We welcome Neel Shah to the Before You Bet writing team to share his experience with sports betting strategies and psychology as he helps you to improve your punting, find value and maximise your sports betting profits!
Following on from our article on 5 tips to avoid getting banned from an online sportsbook, here are a few more tips to help prolong your bookie shelf life and keep your sports betting account running as long as possible.
1. Embrace the Multi
Bookmakers love customers combining bets together into a multi. A multi offers the lure of bigger odds but from the bookie’s perspective, the more selections there are, the greater the chance that one of them will lose.
However, if you think you have an edge on a few bets, then rolling them into a multi is not a bad way to increase your betting volume with a lower bankroll, and will fly under the radar more than separate singles bets. You can mix it up though, have a small sports or horse racing multi every weekend to keep your account looking very recreational!
2. Same Game Multis
A lot of books now have Same Game Multis - this is a product that allows you to combine multiple events in a sporting contest into one single bet. Again sportsbooks love punters who use these bets as they are generally harder to land.
However if you do your homework, you can usually create a few good value selections that can be rolled together in this way. It’s a good way to disguise your strongest bet by combining it with something very likely to come in, and will mask the strength of your betting abilities!
3. Bet on Liquid Leagues
If you’re staking $500 on a Mongolian 3rd Division match because someone on Twitter has told you half the team is out with COVID and the bookies haven’t clocked on yet, then the bookie will red flag you fairly quickly. If you’re betting on big, high profile, global leagues like the top US sports or big European soccer leagues, then bookies will be happier to take bigger stakes and see your bets as recreational. Although these markets can be tough to beat, sometimes public opinion will actually overrate one team/individual over another and you can find some good opportunities.
4. Avoid Betting Early
If you spot a price that seems too good to be true when the betting lines open, it usually is. Bookies will have plenty of time to look through at the accounts who took advantage. If you’re consistently betting early prices, you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Most recreational bettors will bet closer to the run up to a game, so if you’re trying to avoid your account getting looked at, then try and bet as close to the event as possible. You might lose some value along the way but if keeping your account is a priority then betting early is best avoided.
5. Show Some National Pride
If you’re from Australia, bookies will be curious why you’re betting on UK horses or greyhounds and vice versa. Sticking to local events will help you blend in with the casual punter crowd. If you’re a local of a particular state, city or town, then betting on a particular team to win each week will mark you as a fan and will further your case as a recreational punter.
6. Save your big stakes for televised events
Live events that are televised are great for disguising big stakes. The bookies will know plenty of people will be down the pub or watching with mates and probably sharing wagers. If you’re putting big bets up to an hour before kick off, limits will be more generous and the traders will be far too busy to spend any time looking you up.
7. Avoid staking to max market limits
Although you want to maximise an edge where possible, try to avoid going over 75% of the market limit. A good way of doing this is using Pinnacle to see available stake limits. This will give you a general idea of what kind of liquidity is in the market and how much you can get away with staking before being flagged.
Neel is a pro punter based in the UK and currently working on a course on value betting and raiding the bookies wherever he can. You can find him on Twitter @mybettorlife
