What rookie mistakes should you avoid when betting on sports?

In a pastime as fast-paced and dynamic as sports betting, the difference between making a winning and losing bet can be incredibly slim. Although you might have spent hours crafting the perfect wager, drawing on years of experience to make what you think is the right selection, during a live sports game, something can happen that will render your finely crafted bet useless. And while this might always be a risk whenever you are dealing with a live sporting event, there are nevertheless a few rookie errors you can avoid to ensure you don’t make any silly mistakes when loading up your NJ sports betting app to place a bet.

Being biased towards your favorite team

One of the most common mistakes a novice punter makes when betting on sports is always to give preference to a favorite team. Although we aren’t going to deny that knowing a team and their previous playing history will be a massive advantage, you shouldn’t be overly optimistic in assessing their chances. The risk with always backing your favorite team is that you are more likely to determine their chances optimistically when thinking about what bet you want to place. However, in the sports betting world, it is realistic, rather than optimistic, bettors who tend to experience more success. As such, it’s important to recognize when you might be beginning to show a bias towards your favorite team.

Chasing your losses

Let’s face it; when it comes to betting, no one wants to lose. Unfortunately, in a game of chance and skill like sports betting, losing is simply an inevitable part of the game. Even the most skilled and experienced gamblers out there will, at many points in their career, lose a bet. Because of this unfortunate fact of life, you should avoid chasing your losses when you eventually do suffer a loss. ‘Chasing your losses’ happens when you continue to bet as a way of redeeming a loss, despite continuing to suffer more losses in the process. Chasing your losses is a quick way of depleting your funds. An easy way of avoiding this is to simply stop placing any more bets when you do suffer a loss. Instead of taking a loss as a signal to redeem yourself, take it as a sign that you need to stop playing for the day.

Not having a bankroll management plan

One of the biggest and most common mistakes rookie punters make is not having a bankroll management plan in place. Your ‘bankroll’ is how much money you have to play with in a particular betting session. A bankroll plan usually entails having limits in place for how much money you want to keep in your pot, how much you are willing to potentially lose, as well as minimum and maximum betting limits for individual wagers. Having a solid bankroll management plan will not only protect you from suffering too many losses but will also ensure you keep playing for a full session rather than cashing out early.