 10th place in tournament poker walk away with a sizeable amount of money, unless it is a tournament where the final player wins the whole pot. Even though there are big winners, there are many more players who do not win anything. This could be the result of bad luck or a few bad plays. One of the main things you need to learn about playing in a poker tournament is that you will lose more often than you win. If you are willing to accept that and learn from any mistakes you make, then you could strike it rich in one of the tournaments.

Tournaments are never a waste of time if you are trying to gain more experience and build up your repertoire of strategies. The thing is that face-to-face tournaments do not run around the clock and you may not always be able to take part in one because of travel constraints or work commitments. If you put in a lot of time playing poker in tournaments, poker will become your job and that is how you will earn your living. Since you time is your money, you have to look at all your expenses as the rake you pay. The rake is the amount of your winnings that the house takes. This is one job where your skills will determine how much money you make.

Texas Hold’Em is the most common poker game played in a tournament. If you want to become a winning player at this game, you have to learn how to play solidly from blind positions. Good players play the second pair when it is good and fold when it is a losing hand. Attacking other players’ blinds is not a good a strategy as playing from the blind. If you have weaker players sitting at the table with you who also play from the blind, you can use this to your advantage. The more hands they play, the more likely it is that they will become frustrated and go on tilt. As you observe their level of play, you can do small things to encourage them to do this and then you can benefit from their loss.

When you are the underdog in a tournament, if a player raises your big blind and all the other players fold then you have a large pot advantage. You don’t have to win as many times to make such a play very profitable. You just have to be able to take more out of the pot than you put into it and this increases your chips. Every bet is extremely important so if you want to be a winner in a tournament, you have to watch the actions of the losing players and do things differently. All the other players are out to beat you and remember that consistent wins mean that you have to work hard.

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