Football betting strategies – detailed guide

You don’t have to rely blindly on intuition or luck to achieve a certain goal – it’s always better to have a clear plan to follow. Despite the general perception that betting on sports is more a matter of luck, several rules can be used to increase the chance of winning several times over. Sports betting is a serious enough field, it is important to decide on your strategy. If you make decisions impulsively and only rely on intuition, then success will be very difficult to achieve. In the article, readers will be able to familiarise themselves with the most effective betting strategies from our experts, which significantly increase the chances of winning.  

Betting on football: strategies

First a bit of general information about the so-called betting strategies. There is no doubt that sports betting, and in particular football betting, is the most popular in this industry. This sport has a large fan base all over the world, the competition itself is watched by millions of spectators, and daredevils place bets on the outcome of the game to earn extra money.  Those who do it for fun usually bet on their favourites: there are only two possible outcomes. Either a person will experience the joy of victory together with his team and get extra money, or he will lose together with his favourite team. Another thing is when it comes to betting professionals. Often they have their strategy and have a lot of information about the condition, composition and capabilities of this or that team. Of course, it is worth mentioning that no tactic can guarantee 100% results. The result of the game can be influenced by many external and internal factors, which sometimes simply cannot be predicted. Therefore, experts still do not recommend playing sports betting as the main source of income. However, additional income – is quite realistic if you use some rules and possible variants of strategies. Below we will discuss in detail the main tactics of betting on football, which have proven their effectiveness.

Betting on a draw

It is commonly believed that when making a bet, it is necessary to choose one of the teams, which in the opinion of a person should win. But if you consider the statistics of football matches, you can notice a pattern: a high percentage of games that ended in a draw. However, before applying this practice to a particular game, it is still necessary to find information on the results of the games of the teams in the season, perhaps a more detailed look at past matches, as well as collect information about the composition of the team – injuries and disqualifications. It is also worth paying attention to the bookmaker’s odds – if it is underestimated, there is a high probability of a draw. In this case, you can test such bets. First, you will need to identify the matches that have the highest probability of ending in a tie and with favourable quotes. After that, you can make a system of 2 out of 5. If everything works out and the number of such games enters the selected segment, then a person will be able to earn extra money on the game.

Bet on the first half

The main idea of the tactic is to bet on the victory of one of the teams in the first half. The effectiveness of this strategy is because, according to experts, most of the teams maximise their efforts in the first half, trying to earn a lead in the score. However, by the second period, they may be tired and play not so well, or even give the victory to the opponent. This strategy is suitable in case of betting on a team, in a game where a person is confident and has potential.

Martingale strategy

This strategy is used not only in predicting football matches but also in gambling. It consists of a simple rule: after a loss, you should double your bet, and in case of a win you should return to the minimum bet. According to the theory of probability, this strategy is a win-win if you take many bets as a basis. However, this is also its disadvantage. For such a large number of bets, you need a good deposit to win back all your losses.

Betting on the leader

It is no secret that in any game there are favourite teams. If one of these teams takes part in the match, the bookmakers may underestimate the odds. That’s why “bet on the leader” has the highest winning percentage, but the prize itself will not be as big as you would like it to be. The risk in this case is minimal. There is another variant of this strategy, which implies a complete combination of bets within the coupon. However, in this case, the possibility of losing your money increases.

Money way

A very simple way to decide on your favourite: the online software analyses which outcome most people have chosen, and then the punter just must choose the same outcome to bet on.

Forecasting

This method already has a mathematical basis. Some formulas help to determine the approximate outcome of the match. In this case, different calculations are used for the “home team” and the “away team”. In the first case, it is worth using the formula A + B/2 = C. In this formula, “A” is the number of goals where the home team scored on average over the last season, “B” is the number of goals conceded by the opposing teams, and “C” is the probable prediction. The following scheme will work for the second team: K + L/2 = C. In this case, K is the number of goals scored by the team in the last season playing the home team, L is the goals conceded by the home team during the same period, and C is the predicted result. Once the predicted results are tallied, you need to bet on the team that has it more.  

Dallas tactics

This strategy can be used in betting or betting. Its main objective is to bet on the individual total of the outsider team, which will be less. The quotes will not play any significance here. It is enough to analyse the recent results of the teams in the games, as well as to determine their advantages and weaknesses on the field. After that, it is possible to single out a clear favourite. You should bet only after the match has started. It is better to choose the moment 20-25 minutes after the start. By this time it will be necessary to bet on the individual total of the team, which is sure to lose. Most often outsiders do not score even one goal (we should not even talk about two), so it will be necessary to make a bet that will be less than 1. The main thing in this strategy is to wait for time.

Betting with “forks”

To use this tactic, it is necessary to look at all the quotes of bookmakers for the selected match and choose the highest odds predicting a win for one team and the other. Once such companies are identified, then it is necessary to make appropriate bets on two possible outcomes. Such patterns will be called “forks”, but to find them you will have to spend a decent amount of time. If the player has a small deposit at his disposal, the winnings will not compensate for the resources spent. For this purpose, there are online services in the network. They help to find “forks” with the help of full monitoring of bookmaker’s offices. Unfortunately, such services are not free. They frequently require a simple registration, as well as a monthly fee for their services.

Calculator

To check whether it is reasonable to use a particular “fork”, one can use special mathematical formulas. For example, S = 1/K (1) + 1/K (2), where the variables have the following values: S – the coefficient showing the presence of a fork, K (1) and K (2) – the odds on the victories of one and the other team in the BC. The indicator of the feasibility of the choice is the value of S, which is greater than one and then you can confidently bet in these offices. If the coefficient is less than 1, then the “fork” is not found. To demonstrate this clearly, here is an example of such a calculation. For this purpose, it is worth calculating the match between Inter and Fiorentina. Let the first bookmaker offer odds of 1.6 and 2.55 for Inter and Fiorentina wins respectively. The second BC offers in the same correspondence quotes 1.4 and 2.8. Next, according to the formula check whether there is a “fork”: S = 1/1,6 + 1/2,8 = 0,63 + 0,36 = 0,99. If this result was less than 1, the investigator can conclude that there is no “fork” here, so it is not advisable to bet. Among experienced bettors, this strategy is the most effective. Also, when using this tactic, you can calculate the value of the bet, which will allow you to get a fixed profit. To do this, use the following formula: C2 = (K1 + C1)/K2. In this formula C1 is the amount of bet on the first coefficient (determined in advance), C2 is the amount of bet on the second coefficient (it must be found), and K1 and K2 are the bookmakers’ odds. After the bet on one coefficient is calculated, then using this formula you can calculate the second bet to get income in any case. Of course, the search for a “fork” is a very complicated and costly process, and their use cannot be called a fair strategy. However, despite this, many professional players adhere to this strategy.  

System

Such bets are a complex system that includes several expressions and different events. This tactic is used not only in football but also in other sports. In this case, you can include in one coupon several matches that are not related to each other, and you can also bet on other sports (hockey, tennis and others). To understand how this strategy works, it is necessary to analyse several variants of different events by example. As an example, we will choose system 3 out of 4, which consists of four football matches, that were completely different and unrelated. On average if the prediction works, you can win up to $16,000. In theory, the bets can be much more. Next, the calculation of the whole system is considered in detail. So, the following matches and their predictions are given in The example: Team A and Team B – draw – odds of 3.3; Team C and Team D – Team D wins – odds of 6.00 Team E and Team F – Team D wins – odds of 1.03 Team G and Team H – Team G wins – odds of 1.25  As expressed, a person has the following data: I + II + III; I + II + IV; I + III + IV; II+III+IV. In case the outcome is not guessed, all groups where it was specified will be lost, while the rest will be won. Visually it looks as follows: I + II + III – lost; I + II + IV – lost; I + III + IV – wins (three odds 3.3 x 1.03 x 1.25 = 4.25); II+III+IV – lost. Since, according to this tactic, the amount of the bet will be distributed among all expresses, it will be $250 for each of them. If we calculate the winnings, it will be $1298. Excluding the initial bet, the income will be in the region of $298. However, sometimes even professionals can’t win using aggregate bets if they take an ordinary express coupon with different outcomes. The problem is that if you bet on 8 outcomes, and only 7 of them win, the whole coupon loses because one outcome was not guessed. The tactics of the system allow you to hedge such cases, so as not to lose the whole bet.

Football strategies from professionals

According to statistics, most bets at bookmaker’s offices (and it is estimated that about 95% of them) lose despite all the winnings of other players. These remaining 5% include professional players (or handicappers), who raise decent amounts of winnings.  However, most of these experienced players are not in a hurry to share their secrets. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find out their tactics. But this is where such professionals make their money. Experienced handicappers are ready to sell predictions.

Betting on specific matches

But despite such secrecy, it is worth realising that any author’s strategy is based on basic tactics that are openly available on the net. For those who love sports and dream of earning money on betting, there are some simple recommendations:
  • You need to understand the sport in which the punter wants to bet, as well as a good grasp of the latest relevant news
See more of the tactics mentioned above, as well as explore others; – Identify tactics for yourself, perhaps to develop your patterns that other players are not aware of
  • Develop your strategy based on this
  • Try it out on small bets and make your adjustments
  • Analyse the possibilities of your “bank” and distribute it considering possible losses
  • Once you have a successful strategy, you should not share it with everyone.

To summarise

Having considered all the popular strategies, we can conclude that they have both advantages and disadvantages. When deciding on a strategy, it is necessary to keep in focus the fact that none of them will give 100% results. Tactics can only help to increase the chance of winning, but not insure against losing money.  It is better to choose the most effective strategy for yourself and follow it throughout the game. If it is still difficult for a beginner to analyse information, choose tactics and make some conclusions on his own, the best way out is to use forecasts made by professionals. What distinguishes professionals from amateurs? It is, of course, the desire to take risks, the love of gambling and betting, but also the ability to analyse and think outside the box. That is why all the strategies of experienced players are so unique, with most of them based on mathematical formulas. But of course, sometimes it can just be a matter of luck.
Sports betting from our team of predictors
Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson, a London-based journalist with 15 years of experience, is renowned for his deep knowledge of sports betting. His passion for football and analytical mind enable him to create accurate match predictions. Thompson regularly publishes articles revealing the intricacies of bookmaking. His ability to interpret statistics and assess team form is highly valued by readers and fellow professionals alike.