Controlling the emotions in sports betting is very important to make good decisions regarding your money and thus avoid losing everything.
Why is emotional control necessary in a gambler?
It is essential mainly because the lack of control has been the reason for losing money for most bettors, both novices and professionals.
Only by controlling yourself will you manage your bank well, better accept each loss, respect your betting system to the letter, know the limits that you have imposed for each of your bets, and better control their risks. And, above all, do not go crazy if you suffer from a bad or good streak. Also, you can visit the betting bonuses page to try your luck.
Create a betting system to guide you
Creating our betting strategy or system and defining it very well is essential to guide our bets.
In this way, no matter what state of mind we are in, we can choose the best selection for our bets if we follow our system as we indicate it. However, we do not recommend gambling at all if you are in an unstable emotional state.
Suppose you don’t have a defined betting plan. In that case, it will be easier for you to act on impulse or your emotions and choose your bets almost randomly, which will undoubtedly significantly reduce your chances of selecting the correct option.
At what times should I not bet?
Next, we will show you a table that represents the most common mistakes we make when betting.
Knowing about these errors will help you to identify them at the moment and not act based on what you feel, which will surely save you from making a very risky bet:
- Do not bet on your favorite team without first researching both teams and their chances of winning.
- Never gamble under the influence of toxic substances such as alcohol or drugs, nor when you are emotionally unstable as under a lot of stress or anger.
- If you lose a lot of money, wait a while before betting again because if you are frustrated, you will be more susceptible to making mistakes, which will make you lose more money, creating a very destructive vicious circle.
- Don’t be too ambitious and want to bet all your money on a single bet or make many selections for a combination bet. These are paths that sooner or later will lead you to complete failure.
Learn to manage and respect the stake of your bets
The stake is the risk determined for each bet and is usually represented in numbers from 1 to 10. It is something like an indicator of the confidence you have that a bet will be a winner.
The stake is used to determine the percentage of your bankroll that we assign to each bet to control risk better, reduce losses, and continuously increase your funds.
The number you select for each stake will represent the percentage of your bankroll that you will bet with.
For example, if the bet has a very low probability of being made, you will have a stake of 2 times a lot. Therefore, on this bet, you should bet no more than 2% of your total bankroll.
You must do this for all of your bets. Remember to update your bankroll data after each bet to correct the calculations according to your profit and loss.
How can you combat your emotional lack of control?
Now we know the most likely moments you will face when placing your sports bets online, but how can you take control of your emotions back?
Well, the first thing is to know yourself: In what moments do you usually lose control? For what reason? Are you irritated very easily? Are combination bets the ones that make you furious the most?
Analyze the moments in which you lose control of your emotions and develop a response plan to control yourself. Do something to relax you once you detect that your feelings are out of control. This could be going for a walk, taking a hot shower, playing a video game, or doing anything else that takes your attention and mind away from sports betting for a bit.
Two anti-virtues that you should avoid at all costs
Finally, we present two more mistakes that you should avoid at all costs when making your sports bets:
- Impatience. Many novice bettors hope to see results in the immediate future. However, a professional gambler prepares to win a constant amount of money throughout an entire season using a large number of bets.
Wanting to get results quickly can encourage you to take riskier bets that won’t end well most of the time.
- Be reckless. The recklessness comes soon after because if you lose significant amounts of money due to your impatient bets, it is very likely that you will try to get your money back as soon as possible by making even more dangerous bets.
If you are on a losing streak, it is best to stop and examine why you failed, adjust your plan and learn how to improve your bets according to these results. As we mentioned earlier, it is best to allow some time to pass before betting again.
Because of this, you must have great self-discipline and self-control. If you do not have these virtues, do not worry because they can be acquired and polished throughout your journey as a gambler. Realizing that emotions affect your bets is taking the first step.
Now you know better how to control the emotions in sports betting. We hope these tips help you grow as a player and make your bets more satisfying and safe from now on.