| Betting (well, professional betting at least) is all about | | | | can affect this (such as players coming back from |
| beating the odds. You've got to be good at maths and | | | | injury, a team's star striker coming into form and |
| know a 'sure thing' when you see one. You've also got | | | | whether the team's opposition is playing well at the |
| to remove yourself from being emotionally attached to | | | | moment). |
| any particular thing and to make decisions based | | | | The main flaw with most bookies is that they only |
| purely on logic (this means not going with your guy or | | | | ever look at results only, which is natural considering |
| getting annoyed). Play to win but know that sometimes | | | | they are in the results business. However, lots of |
| you will lose. People love to play poker because if you | | | | bookies might not know the thorough ins and outs of |
| are good you can often beat the odds. | | | | the game, and the subtleties that go with it. By that I |
| Sports betting is different. With sports betting (and with | | | | mean that it is useful to know about football tactics - |
| soccer betting in particular) you've got to know good | | | | which teams play with tactic and what works well |
| odds when you see them, but you've also got to know | | | | against what. It is also useful to know how teams play |
| the teams and you've got to be able to predict | | | | differently whether they're home or away. With this |
| patterns in the game (such as when a team is about | | | | information you can hopefully beat the bookies! |
| to go on a winning run). There are so many things that | | | | |