Because I regularly write articles that give online betting tips for punters I try and focus on bets that have a decent chance of winning and offer a good return. My selections tend to focus on looking for bets around 1/1 that would return double the amount staked. If you know a lot about a particular sport, you can find these little nuggets of profit.

My strategy is based around my belief that you should stick to what you know. I follow Football, Pool, Snooker, Boxing, Tennis, and Politics the closest. Most of my betting selections and betting tips are given in relation to these sports as these are the markets that I can look at and form educated opinions based upon my knowledge whether or not it is a good selection to bet on. If you know nothing about a sport you are not wisely betting, you are gambling and a good sports bettor will seek to reduce the gamble as much as possible. You reduce that risk through knowledge and research.

So after selecting a sport I know about, I set about looking for a value bet to get a decent return. Backing Nadal to beat a lower ranked Tennis player at 1.03 will probably win, but do I really want to bet £100 to get a total return of £103? Certainly not and if I lost it would take a long time to regain that money back each time risking another large amount for a very small return. So I am looking for 1/1 chances that should be odds on, or other good value bets. By betting on sports I am familiar with, these opportunities jump out at me when I look through the betting cards.

The amount I wager depends on how strongly I feel about the selection. I will back a maximum of 5 points if I strongly believe in the selection out of my 100 point betting bank. Do not get carried away, however, only once have I ever had a 5 point bet, the majority of my bets are 2 point wagers. This sort of restriction means you always know you are betting within your limits and rather than worry about losing you can just watch the bet and the action. A win still feels good. I admit my betting bank strategy is conservative, you may prefer a slightly more risky route and providing you are comfortable with the risks involved there is nothing wrong with this.

Here is a free sports betting tip for you as a thanks for reading this article, which I believe is a 3 or 4 pointer in terms of betting bank value. Carl Froch, unbeaten in his career so far and hungry for respect and success, is fighting Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six boxing tournament. Kessler did not look at his best at the last fight losing to Andre Ward, who whilst undefeated in his career so far has not fought any world class fighters before. Father time can quickly catch up to a fighter and in this fight I believe Froch will win. At odds of 29/20 I think this is a worthwhile wager due to Froch’s record and the fact he is always in superb fighting shape when the bell rings.

This is what sports betting is all about; making an informed decision then backing your judgement. If you are good at spotting opportunities, you can make a bit of extra money over time by this method.

By Malcolm Clarke