Learn to Bet Series: Tracking Your Performance

The key to success in pretty much everything is understanding your performance and then making any adjustments to make sure you continue to succeed.

In order to understand how you are doing at anything – whether it’s hitting a baseball or playing the guitar – you have to look back at your previous performances.


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It’s the same with sports betting. Bettors have to track their performance to learn how they might improve their winning percentage. Now, if you’re like most sports bettors, you probably don’t keep records of your previous bets. That is one of the beginner sports betting mistakes.

If you plan on making money as a bettor, you have to keep records of your bets. Tracking your wagers allows you to not only see how you’ve done, but it also can help you get better results. It’s just like the NFL that you bet on. Coaches continuously pore over what they have done previously and make adjustments for their next game.


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Track Profits and Losses

The very least you should do is keep track of how much you’ve made or lost. If you’re in a rut, you may find out that you’re not really losing as much as you thought. It could also be true that you’re losing more than you thought. Either way, tracking your results is going to tell you.

Tracking is much simpler today since most betting is done online. If you’re old school, you can break out the notebook and write everything down. An easier method would be to create a spreadsheet and keep track of all your deposits and withdrawals. This allows you to keep a running total and you’ll see if you’re up or in the red.

DATESPORTSBOOKDEPOSITWITHDRAWALTOTAL
11/9/2020America’s Bookie$100 -$100
11/12/2020BetOnline$100 -$200
11/19/2020America’s Bookie $400+$200
11/22/2020America’s Bookie$100 +$100

In the example above, just keeping track of your deposits and withdrawals gives you some very important information. You can see that you are $100 ahead.

It doesn’t take much time to sit down and record this data. Right after a deposit or a withdrawal, you simply fill in this chart. It’s pretty basic, but it will tell you how much you are winning or losing each month.


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Tracking Individual Bets

If you are really looking for success, you should probably track your betting habits in more depth. Having just your profits or losses is okay, but there’s not all that much you can learn. If you want to more accurately analyze your betting performance, you’re going to need to take a closer look.

You can do so by tracking each bet you make. You’ll need a spreadsheet similar to the one above, but now you will keep track of items like your pick, the odds, how much you bet, the result of the wager, payout, and profit or loss.

You might find that you struggle with moneyline bets and have more success betting totals. Knowing this, you can adjust your betting strategy. You may also find that you have more success betting the NFL than college football. You could even have separate spreadsheets for the different sports that you bet.

If you really want to succeed at sports betting, you need to start tracking your performance. It takes some time, but in the end it is worth every minute.

About the Author
Rick Bouch
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Rick Bouch is a former high school, college, and professional athlete who now spends his time writing about sports and sports betting. Rick has played and coached football at various levels and brings a unique perspective to sports handicapping. He is continuously on the cutting edge of all things football. While college football is his specialty, Rick’s knowledge spans all of the major sports.
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