Which strategy to choose for successful sports betting

As you go and dive through various betting opportunities and try to find the best betting welcome bonuses, it's worth taking some time to determine what your betting plans are going to be. Are you just going to look for a casual random bet? Or are you focusing on the play of consistent bets to try and reap long-term profit? Here we explore the differences between the two approaches. 

Short-term betting strategy

There are a couple of approaches to short-term betting strategies. A good example is just a betting plan for the FIFA World Cup. That’s a one-off tournament, where you can plan out your betting for the entire festival of football that is done in one month. 

Alternatively, a short-term betting strategy could just be wanting to have a bet on a weekend of Premier League football. You just want to make a couple of casual plays on the outcome of a couple of matches and nothing more. 

Long-term betting strategy 

This is where things are a little more serious and dedicated. A long-term betting strategy focuses on a greater span of time. It’s not making big extravagant bets like accumulators or backing outsiders in horse racing. 

A long-term betting strategy is designed to target more winning opportunities through a betting plan. It’s the accumulation of smaller amounts of profits over a longer period, maybe a full Premier League season for example, than just going gung-ho on random bets. 

Some differences 

In short-term betting, you are relying on a lot of luck for a one-off random bet to be successful and get you the returns you want. Luck is, of course, still involved in all forms of betting.

But it’s assumed that with a formulated long-term approach to betting, it becomes less of an immediate determining factor. Odds are usually a big difference too. Short-term punters tend to look for quick one-hit wonders of bigger odds, while the long-term player will recognise the value in shorter, stable odds.

Exposing your bankroll 

The bankroll that you need to have for your sports betting, is, arguably, more exposed to liability in short-term bets. That is because it’s commonly riskier bets that are being played. This is where a long-term betting strategy can be favoured.

Whatever your bankroll is for the day, week or month, only a small percentage of it, maybe 1-5% should be played as a stake on bets. It’s a plan to manage money instead of just digging into your pocket and throwing everything you have on short-term bets. For a lot of people, successful sports betting is a marathon and not a sprint.

Betting history length

You do need to take a look at the time frame of your betting strategy. Keeping a record of all your bets and their subsequent results will help to this end. If at the end of a month, you have claimed a 125% return on investment (ROI) then you could be relatively happy.

The odds the bets were played out as well have to be registered. Again, short-term betting plans usually rely on longer odds than long-term strategies.

What are some long-term betting strategies? 

As you look around you will see things like the Martingale and Fibonacci systems. These are formulations that will at some point promise to leave you with profit. But that is not the full picture with strategies.

You have to have the required bankroll at hand so that you can cover a big run of losses, or else you will just not recuperate your money. There are more attainable, approachable betting strategies around like hedge betting, arbitrage betting and matched betting.

Long terms bets v short terms bets 

There is one other angle here to consider. The value of long-term bets vs short-term bets. Long-term bets on something like the World Cup winner before the tournament has started gives punters big odds to play with, generally even among the favourites. 

This is where a nice blend of different betting options comes in. As the tournament starts to take shape, it’s possible to go and hedge that initial long-term bet with a short-term one, essentially taking another selection that is potentially looking like being title winners. 

In summary 

How you bet is a personal choice. It’s assumed in betting circles, the longer calculated approach is the better way to go. It brings the benefits of gaining experience and minimising risk outlay on bets. But still, the occasional short-term bet can be fun. 

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