James has worked for the jockey club and has 20 years sports betting experience he utilises his skills in our tipster competitions and writes sports betting content.
The Argument For
Many people say that they never bet on their own team or that you should never bet on your own team but are they missing a trick or is this a rule that every punter should stick to?
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In nearly every case the team that you know most about is the team you support.
Usually, to get an edge over the bookies, you need to know more about what you are betting on than they do. Therefore it stands to reason that betting on your own team might actually be the best betting strategy going.
Now when I say betting on your own team I am not just talking about backing them to win, I'm more broadly talking about betting on their games.
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Most fans have so much information about their team that they really should have an edge.
As a supporter, you see much more than what the bare results and stats tell you and it would be almost impossible to do the level of ‘research' that you do on your own team and apply that to any other bets.
You are also up to date with all the information on injuries, team news, replacements, and tactics so perhaps the first match you look at in terms of placing a bet each week should be your own team.
As a Tottenham Hotspur fan, there are many games that on paper we should be winning, games at home this season in which we are pretty short odds to win.
However, as a fan I know we are horrific when it comes to breaking teams down that park the bus.
I reckon we've failed to score in at least a third of the games I've been to over the past few years.
Therefore I'd use the information I have about Spurs I know that when a team comes to North London and plays 442 with two out-and-out strikers, like Newcastle did last season, that they are going to get a serious drubbing!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_Tottenham_Hotspur_Stadium.jpg#/media/File:London_Tottenham_Hotspur_Stadium.jpg
The Argument Against
The big problem that comes with betting on your own team's games and particularly with backing your own team to win is that your heart can often rule your head and tell you that no matter what your team should be beating lesser teams, especially at home (where your team is probably short odds to win).
Most Spurs fans would have backed us to beat a team struggling, we really SHOULD be beating a team that is poor away from home and are many places below Spurs in the league.
If every team won all the games they should win then football would be a very boring game and it probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is.
Conclusion
Both sides of the argument have to be considered but it's hard to say only mugs bet on (or against) their own team because there are some great opportunities when it comes to betting on your own team's matches.
As long as you are considering all the angles and all the information you have then you should unlock the best bets, just make sure that your head decides what the best bets are, not your heart!
Have you had any great returns or betting horror shows from betting on or against your own team?
I'd love to hear about your betting coups and nightmares so we can really see how most OLBG members have got on betting on or against their own teams.
