Traits and Habits of Winning Punters

Traits and Habits of Winning Bettors

By Hank Blaine • September 14, 2023

Bitcoin sports betting’s popularity is on the rise. The reason is that betting with Bitcoin allows us to keep some level of anonymity, and making bitcoin transactions is more secure than making transactions in fiat currency. But just because something is becoming popular, it doesn’t mean we’re good at it. In this blog, we discuss the traits that make successful sports bettors. Check out those traits and if you’re missing any of them, make sure to work on building strength in the missing trait.

The Anatomy of a Successful Sports Bettor:

Sports bettors that win are resilient

All successful people, not just sports bettors, are resilient. One of the most resilient individuals in the history of the world is Warren Buffett.

When you listen to the Oracle of Omaha speak, he tells stories of losing massive amounts of money on bad stock calls. Buffett got past the losses and eventually became the greatest stock picker of all time.

Resiliency in sports betting means we don’t give up after a few bad beats. It means we get past those bad beats and live to bet another day. Being resilient requires all the other traits on this page, which is why it’s first on our list.

The winning sports bettor controls emotions

In life, we must show emotion at times. But when we bet on sports, it’s best to have zero emotion. Sure, it’s okay to celebrate wins, but when we decide what to bet and what not to bet, we can’t allow emotion to cloud our judgement.

We aren’t quarterbacks on the field who use emotion to rally players. We’re calculating, investment opportunists looking to score profit on overlay plays. If we let emotion dictate our actions, we will fail.

An appetite for risk is a requirement

We can’t be scared of risk, but we also can’t allow risk to tell us the plays to make. What we mean by that is we must think of risk versus reward, we must look for overlay plays.

Here’s an example: for sure, Kansas City is a better team than Las Vegas. But what’s the reward if we bet on Kansas City to beat Vegas at -263? The risk is $263 to make $100.

>[?Now if we see Las Vegas up there at +360, which means we must risk $100 to make $360 profit, is it worth it? It could be if KC is missing a key player. It may not if Vegas has injured players.

When we handicap, we’re always looking for the best risk versus reward bet. We must think in terms of risk versus reward. Always.

Self-discipline is necessary

Lack of self-discipline will destroy a bankroll. There are too many factors involved outside our control as sports bettors for us to go around doubling up our wagers.

The human factor alone will lead to bad beats. So we should never say, “I really like the Cowboys in this. So instead of betting my usual $100, I’m going for it and putting $300 onto the Boys.”

There’s a psychological element to all sports, meaning a player could turn from a hero to a zero in a single game. Look what happened to Joe Burrow in his first game back from an injury against the Browns. Check out how Aaron Rodgers got hurt on the fourth play and Buffalo still couldn’t beat New York.

We must have discipline when betting because we don’t know what exactly will happen in a game.

The best sports bettors decide that, yes, it’s all about the money

It’s all about the money. What we mean by that, it is all about the number. The New York versus Buffalo game in NFL Week 1 in 2023 is the perfect illustration of this.

The Jets went 2-0 ATS against the Buffalo Bills last season. The reason is that the Jets defense is an excellent unit.

Those who handicapped the player, Aaron Rodgers, failed to look at the number. Those sports bettors failed to understand that Jets versus Bills wasn’t about Aaron Rodgers. It was about the number; it was all about the money.

The line after Rodgers got hurt was tremendous because it made the Jets an overlay play. Stick with numbers, always think about the money, and you will be a successful sports bettor.