Losing hurts. It hurts more when it’s costing you hard earned money. Bet on sport for any sustained length of time and you will most likely run into a losing streak. They are difficult to avoid but is it possible to stop them in their tracks, break them early and get back to winning ways. Here are 15 tips that could return you to the winning circle sooner rather than later!
1. Focus on Process, Ignore the Outcome
It seems crazy, in an outcome driven industry to then ignore the outcome of your bets. Of course in the long run the outcome, wins and losses, is ultimately what decides profitability but arguably far more important than the outcome of a bet is the process you took to get there.
Obviously there is luck involved in sports betting. Some Johnny come lately may run hot on a streak of blind luck for a while, bank a ton of profit and most likely make a lot of noise about it. Good luck to him, but don’t let this cloud your focus on maintaining a system that will hold up over time. It is difficult to maintain process focused when others around you are seemingly benefiting from huge outcomes. Be sure that just as quickly as Johnny won his money he will no doubt give it all back, only this time he will have much less to say about it.
If your process is sound, due diligence is being done, research is carried out, thought is going into all betting decisions, then eventually the outcome will sort itself out. This is the art of sports betting. It is actually in the depths of a downswing when winners are made. Resilience to ride out the losing streak comes from having sound processes and knowing that when the bet is placed you have given your money the best chance of success. At that point the rest is left to the sports betting gods, sometimes they will be cruel but sooner or later they will smile on you again.
2. Review Your Betting History
As much as it may make for some horrible reading one of the most crucial steps in breaking a losing streak is to review the carnage. Ask yourself the honest question; what went wrong?
Online and mobile sportsbooks keep in depth records of your betting history. They are downloadable and can be exported to regular spreadsheet software like Excel or google sheets. This allows you to take a forensic look at where you placed your bets, what worked and what didn’t. You may spot a trend or series of trends that have contributed to your slide.
Perhaps you can narrow your losses down to a particular sport or group of sports. Maybe it is a particular bet type that has got you into trouble like margin or first half betting. Maybe it is a day of the week. For instance, perhaps you are being taken to the cleaners mid week when you become the true 5 minute handicapper due to time commitments with work and family. You are not devoting that extra bit of time and research to find a true edge. It could even be as simple as too heavy a focus on parlay betting which has the potential for large payouts but more potential for long dry spells.
Many of these negative betting habits can creep into your betting over time without you ever making a conscious decision to adopt them. The good part of about reviewing your betting history is that you identify these and dump them immediately. Winning is hard enough without pursuing a method that is clearly not favorable for you.
The little side benefit of assessing your betting history is that even in the midst of a horrendous slump you will still find some morsels of hope where things are working for you. These discoveries allow you to grab that slither of confidence and refocus on the good. If it is working, stick to it, even refine it further and make that the ticket to a slump breaking turnaround!
The best learnings often occur when you come out the other side of a dark time.
3. Target Your Favored Plays
One very proactive step you can take to snap your losing streak is to consolidate your betting so that it become focused on your favored markets. Most sports bettors enter the great game of wagering with an area or two of expertise. Perhaps its college basketball or the MLB, maybe it’s English premier league soccer or the NHL. Whatever the field of strength is refocus your efforts there.
Dropping sports where you lack a deeper understanding of in game nuance helps to not only remove a potential weakness but prevents your focus from being spread too thin. If the bankroll has taken a hit during the downswing then it also allows you to have more bank at hand to fire at the favored markets. Confidence is a wonderful thing and returning to the familiar territory of your field of expertise may just be the thing you need to regain that Midas touch.
4. Set a Short Term Betting Goal
Yes we have all heard since time began that we need to be goal oriented or we will lose direction. For some of us our greatest goal in life is to never have to sit through the ‘we must have goals’ speech ever again. In light of that I will spare you the speech.
What I will say though, to break a losing streak set a short term target. Ignore the fact that the bankroll may be down 40% from its peak and focus on building it up by a few percentage points this week. Set yourself a small target of success and work towards it. The overall losses may seem insurmountable at first, luckily that mountain doesn’t have to be climbed all in one day.
As the old saying goes: ‘how do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time’. There is some wisdom that can be applied to betting right there!
5. Prepare to Grind
The love of the grind is what is so attractive to so many successful sports bettors. A big win is welcomed by any bettor, but the day in day out grind in search of profits is the badge of honor that many of the pros wear. They know the going is tough and to stand up against the relentlessness of sports betting is a win in itself.
If you are in the depths of a losing streak then you need to ready yourself for the grind. The fact the streak may have been sustained for a while does not mean it will automatically turn around tomorrow, of course it might, but there are no guarantees in this game. The grind is all about sustaining the processes and sticking to the systems as you battle your way back to winning form.
Grinding out a betting existence also puts a stop to much of the impulse betting that in many cases is the catalyst for the losing streak in the first place. Again, impulse betting may turn a nice profit from time to time but in the middle of a gut wrenching losing streak, impulse betting tends to let you down.
6. Stay Calm
The famous British World War Two poster ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was meant to have a motivational effect on the British people when it first hit the streets in 1939. Although it actually wasn’t circulated widely, its motto has become an enduring statement for all when times are tough. It certainly has application to a sports bettor who has found themselves at war with the dreaded losing streak.
The sentiment of remaining calm is critical at all times for bettors. During a losing streak it becomes even more essential. The loss of composure leads to poor or irrational decisions which never ends well for bettors. Take a few deep breaths, take stock, think before acting. Even the bad beat of all bad beats calls for calm no matter how frustrating or aggravating the beat might be.
Don’t take any run of poor form personally. Although it may seem like the betting gods have a vendetta against your success, they don’t. After you have mastered the keep calm part of the equation you will handle these situations much more effectively. Following a bad beat with a bad mistake only compounds the problem.
Keep calm and carry on!
7. Go Get a Sign Up Bonus
A great way to absorb the hit from a losing streak is to bet with some free money. There are multitudes of sign up bonuses, regular deposit bonuses and other ways to access some sportsbook love. If you are truly hurting from a sustained losing streak go and exhaust a few of those options. It almost like building a force field for your bankroll. It buys you time and maybe it’s just long enough for you to come out the other side.
Find out how to make bank with your bonus bets. Read about it here!
8. Find Some Respected Online Tipsters
The very best sports bettors rely on intuition and research to consistently find winners. Of course they also employ tight knit networks of other formidable bettors to reduce the workload and allow them to turn over huge betting volume. While you may not have access to your own personal network of punters, you can find some very useful online tipsters who offer great advice and worthwhile tips for free!
If your confidence has hit an all time low and you are riddled with self doubt, but still for some reason feel the need to bet, then perhaps consulting some expert advice from respected tipsters may just regain some of the momentum you need. Social media, namely Twitter, is a haven for online touts. Just beware for every good one there are countless so called betting geniuses who are here today and gone tomorrow.
Don’t believe everything you read!
9. Keep Learning
One bad losing streak should not be the death of you as a bettor. All bettors experience these from time to time. One of the keys to overcoming this is to keep improving, keep learning, keep moving forward. A growth mindset is part and parcel of the journey towards long term profitability.
While there are not many really good books dealing with sports betting, there are a number of excellent podcasts which cover all manner of topics related betting. Find yourself one or two and start using some downtime or your daily commute to get some of the wisdom shared on these forums.
Listening to a variety of different respected voices on the topic of betting allows you to develop and reinforce your betting style. You don’t need to agree with everything you hear, but certainly being exposed to different viewpoints will allow you to mold and solidify yours.
10. Strength of Conviction
Possibly one of the hardest aspects of handling a sustained losing streak is overcoming the crippling self doubt that comes with damaged confidence. As difficult as it may seem to break that losing streak you need to maintain strength of conviction. That is, a supreme trust in your ability to read the sports you are betting on and make sound betting decisions. A poor run of form does not mean you have lost your knowledge and skill.
Backing yourself in the face of doubt and fear of failure is a type of courage that is often underrated. Every single day betting on sports will test your convictions. At a time when success is evading you stay true to yourself, shut out the noise, ignore the negative talk and back yourself to perform. It will turn around and you will be much stronger for it.
What are the attributes of a successful sports bettor? Find out here!
11. Understand Independence of Events
A sometimes crippling thought process that rears its ugly head during a sustained losing streak is that all bets are interrelated. The fact that your last few bets have come up short has no effect on the outcome of the next bet. They are independent events. It just happens. The aftershock of a series of losing bets can somehow adjust a person’s thinking when it comes to the next bet. No matter how hard it is, understand that the next bet is its own individual event and it has every chance of coming up trumps.
12. Take a Break
Taking a break from betting can feel like a hit to the ego but it shouldn’t be looked at in that way. It is a strategy that works. Clear the mind, take the mental focus off your betting record, refresh physically, plan out the strategy moving forward and when you feel ready, return to the battle. It is often when you have stepped away to the sidelines that clarity of mind comes. Even the very best sports bettors on this great planet take time away from the game to refresh. No one can maintain the intensity forever and a day.
The great thing about the growing sports betting industry is that opportunities abound. They are everywhere. There is no need to feel like you have to be active all the time. When you are ready to return to betting the opportunities will present themselves. Nothing is surer!
3 Mistakes to Avoid When On a Losing Streak
Becoming Risk Averse
Now is not the time to go into your shell. Sports betting is all about taking calculated risk. By all means manage your bankroll, make smart decisions about bet sizing, but don’t be too shy to pull the trigger when a bet lines up the way you had hoped. Being gun shy will mean when your form turns, you fail to capitalize.
Attempt To Make Up the Deficit in One Go
If you have taken a big hit to the finances over the course of the losing streak then the worst thing you can do is try to regain all those loses in a short time. Of course you may succeed, but even the great sports bettors only win consistently in the mid to high 50 percent range. Betting big to chase a loss is a recipe for disaster and usually ends up in a world of hurt.
Managing you bankroll is essential to betting survival. Check out how to do it here!
Blame the World
Anger and self pity won’t change any of the results that have already been decided. Using excuses as a crutch will only serve to prolong the pain. Dig deep, reassess your processes and come back ready to fight.
The Game Starts Now!
A losing streak is painful but not unusual. Hang tough. Live to fight another day. You will come out the other side a much improved bettor for the experience.
