If you want to get a step ahead of the bookmakers when betting on football, you will need a solid betting strategy in place. We are going to share with you the best football betting strategies to use on the sport. Each strategy can be used to form the basis of your overall structure and hopefully we can point you in the right direction for long term success.
Betting Bankroll
It’s imperative that you only bet what you can afford to lose so having a betting bankroll should be the first port of call, and it is to last a season. You need to set a maximum amount that you are prepared to gamble within for the year. Even if that amount is small, it still means you will not get into financial difficulty.
Once you have your annual bankroll in place, divide it by 12 and that will be your monthly bankroll. The plus side to having a set cap is that you will be able to track your finances much more easily. Our top recommended online bookmakers can help you with your football betting strategy as you can set limits.
Staking Plan
Once you have your month’s bankroll in place, you then need to consider what way you will bet that money, and that means you will have a staking plan. This can be in the form of a percentage of your overall bankroll, or you can bet per point depending how strongly you fancy a bet. This is a very common system that is employed.
For example, if you really fancy something then you can have a 'maximum bet' stake, which might be five points. If €10 is one point for example, then this bet would cost you €50. You would only do a maximum bet if you are extremely confident. It's very important to have a staking plan or else you could lose your entire budget very quickly.
Take Stock
If you want to become a professional kind of punter, then reflecting on your bets every month is wise. It's important to take stock of your bets as part of your overall football betting strategy. You can do this by logging on to your account and viewing your betting history for the dates that you have selected.
The bookmaker will often show you your profit and loss history on the account so you can gather information and find out what bets are working for you and what one's aren't. It's not an easy thing to do looking at all your losing selections, but this is the only way you can improve as a punter. Weed out all the bad stuff and keep backing the good stuff.
Value Is Key
It's a phrase used widely in the betting world but what exactly is value and how can it be found? In essence, it’s when the betting odds are too big based on the probability of a selection winning. For example, if a football team can be bet at even money, this implies a 50% probability that this team will win the match.
It's up to you to determine what the probability of that team winning is, so if you think they have a 75% chance of winning, then the even money is deemed to be of great value. Always keep in mind that value is subjective, so just because you think a team is good value, another punter might think the opposite. This is why knowledge is key.
Market Movers
Another big strategy is to keep an eye on the markets and see what teams are being backed or what bets are being supported. Before a match, any odds comparison site will show you the movement in the markets as bets are placed, especially on the 1X2 markets and outright markets.
If you see a sea of red, this is an indicator that a team is moving out in price and are less fancied, and if you see a sea of blue, this means that a team is being heavily supported in the betting and that a lot of people fancy them. Reasons for these movements can be when team news emerges before kickoff and other factors like that.
Bet On Lower Leagues
As we mentioned earlier, knowledge is key and all of the big bookmakers have odds compilers for all the major leagues who are experts in that field, so it can be difficult to find an edge. However, when you saunter down to the lesser-known competitions and leagues, this can give you a massive edge as not too many people will understand that league.
For example, not too many out there follow the League of Ireland First Division. If you're a local Irish fan and know a lot about this league, you should have a massive edge on the bookmakers as they are often pricing things blind without information. Knowledge about team form, injuries, and playing conditions in these leagues is something you can take full advantage of.
Find The Best Odds
The great thing about BettingTop10 is we have so many top recommended bookmakers on offer and that means you will nearly always find the best price available for your bets. It's crucial to shop around for value for football betting as a small edge on every bet will add up to a significant edge over the course of months and years.
Odds can vary significantly between bookmakers, especially when you fancy something at decent odds. For example, if you fancy a team who are 3/1 with one bookmaker, but they are 4/1 with another firm, that is a 25% difference in price. Sign up to as many of our bookmakers as possible as that means you will have more options.