Submitted by rsteel on
Keep accurate records of your bets. Document the logic behind your bets. Reviewing the outcome of your bets after the fact is almost as important as your initial handicapping that led to the bet. However this post game analysis must be performed objectively eliminating the sour grapes about a bad call or a player that let you down etc. etc. Did you win based on solid handicapping? Did the game play out the way you thought it would? Did you win despite yourself or did you incur a bad beat? Be honest with yourself. This is how you improve and stop making the same mistakes over and over again.
Accept the fact bad beats are inevitable. They will never go away and they do not even out.
Sports betting is a very complicated decision making process. Anytime I hear someone being overly confident about a bet is the time I tune them out. There are NO locks or games of the year. There are no star systems telling you who or how much to bet. Follow those types of systems and you will find yourself sleeping under the stars. How you handle bad beats and losing streaks goes a long way to determining your success in this business.
The best hitters in baseball fail 7 out of 10 times at bat. The best in this business fail 45 out of every 100. Do not try and fight it you cannot beat the laws of probability over large sample sizes. However at a 55% win rate over the years you are making a substantial profit.
Sweat the games as they are taking place I do, once the results are final take 5 minutes to celebrate or complain learn from it and move on.