2016-17 College Football & NFL Basic Betting Mistakes to Avoid

Basic Betting Mistakes to Avoid

The 2016 College Football season is under way and soon enough, the new NFL season will be as well.

If you’re just diving into sports betting or need a refresher on some betting basics, here’s a quick “Do’s & Don’ts” ahead of the new football season. (Besides doing your homework before wagering on any game, of course!)

Do: Stay within your bankroll.

Betting an entire bankroll is something novice bettors do on a weekly basis. Resist the temptation. Bankroll management is crucial to making a profit throughout an entire season. Bet within your means and avoid the pitfalls of risking too much during a given week. Even professionals have losing weeks and even losing months, but they manage their risk by only wagering five to 10% of their bankroll in a given weekend during the football season. It’s a long year – no need to risk everything on two days of action.

Don’t: Chase.

If you didn’t like the Hawaii-San Jose State matchup during the week, why are you suddenly betting it at 11:30PM ET on Saturday night? Chances are because you lost during the day and now you’re trying to either get even or cut into the day’s deficit, which is a mistake. You’re going to having losing days. That’s one of the hardest things for novice bettors to come to terms with, but that’s the reality. The key is not turning a losing day into a catastrophic one in which you cannot recover.

Do: Track your bets.

Let’s say you have a goal to build muscle. So you head to the gym each day for a week and you lift weights for an hour each day. The next week you do the same thing, but because you didn’t write anything down, you can’t remember what weight you used the previous week. You can’t build muscle unless you get stronger and how are you supposed to get stronger if you don’t track your progress from week to week? The same concept applies to sports betting. Maybe favorites are costing you every week but you’re pretty good at spotting underdogs. Perhaps you’re horrible with sides but have had a lot of success betting totals. You can track your plays easily at BetBind.com, which is also a good to stay within your bankroll as well. 

Don’t: Go crazy with parlays or teasers.

Parlays offer a big payout, which makes them appealing for bettors that chase and wind up in a big hole because one winning parlay and they’re right back in the game. But understand that it’s hard enough to hit on one winning play, nevertheless two, three or four in a row. There’s a reason why sports books make parlays so enticing: Because they can be easy money for books. The same goes for teasers, which can be enticing because you can play with the points. The payouts aren’t as big as parlays, however, and you still have to hit multiple games in one wager just to win. This isn’t to suggest that you should never play parlays or teasers. Just don’t go overboard.

Do: Shop Lines.

When you go to the store, do you want to pay an inflated price on a product or find the best sale? Finding value doesn’t just apply to you as a consumer – it’s also crucial from a betting standpoint. Always make sure you’re shopping for the best betting lines. We at TheSpread.com have NFL and CFB Betting Odds pages that show the spreads and totals from five different online sports books. Most times those books will post similar lines but if you can find even a half-point difference, it could be the difference between winning and losing your wager.

These guidelines might sound basic to the experts but to novice and beginners to the sports betting world, reminder yourself of these Do’s and Don’ts before you place any wager on this upcoming football season.