Sports betting patience and discipline are vital to any successful betting strategy. Here, we are going to help you master and apply these skills so you can make even smarter bets.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with just going with your gut and hoping for the best – maybe that’s your betting style, after all. Having fun should be the main focus, and this might occasionally lead to success.

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Truthfully though, that is usually not the case, especially long term.

Patience and discipline in betting is often what separates the casual bettor to one who takes things a little bit more seriously. Even if you are a casual bettor, we believe that not only will utilising a touch of discipline and a dash of patience increase the chances of your bets being successful, but you may also find yourself enjoying betting more than ever.

Patience in betting allows you to view the sport with greater strategic appreciation for what is going on in the ring, on the field, or wherever that sport calls home.

Getting to know as much as you can about your favourite sports and markets is simple in concept – all of that information is out there.

However, doing so requires patience and discipline in betting. Research is the name of the game, and what is relevant depends on what you are looking to learn about. Let's say you intend on betting on an upcoming football match.

It would be wise then, to look at the form of both teams in the past several months; watching as many games as possible is also part of this process. Then there's individual team news to check out, player injury lists, the history between the two teams one on one, how important the game is and how these teams traditionally react to pressure. And this is just an overview.

Really, you can go as deep as you want, and even in totally different directions considering the many lesser-known football betting markets available. However, don't overdo it; part of sports betting patience is knowing where your strengths are, and how best you retain and process information.

The good thing about patience in betting is that you can start to view your losses as being a learning process, where everything serves a purpose further down the line. Deep as it may seem, the basic concept remains the same: the more you know about an event and betting, the more accurate your predictions are likely to be. Just as there is no substitute for knowledge, there is no substitute for sports betting patience. That said, if you are a football fan, you can get a head start by using KickForm, our betting prediction tool, as a reference point.

How to Stay Disciplined in Sports Betting: Understanding the Math

The maths behind odds can seem deeply complicated to a newcomer. In reality though, that is hardly the case. What you need to know is twofold: the first is how much money you will receive should your bet be successful. This requires almost no patience in betting, as the bookmaker should provide you with this information instantly. Then, check what other operators are offering to see if you are getting a good deal. A great way to jumpstart your discipline in betting is by checking out how to know which odds are best.

The other key thing to know if you want to enhance your sports betting patience even further is the implied probability of your odds, using either an online calculator or your own mathematics. This will tell you, in the form of a percentage, how likely the outcome of your bet is according to the bookmaker. To get to grips with all of this, including understanding how to read different kinds of odds, check out our betting odds explained page.

How to Stay Disciplined in Sports Betting: Knowing When to Strike

Understanding your advantages and when to use them is a vital part of sport betting patience, but to do so, we must first understand the advantage the bookmaker has over you. This is known as the overround, and is of great sports betting importance. Other than betting exchanges, whose business model is based on taking a percentage of bets between players, this is found on every traditional sports betting site, whether aimed at esports or Bitcoin fans.

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The overround is the bookmakers advantage based on all implied probabilities. All odds convert to an implied probability percentage.

What is important to understand here is that all markets should add up to 100% if everything is fair, because 100% is certain, and one of those markets must logically come true should the game go ahead. However, in reality, the markets will usually add up to about 110%. This is the mathematical edge the bookmaker has over you, and is essentially how they consistently continue to make profits. If you ever find yourself asking why football betting is so hard, this is a big part of that equation.

However, bookmakers have disadvantages too. They need to balance their books, wherein public opinion and betting trends can force odds in directions that may not be logical.

For instance, a game featuring a big favourite will likely get more bets backing said favourite as it is what people want to happen, and people tend to bet with a little bit of wishful thinking. This is where your discipline in betting comes in, because if you remain patient in betting, you can wait for such an opportunity to arise and bet against markets that have artificially inflated odds due to their popularity.

Of course, you should only ever bet on any market, regardless of the odds involved, when it is also backed by your personal predictions. Being able to recognise such opportunities is a perfect example of discipline in betting.

How to Stick to What You Know Without Missing Out

Ultimately, this guide is about learning how to win at sports betting with patience and gambling discipline as your guide, without it having a negative impact on your enjoyment of the sports you love.

But how exactly does one do that? The problem with your passions is they can be rather convincing, and it can be tough to remain the stoic tactician. We suppose you could just tough it out with your steely gambling discipline, which is an option. However, there is more leeway for when your sports betting patience is wearing thin, and this comes in the form of alternative markets.

You don’t necessarily have to bet against your favourites; you can for instance, utilise the handicap markets in order to align your passions and your wallet. Does this mean you might miss out on some to-win markets? Possibly, but that is what patience in betting is all about. Learning about those alternative markets, part of that foundation of knowledge, means more chances and opportunities for your sports betting patience to pay off.

Sports betting success is all about avoiding emotional betting, which can not only be poor strategy, but in some instances, can even be dangerous. Here's how to keep your head in the game.

Sports Betting How to Stay Disciplined: Understanding and Taming Your Response to Streaks

When it comes to strategy, having a sports betting staying disciplined during winning streak plan of action is vital in avoiding one of the most common pitfalls in gambling.

Believing in the significance of underlying trends is known as the gambler's fallacy, and it can be a tough thing to shake. The reasoning behind it is simple, as you can see from the following example:

If you have seen red come up five times, then you may believe the next is bound to be black. You may believe that a losing streak must be broken soon, or that you need to capitalise on a winning streak.

Essentially, the gamblers fallacy comes from humans' instinct of recognising and interpreting patterns. However, this can run amok in the world of gambling because you need to understand your bets as individual wagers, distinct and separate from anything else before or after it.

This is key to sports betting – staying disciplined during winning streaks or trends. The reality is that the success of your bets alone does not necessarily indicate future success, and all streaks should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt.

Sports Betting How to Stay Disciplined: Taking Advantage of Unpopular Markets

One really effective way of making the most out of your sports betting patience is to utilise less popular markets.

Why is football betting so hard? It may be because you are only betting on extremely popular markets. Avoiding this does not necessarily mean going for something particularly obscure either; you could simply bet on the less popular team or player.

Draws are a really excellent way of getting high quality odds as they are common in many sports but are rarely what people want to see.

Some of the best odds you will find occur when what people generally don’t want to happen has a fairly good chance of occurring. And this is why we talk of sports betting patience.

Sports Betting How to Stay Disciplined: Utilising the Cash Out

The cash out feature is all about testing your sports betting patience. Even the best cash out betting sites hope you will lose your nerve at cash out at unwise times, so they can cut their losses and only pay you a fraction of what your bet deserved. Avoiding this is a vital example of patience in betting.

Knowing when to cash out showcases not only an incredible ability to assess the quality of returns and remaining probability with great speed, but is a great example of tactical sports betting patience.

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First off you should go into any bet with a plan regarding cash out.

You should, for instance, decide on an amount of money you would be willing to accept before cashing out, kind of like prepping in advance before going into a negotiation. Not pulling the trigger before that point requires both sports betting patience and plenty of discipline in betting. Mastering this strategy is no simple task, and is one which is often aimed at casual bettors; however, it's best understood by tactical betting veterans.

There is no more important use of sports betting discipline than sticking to a budget. Successful betting can only be so if you have control over your finances with a quality bankroll management plan. This means knowing how much you can afford to lose and never going beyond that amount. It means never placing the importance of sports betting above your financial or personal safety.

There are a wide range of tools available from quality bookmakers to help here. For instance, deposit limits can ensure that you only gamble a pre-specified amount. Sports betting patience is also vital in ensuring that you do not chase losses, and this is key to ensuring your gambling remains fun and safe. Therefore, responsible gambling is all about knowing how much you plan on betting and having an amount which determines when you walk away.

You should also have a winning walkaway point – whether that be in time or monetary value. Time limits from the bookmaker can help you out there too. It doesn’t take a betting genius to work out that you will very likely eventually lose if you keep on betting, based on the law of averages. Discipline in betting from a financial point can also help you thrive, as proper organisation can help you bet smarter and more logically, instead of letting your emotions dictate your decisions.

What to Do When Discipline and Patience Are Running Out

In the heat of the moment, it's easy to overestimate the importance of sports betting. If you feel that might be the case for you – whether you are gambling too much, spending too much time betting online or just simply aren’t having fun anymore – then there are steps you can take to help. In no particular order:

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    You can utilise deposit and spending limits to make sure you do not spend over a certain amount.

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    Time limits can also be put in place to help you realise when you are spending too much time on a betting site.

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    If you have any questions about problem gambling, many betting sites and other organisations (including the NHS website) have articles which have all the answers you need, as well as advice on how to monitor your behaviour as a gambler.

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    You should take a break from gambling if you feel you are struggling to control your gambling behaviour, possibly permanently, depending on how serious the issue is.

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    Seek outside help for additional support. Both BeGambleAware and GAMCARE offer several options to best suit your needs and your recovery.

Our focus here is on sports betting patience and gambling discipline; in other words, general principles that can be used as a building block for pretty much any good sports betting strategy you can think of.

Similar principles include playing low and slow until you build up confidence and experience, or making a note of wins and losses to track your progress. However, these are not complete betting strategies or systems in and of themselves.

What is the difference between a strategic principle like sports betting patience and something like the Martingale system, where the sequence of your betting is decided beforehand?

A system like the latter tells you exactly how to bet on specific games, and it must be adhered to precisely to work. Here, patience in sports betting can be applied in a multitude of ways; in fact, finding a betting system can require a great deal of patience. Well, we are here to speed up that process a notch! Here’s a list of five betting strategies and systems to get you started:

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Strategies Across Different Types of Betting

We have talked an awful lot about discipline in betting, but have primarily focused on sports betting patience rather than other betting options. Of course, discipline in betting is just as vital to the best poker sites and finest casino operators as well. The great thing about these skills is that they are so transferable. Here are five scenarios where you can utilise betting patience and discipline outside of sports.

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    Having the discipline and patience to go through long poker games without losing concentration

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    Resisting the urge to speed up the game by betting overly aggressively and foolishly

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    Falling into gamblers fallacy thought patterns when playing games of chance like roulette

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    Making sure you stick to your pre-planned betting budget, especially in high-pace games like slots or blackjack

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    Learning new games you’ve never tried before to see which best suits you is a great example of patience in betting

Implementing Promotions as Part of Your Betting Strategy

Promotions are not usually the first thing people associate with sports betting patience; having said that, knowing how best to find and utilise bonuses is actually a form of gambling discipline. In fact, you can do so in two simple steps.

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    The first step is to be in a position to have access to great promotions in the first place, which means signing up to one or more of the best bookmakers the world has to offer. You can also help this process along by making sure you agree to have personalised promotions sent to your relevant contact details.

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    You must then carefully consider the terms and conditions of a promotion to see if they are worth your while and if so, work out how to get the most value out of them. It can take some time and patience in betting, which is why we discuss the details of promotional terms as much as possible.

Is there any purer example of sports betting patience than holding off on a bet on a major event to see if a promotion is forthcoming? Perhaps not. Sports betting patience requires not being tempted by unworthy promotions, and not trying to meet unreasonable terms and conditions.

Don’t confuse sports betting patience with simply getting an unfair set of wagering requirements. Part of discipline in betting is, of course, knowing when to walk away from a bad deal.

There is no guarantee to betting success; however, we do believe that sports betting patience and discipline can improve your chances of winning, and can certainly help ensure better money management and responsible gaming.

When we talk about being more disciplined when betting and learning sports betting patience, we are referring to general principles which can help you in whatever way you like to bet. A betting system is a specific betting method that cannot be broadly applied.

Absolutely, and in terms of tactical sports betting importance, there is arguably nothing more crucial. It can be easy to just go with the first one you think of, but by putting a bit of extra effort in and with our reviews by your side, we think you can get an even better betting experience.

Yes – not only do we think greater discipline can improve your betting tactically, but it can also make it more enjoyable.

Ensuring you keep on top of your finances while betting is vitally important to keeping things fun and safe. It is a form of discipline to ensure that you do not bet more than you are supposed to, because doing so often requires not just sports betting patience, but also the ability to reign in your emotions when betting.

Above all else, patience and discipline in betting is about enhancing your enjoyment of sports. This should always be your ultimate strategy, because while no one can guarantee that any set of tactics will work, or that any amount of sports betting patience will yield profits, you can ensure that by remaining safe and disciplined, betting remains something you enjoy.

And that goes beyond just gambling responsibly. Learning more about your favourite sports and how they work from a tactical perspective can make the process more gratifying as you appreciate the finer details.

WRITTEN BY Ben Gibson View all posts by Ben Gibson

Ben has been writing professionally for over a decade. His articles are a great outlet for his inexhaustible supply of sporting facts and enthusiasm. He resides in Yorkshire, where his work is powered by the ever-present sound of a kettle.

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