The new season

THE NEW SEASON.

The new football season is almost upon us. Time to make our Seasonal Resolutions. (Again).

1. DISCIPLINE. Without it you’ll be amongst the 98% (at least that’s the figure bandied around the forums, etc) who make a loss with their betting. You do need discipline. No matter how hard it is to pass over a possible bet. If it doesn’t meet your criteria, LEAVE IT ALONE. I speak from recent experience. I haven’t had a bet this month, simply because one or more "pointers" have been wrong. I’m suffering withdrawal symptons but had I bet those games which I checked over, I’d have lost money, in the balance.

2. STAKING. You must have a Money Management plan. If not you’ll start chasing losses (if you’re unfortunate enough to pick a loser or two).Or maybe, after a winner two, you’ll feel you’re on a roll and start increasing stakes, hapazardly. Don’t do it.

3. RECORDS. Keep detailed records of your bets. If you’re useless at spreadsheets, like me, keep a handwritten record. Keep as much  detail as possible. Sooner or later, you’ll notice patterns emerging, study them and  put them to good use in the future.

4. STRATEGIES. Have more than one strategy available, all the time. Often you’ll find one will have a good run just as the other isn’t doing too well.
I refer to STRATEGIES  rather than SYSTEMS. Systems have rigid rules but strategies allow a certain amount of personal leeway in assesssments. Just DON’T deviate from a FUNDAMENTAL RULE.

5. RESOURCES. Do make use of the abundance of websites and stats that are out there. This site recommends nine stat sites and there are so many others out there, that you have no excuse for not being able to advance your strategies with just a little applicaction from time to time.
The type of STATS I have in mind are those which will be useful for some of the basic strategies.

UNDER 2.5 GOALS.
SERBIA SUPER LEAGUE. 67% of their matches ended UNDER 2.5 GOALS.
FINNISH YKKONEN 62.2% UNDER 2.5 GOALS.
Closer to home
IRISH PREMIER LEAGUE 60.4% UNDER 2.5 GOALS.

This is the type of stat which can give you an EDGE. Without an edge you’ll find it hard to better the bookie. Don’t forget to use ODDS COMPARISON SITES.That extra TWO TICKS, or maybe more, on the price can mean the difference between profit  and loss.

Use HISTORICAL DATA to your advantage. Don’t be afraid to go "against the crowd" if history tells you, that you have a more than even money chance of success.

During the coming weeks, I want to look at the popular and not so popular strategies to see if they stand up to scrutiny or if it will  be possible to update them in any way. I will also expound my own ground rules for general football betting and try to pick the brains of the "experts". There is also a strategy that I am working on at the moment. Over six weeks there have been thirteen bets with ten winners. With refinement this would have been twelve winners. Hopefully there will be something for everybody.