Football Manager Expert and Political Betting Specialist across Exchange and Spread Betting Sites
We asked OLBG members for their best advice for footy tipsters.
Alongside this blog, we also created a brilliant article on football form assessment..
Ultimate Guide on How to Use Football Form
Hopefully, the tips and article will put you on the right path with your football betting.
Below are the top 12 pieces of advice from OLBG members.
All the members are regular football punters, who have been betting for a period of time.
We hope readers find them useful when betting on football.
Bigger Prices
Remember, higher prices often represent good value and a much higher chance of landing than the bookmakers suggest. Don't be afraid to consider these options for potentially more successful bets.
Most of the time, bookmakers' odds are determined by their 'book', a strategy that prioritizes their profit over the 'true' price of the selection.
The 'true' price is the actual value of the selection, often higher than the bookmakers' odds.
Feel free to go against the general public and most of the money. Bobslay
Master the Art of Value Betting and Maximize Your Winnings
Don't Back Your Team
Leave sentiment out of football betting. Many punters already support/follow a team or sometimes two teams.
When I worked in betting shops, I saw money being piled on teams every week only because the punter(s) supported those teams, especially if it was a live TV match.
It's crucial not to let sentiment or emotion drive your betting decisions. By maintaining a rational approach, you can make more strategic bets.
Remember, you can still show your support for your team without necessarily betting on them, especially just because they're playing on TV.
This can help you keep your emotions separate from your betting decisions.
Jim Brown
Value
Look for the best value. I know plenty of people who only place bets with the same firms regardless.
Always shop around for the best odds, why take 2/1 with your usual bookie when 9/4 is available elsewhere.
Use an odds comparison site or get yourself all of the decimal odds for every price and work them out yourself.
You might often see a 5 team accy that pays 3 or even 4 points more elsewhere, you might not think that a 6th of a point makes much difference but putting them in an accy does: 5 x 1/1 gets you £32 for your £1, whereas 5 x 11/10 gets you £40. Micko70
Best Bookies for Football Accumulators
Format
Rejig the regular format that bookmakers offer when displaying prices.
They tend to list the matches in alphabetical/time order, but try altering this using your own spreadsheets or your own document providers.
As an example you could view all the draw prices spread out across the leagues.
By viewing it this way our brains find it easier to collate the info and in my opinion easier to view stand out prices. Nors
Homework
More than anything, do your homework!
Look into injuries and suspensions. They can be a massive game changer, especially when it's a central player. The spine of the team is critical to team success. .Bunglevtr3
Types of Football Bet
Focus
Focus in much greater depth on a particular game.
There is nothing to stop you having a number of bets on the same game - quite often the research you do and findings/ conclusions that you reach is relevant to many bets.
For example, let's say the focus is on a team that invariably are low scorers but who are also in a poor run of form.
Should it also appear likely that their main scorer is going to be absent not only does the win for the opposition now look even more attractive , but this could open up a win to nil, to win both halves , both teams to score 'no' ,
It could further improve the chance of any first goalscorer bets, under 2.5 goals, handicap bets/ Asian bets/, correct score type bets.owlman
True Odds
Whenever possible use recent stats to determine the true odds for your selection and only place a bet if you are convinced that the bookmakers odds offer value over the true odds percentage that you have calculated.
Calculate your stake for each bet based on the margin you believe that the bookies are offering over your true odds for the selection, as it makes sense to increase the size of the bet as the odds move further in your favour.
Robmull
The Power of Odds Comparison: Ultimate Betting Odds Strategy Guide
Selections Before Price Check
One of the best bits of advice I would give would be to pick your selections before you look at any prices as this can influence you.
Once you have decided on who you fancy then look at the prices, and then decide if there is any value in backing them. Nicoista
Set Yourself A Fixed Betting Bank
Giving yourself a Fixed Betting Bank is something I feel is the essential first step in the process of forming a Strategy.
To achieve the ultimate aim of making profit you must know what betting funds you are starting with, whether you set yourself a yearly fund of say £2000 or just have a betting bank of £20 per weekend, whatever the Bank is you must fix the amount. tbuckley
Make Money Betting, Have a Betting Plan and Be Businesslike
Check The Statistics
At least h2h and the last 20-100 games, or even the last years/seasons, the more stats you can check the better informed you will be. sportenjoy
Avoid Multiple Bets
For me, it would be stopping the multiple bets + setting up an affordable staking structure for your single bets.
Look for bets which are backed up by the statistics but after finding a bet, check the team news and if there are major injury concerns then think about leaving that bet alone.Zipster
Using Statistics and Trends in Betting: A Strategic Guide
Put Time Into Finding The Right Bet
For example, several markets have exactly the same meaning but are often priced up differently even at the same bookies.
0.0 Asian Handicap is exactly the same as Draw No Bet, but I've seen a difference of 0.1/0.2 before - not much but why not take the extra money if you're confident.
joshdixon95
Horse Racing
We also asked OLBG members the same question in relation to horse racing betting.
