by Scott Rickenbach, Players Advantage

One key to remember in sports gaming is that learning is a constant process. One should always gather as many facts and figures from their wins and losses as possible. This helps a bettor to have a deeper understanding of what truly is behind a winning streak as well as a losing streak. All bettors go through slumps and this includes the sharpest professional bettors in the world. It simply happens to everyone. For as sharp as we feel during a red hot winning streak, we can easily be made to feel human during a tough stretch. The key is to continue the learning process even during a slump.

A sports bettor will be better for understanding the underlying factors behind each win and loss. A guy that goes 2-1 one night may not have done as good of a job as the guy that goes 1-2. How can this be? It’s really rather simple. Let’s say the guy that goes 2-1 has one very poor effort with his losing play but gets lucky and cashes in his other two picks in dramatic, come from behind fashion. As for the other guy, for ease of argument, just say that he had the exact opposite sides of the 2-1 guy. He ends up with a 1-2 of course but look at how bad his beats were with the two losses while his one win was a no doubt blowout! This is a key process for all bettors to keep tabs on at all times.

A sports bettor must understand what is generating his wins as well as what is generating his losses. In mid-March I am currently going through a stretch where I am suffering a lot of tough beats late in basketball games. Sure, I have sprinkled in the occasional “clunker” but I have also had a lot of games where I have looked like I had the right side for most of the way only to have the cover “stolen” from me in the final minutes. This cycle happens to the best of us and it is one where a better understanding helps us to “stay the course”. When dealing with a tough stretch it is best to understand what is causing the losses. With this information one can best assess whether they are “on track” with their handicapping or if there are some issues behind what is resulting in the defeats (i.e. bad reads on certain teams, misperceptions about coaches, over or under valued scheduling situations, etc.)

Once a sports bettor takes a good, hard look at what is generating his streak, whether positive or negative, they will be better set up for staying on the right side of games going forward as well. Consider it a self-evaluation but it is one that doesn’t stop there and that is the key. The self-evaluation is what allows a sports bettor and/or handicapper to constantly refine his own handicapping abilities by understanding what has caused bad reads or what might be behind the last second losses. Bad beats and good beats do tend to run in cycles. The key is to understand how to properly “ride out” these cycles as well as how to benefit most from this self-evaluation in the future. This results in the best profitability going forward and yours truly has picked up on this first-hand…and you can too! Keep these pointers in mind throughout your sports gaming cycles and it will help you immensely. As always, best of luck in all your sports gaming from Scott Rickenbach.

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