When a bettor chase losses, the bookmaker’s profit margin increases. If you’re a professional bettor, you will under that no matter how good your bet run is, you will still suffer a decent number of losses. This variance is a standard part of betting. Even the veteran bettors experience losing streaks but also experience winning streaks that compensate for the losses. In this article, we will be discussing why bettors chase bets and the cons associated with chase betting.
Table of content:
- What Is Chase Betting?
- Why Is Chase Betting A Bad Strategy?
- How Can You Resist Chase Betting?
- Conclusion
What Is Chase Betting?
Of all the sports betting tactics available, chase betting is the most criticized. Chase betting basically involves betting to recover losses. For example, let’s say you had £1,000 that you used to stake on a football game. As it turns out, you lost £1,000. This will hurt you a lot because you could’ve divided the stake into 3-4 games, this way, less risk will be involved.
Due to the loss, you then decide to deposit £2,000 into your betting account with the hope of recovering the £1,000 and even more money. A situation like this is termed chase betting. Everyone wants to make the best of their bets, frequent losses can cause frustration and make the bettor feel that he has lost his betting ability, leaving him with the option of giving up on the idea of betting. If you happen to be a bettor that works with a set bankroll, losing a part of your bankroll on a stake will make you feel down and make you increase your next stake because you feel you’re going to win your next stake. However, winning the next stake is just a mere superstition because you could as well lose your next stake.
Why Is Chase Betting A Bad Strategy?
A good bettor isn’t motivated by emotions rather, he is motivated by opportunity and logic. All bettors experience a stinging feeling after losing a stake. Some bettors can handle this feeling while some can’t. A majority of bettors just want to recover their losses by all means. Chase betting is a problematic strategy because it doesn’t involve logic. For example, as a bettor, your normal stake is £50 but after a losing streak, you needed to recover about £200. Chase betting strategy will make you wager up to £400 at once to recover your loss. Wagering £400 wasn’t your plan initially but because you’re being ruled by emotions, you feel it’s a smart move.
This approach also makes you pick the wrong selections because you tend to bet on games that you didn’t initially plan to bet on. A desperate bettor might even go as far as picking games with high odds (low winning probability) because all they think of is getting their cash back. When logic is shaky, more losses are incurred.
How Can You Resist Chase Betting?
Winning money in sports betting isn’t a big deal. Using this “bet it blindly” system (chase betting) isn’t the best way to go about making money. This system only favours the bookmaker. However, one can resist this system by understanding the few points below;
➔ Avoid being result-oriented
A professional bettor doesn’t just guess the outcome of events, but rather finds value in the markets available. For example, if Barcelona were offered at 2.500/1 to win the La Liga, a sensible will see this stake as something he shouldn’t miss out on because it has a high value. As such, being result-oriented isn’t the best, every bettor shouldn’t care about the winner but the game value. Chase betting is mostly a result of being too focused on results. Stick to your staking plan and always go for value, and you will enjoy consecutive wins with absolutely no need to adjust your bankroll or your stakes.
➔ Luck is all about the maths
Most bettors have a different idea of what luck actually means. Luck is actually a complex mathematical equation. Everything in the gambling world can be quantified and a large aspect of gambling is based on mathematics. No one is luckier, every bettor has an equal amount of luck. When a number of bets are made, every bettor would make use of the same amount of luck and if a bettor has more wins than other bettors, it will just be a matter of making better selections.
Most people feel they’re unlucky when they suffer losses and this makes them start chasing bets. Some higher forces make them believe that they need a change of luck. A very experienced bettor will see this as nonsense, you should understand that losses incurred are as a result of sports betting variance which is unavoidable, or as a result of bad selections which is very avoidable. Since the variance is something you can’t avoid, you should focus on making accurate selections and sticking to your staking plan.
➔ Let go of emotions
Letting go of emotions is one of the major keys to success in sports betting. It’s compulsory to let go of your emotions as a bettor if you really want to make it big in betting. Creating a boundary between your emotions and your bet results is necessary, especially when you’re facing consecutive losses. How can you create a boundary? You can achieve this by gradually increasing your stake when you’re facing a losing streak and keep telling yourself that you’re passing through a normal phase in betting that all bettors pass through. If you keep on with this method, and you don’t go beyond your bankroll, there’s every possibility that you will bounce back in no time. Stick to your plan, and you will flourish in sports betting!
Conclusion
We chase bets because we are not strong, humans are naturally ruled by emotions and prone to making bad decisions. Although, this is acceptable for recreational bettors but bad for serious bettors. Chasing losses is the downfall of a bettor and should, by all means, be avoided.
