If you survive the assault course of these 10 Commandments of Gambling then you may have a chance of being successful with your betting activities…
There are no more than ten “golden rules” for gambling success and it’s certainly worthwhile to follow them.
Rule 1: Discipline
It doesn’t matter what type of gambling activity you get involved in be it Horse racing, Football, Poker, Roulette, etc., if you enter into gambling transactions without discipline then you are sure to reduce your chances of winning consistently.
If you have no discipline and no intention of inheriting any then make a vow to yourself never to gamble.
Rule 2: Never Chase Losses
If events are unfolding against you there is always a temptation to pour more money into the bet to try and force a profit. This tactic only increases the chances that you will lose more.
Likewise, adopting the strategy after a loss that you must recoup your losses by betting more on the next event is also a recipe for disaster.
Please seek professional help if you have this trait as it is an obvious symptom of ‘problem gambling’.
Rule 3: Staking Strategy
The one certain thing is that you will never win all of your transactions and some losses are inevitable. Managing your bankroll correctly means that these losing transactions get swallowed up in the big picture and are not noticed in the long run.
We advocate that no single transaction should eat more than 2.5% of your starting bankroll, or the maximum below this that you set yourself (depending on the probabilities to win). Failure to manage your bankroll correctly is symptomatic of greed.
Most gamblers have no structure to their betting activity and place bets without thought to how much they may lose or how much they are trying to win.
You need to act like a business and your goals need to be SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. Your staking strategy then needs to be structured to achieve these goals without variation.
Rule 4: Coping with Winning Days & Losing Days
How you cope psychologically with losses plays a huge part in how successful you will be at gambling. Of course, no-one likes to lose but you have to learn to walk away at the point you set yourself, whether you are losing or winning. Not every session will be a winning one and it is important to have the ability to deal with this before you gamble.
Rule 5: Specialising
All successful businesses specialise and gambling should be no exception. By specialising you will understand better and research more ably your particular chosen field. Fewer, more focused wagers based on sound statistics and research is a much better way of investing hard earned money than employing a scatter-gun approach. Look closely at your betting patterns and see which area is ripe for specialisation.
Rule 6: Research
Once you have decided upon your area of specialisation, it is time to research your market and where you will make your investments. The power of the Internet has made obtaining information easy and in a matter of minutes you can find out as much information as you require about your chosen market.
Keeping your own records and statistics is also an absolute necessity if you wish to take your gambling to the next level. Again it is all about how disciplined you are in researching your chosen field so that you can invest your money with the greatest chance of success.
Rule 7: Paper Test First
Once you have researched your chosen market and found a strategy in a specialised area, then test it on paper first without risking any money. If it seems to work 75-80% of the time or more, then start off for real with small stakes and build up in line with the staking strategy. Never risk money on an unproven idea.
Rule 8: Record Keeping
It is absolutely vital if you wish to take your gambling onto the next level that you keep accurate records of all your activity. Gambling is tax free in the UK but it is advisable to keep records should the taxman ever investigate the activity in and out of your bank account. Perhaps even a separate bank account is advisable for this purpose.
The other main use for record keeping is to keep track of winning and losing periods in order to make adjustments to your betting strategy and specialize even more to keep losses to a minimum.
Rule 9: Avoid Multiple or Accumulator Bets
Whichever market you wish to specialize in avoid multiples, accumulators or ‘parlays’ as they are known in the US. Combining the odds of multiple events looks attractive on paper but by increasing your possible win, you are at the same time lowering your statistical chance of ever seeing that win.
Bookmakers absolutely love greedy gamblers blinded by the big numbers who surrender their statistical chance of winning from the start. If you cannot resist placing an accumulator bet and the whole thing is relying on the last event to fall in your favor then you are better off guaranteeing a smaller win by ‘laying off’ or ‘hedging’. Don’t sweat it out hoping to be lucky (and we definitely speak from multiple painful experiences here!).
True betting is about cutting down the chances of losing, not increasing them. Any profit is good profit. Greed is not good.
Rule 10: Don’t Gamble Drunk
All the casinos we have ever visited offer free alcohol when you are gambling because they want you to lose your discipline, and they know that getting you drunk is the easiest way to do it (mine’s a Bombay Sapphire, chilled tonic and a slice of lime; no ice please!).
As the saying goes, “A fool and his money are easily parted”. A drunk fool is relieved of his money even faster and sometimes never realises how stupid they have been.
For any serious gambler stupidity should hurt mentally and/or physically to serve as a lesson. We can absolutely guarantee that every punter has acted without forethought at one stage or another: this is only natural and all part of the very steep learning curve.
Please understand that all gambling establishments rely on the stupidity and greed of their clientele for their business livelihood.
If you have survived the assault course of these 10 Commandments of Gambling then you may have a chance of being successful with your betting activities.