Check List

So you’re thinking of embarking on a similar study to Greg? Or maybe you just want to dip your toe in the waters and see if you could really make a go of pro-gambling?

What I’m going to do in this article is look at a simple checklist of things you should be doing and tools you should assemble before you start.

Briefly, these can classed under the following headings:

• Preparation
• Placing
• Checking
• Recording
• Analysis
• Withdrawal

Preparation

During this phase you’re going to identify the markets you are interested in. This may be based on your past records of your own betting or on the results of a tipster you trust. You’re also going to want to note the frequency of bets, what time of day the bets will need to be placed – e.g. if you are betting on Baseball and the tips you are using come out an hour or two before the game, then be prepared for a lot of late nights if you live in the UK! Next you’re going to have to find which bookies/exchanges offer odds on the markets you are interested in. The simplest way to do this is to use one of the odds-checking sites. Three sites I’d recommend are:

www.oddschecker.com

www.betbrain.com

www.tip-ex.com

Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but depending on which market you want, you’ll probably find that one of the above suits you best. They’ll give you a list of bookmakers and exchanges that offer markets on your chosen area(s).

The next thing you need to do is to select a range of these and open accounts (if you don’t already possess one). Before doing so you’d be highly advised to check out the operations beforehand. It is rare, but it does happen that bookmakers go bust and the punter loses out. Also, some bookmakers may be very poor when it comes to the size of bet they will accept, or their customer service etc.

Two useful sites to consider when making your evaluation are:

http://www.sportsbookreview.com/

http://www.bettingadvice.com/showBookmakers.php

Word of mouth – i.e. taking advice from friends and colleagues is very useful in this regard – and what better way to do that than to ask at your favourite betting forum?!

Next you need to look at how many bets you likely to have simultaneously and what sort of yield you expect to have, as well as the average odds at which you will be betting. These, along with your risk tolerance will determine the size of your stakes – as we saw in our last article.

Placing

Before placing your bet it is essential that you shop around for the best prices. Using one of the odds-checking sites I linked above is a key part of this process. The other main aspect is recording the details of each bet. If you place a lot of bets and have a range of bookies, it is easy to overlook one. We’ll look in more detail at exactly what information you need to record in a later section

Checking

Bookies make mistakes. Not too often, but it happens. That can cost you money, so don’t fall into the trap of assuming the bookies will deal with the results correctly. Where you go will depend on what sports you follow, but some or all of the following sites might be useful:

http://www.livescore.com/

http://thebettingsite.racingpost.co.uk/

Recording

We could write a whole article on this (and just might some day!), but you can begin by asking yourself the following hypothetical question:

“If I was being paid to assess this person, getting a bonus for any flaws I could identify what information would I ask for?”

The exact information will depend on what markets you are using, but at a minimum the following needs to be kept:

• Odds
• Any commission rate being charged (if using an exchange)
• Market details/ Bet information
• Date
• Stake size
• Won/Lost
• Profit/Loss

Other information might contain the day of the week, he source of the bet, estimated fair odds, the ‘confidence’ you feel in the selection etc

Some people choose to record their bets manually in a notebook, but in this day and age I think you need to have them in electronic form to allow you to do the sort of analysis that pays dividends.

If you are competent in uses of databases you could code up something in that format, but a spreadsheet like Excel can do most of what you need fairly easily.

I like to split the ‘bet information’ into several hierarchies – e.g. if betting on football the first might be the type of market (e.g. 1X2, Asian handicap, over/under etc), while the second might refer to the country, the third to the league etc.

Analysis

Analysis is something that you should do periodically. See if you can identify any flaws or patterns in your betting - .e.g. do you do particularly well in some areas and not in others.

Do you do better at weekends than midweek? Do you find it hard to predict winners on clay tennis courts etc? If and when you identify a pattern then you need to try and identify the cause behind the problem (or success). Use that information to help you improve your betting. I guarantee you’ll notice the difference!

Withdrawal

You want to be successful, right? Well the measure of that is the profit you make. However, unless you take the profit and do something with it, you are just playing with numbers. Periodically identify targets and formulate action plans – e.g. when my bank grows by 50% I’ll take out half the profit and put it in my bank account for spending.