Continuation of Top 10 Gambling Commandment...
Rule 6: Research
Once you have decided upon your area of specialization, it is time to research your market and where you will make your investments. The power of the Internet has made obtaining information easy and in a matter of minutes you can find out as much information as you require about your chosen market.
Keeping your own records and statistics is also an absolute necessity if you wish to take your gambling to the next level. Again it is all about how disciplined you are in researching your chosen field so that you can invest your money with the greatest chance of success.
Rule 7: Paper Test First
Once you have researched your chosen market and found a strategy in a specialized area, then test it on paper first without risking any money. If it seems to work 75-80% of the time or more, then start off for real with small stakes and build up in line with the staking strategy. Never risk money on an unproven idea.
Rule 8: Record Keeping
It is absolutely vital if you wish to take your gambling onto the next level that you keep accurate records of all your activity. Gambling is tax free in the UK but it is advisable to keep records should the taxman ever investigate the activity in and out of your bank account. Perhaps even a separate bank account is advisable for this purpose.
The other main use for record keeping is to keep track of winning and losing periods in order to make adjustments to your betting strategy and specialize even more to keep losses to a minimum.
Rule 9: Avoid Multiple or Accumulator Bets
Whichever market you wish to specialize in avoid multiples, accumulators or ‘parlays’ as they are known in the US. Combining the odds of multiple events looks attractive on paper but by increasing your possible win, you are at the same time lowering your statistical chance of ever seeing that win.
Bookmakers absolutely love greedy gamblers blinded by the big numbers who surrender their statistical chance of winning from the start. If you cannot resist placing an accumulator bet and the whole thing is relying on the last event to fall in your favor then you are better off guaranteeing a smaller win by ‘laying off’ or ‘hedging’. Don’t sweat it out hoping to be lucky (and we definitely speak from multiple painful experiences here!).
True betting is about cutting down the chances of losing, not increasing them. Any profit is good profit. Greed is not good.
Rule 10: Don’t Gamble Drunk
All the casinos we have ever visited offer free alcohol when you are gambling because they want you to lose your discipline, and they know that getting you drunk is the easiest way to do it (mine’s a Bombay Sapphire, chilled tonic and a slice of lime; no ice please!).
As the saying goes, “A fool and his money are easily parted”. A drunk fool is relieved of his money even faster and sometimes never realizes how stupid they have been.
For any serious gambler stupidity should hurt mentally and/or physically to serve as a lesson. We can absolutely guarantee that every punter has acted without forethought at one stage or another: this is only natural and all part of the very steep learning curve.
Please understand that all gambling establishments rely on the stupidity and greed of their clientele for their business livelihood.