Be emotionless
Sports betting and emotions don't go well together. If you're considering betting as a primary or secondary source of income you'll need to ditch the emotions.
I went 0-5 on my NBA bets last night and didn’t experience an ounce of stress. I also watched zero minutes of NBA basketball. Part of the reason there is that Bachelor In Paradise is on on Mondays, but the primary reason is that I don’t watch games I bet on. I also don’t bet on games I know I’ll be watching.
I’ve placed bets on games I went to before (and some pretty large ones at that). The result is always the same, win or lose: I fidget around in my seat hanging on every pitch/shot/snap. You’d think the emotional reward of watching your bet win in-person is worth it, but for me it just isn’t. I’m not capable of decoupling my bet from my viewing experience. So my solution? Enjoy the games I watch purely as a spectator, not as a bettor.
As a matter of fact I don’t even check my scores apps while my bets are going. I’m pretty superstitious about that but the main reason is I hate the wave of rage that goes through my body when I see a bunch of red X’s next to my bets. It makes me feel like a total dummy even though I know the bets were good. Then the hindsight bias begins and all of a sudden I have myself in a mental pretzel wondering what I did to get on the bad side of the gambling gods (praise be unto them).
So I don’t watch OR check on the games I bet. That’s my personal solution and it pays huge dividends both mentally and financially.
If you have a system or model with a proven edge you cannot let emotions get in the way of your betting. The more you live and die with each bet the more you’ll feel like the world is out to get you and the more you’ll be inclined to chase losses or stake recklessly. I’m as guilty of these things as anyone, but I’m able to recognize when I start to go on tilt and I’m able to reel it back in. Then I can refocus and bet only when I have a real, solid, calculable edge.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t place a wager to feel invested in a game or to enjoy it a little bit more. Some people are able to do that and love sweating out a bet. I am not one of those people and have had to adjust. But there’s a major difference in betting casually for pleasure and abandoning the proven wisdom of your model because of your emotions. When the model says to bet, you can’t second guess it… you just have to bet.
The other difficult thing that you have to come to terms with is that you are going to lose a lot of bets. I don’t trust you if you’re not losing a lot of bets. Everyone loses a lot of bets, it’s just part of the game. You can’t let losing streaks destroy your will to keep betting (though you can use losing streaks as opportunities to re-evaluate your inputs and calculations). If you ever hit a losing skid and need some motivation just watch Rounders and you’ll be ready to get back out there in no time.
It’s impossible to be completely emotionless when you’ve got bets going, but it is possible to control those emotions and not let them dictate your betting/staking patterns. In fact, if you want to sustain betting profitability, you must get those emotions under control.
So my advice to you is to find out what makes you tick when you’re betting. Bad beats are inevitable, as are blowout losses. Do those bother you to the extent that you’re just not having fun anymore? If so, you might want to stop watching games you bet on, like me. Maybe you find yourself unable to enjoy watching your favorite team because you bet on/against them. My advice in that situation is to abstain from betting your team’s games. There’s no shame in taking one option off the board because you’re unable to look at the numbers without any bias. The moral of the story is to figure out what allows you to remove emotion from the equation and do it.
It’s easier said than done but your life will be a lot less stressful once you figure out a system that works for you.
(Everything above is focused on negative emotions, but positive emotions can have a negative impact on your betting results as well. A hot streak can cause a person to bet recklessly because they feel invincible. You need to be aware of these emotions as well.)
Content recommendations
A colleague sent this article to me a few weeks ago. It’s probably just a better version of what I just wrote, but if you’re still reading here it means you already read what I wrote… so ha!
Anyway, it’s called How To Remove All Emotions From Trading and it does a really good job expanding on what I just wrote.
Quote of the day
The title of this one is very loosely based on this legendary quote by Bruce Lee. It applies to just about everything in life so interpret it however you please.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.
That’s all from me! I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, so thank you all for the patience. With MLB season over (which takes up almost all of my professional life) I’ve suddenly got a lot of time on my hands. I’ll try to write more often and think of some new ways to make money betting on sports!
As always, if you’ve enjoyed article this please feel free to share it and subscribe if you haven’t already. Talk to you all soon!