Best football betting strategies

Soccer is by far the most popular sport among bettors all over the world. Even though the online wagering in Australia is dominated by horse racing, soccer represents a large part of the overall Australian e-gambling market.

Huge gambling phenomenon such as soccer betting brings punters excellent opportunities to bet at juicy prices and realize gains. Here is a selection of soccer tips and popular betting strategies to help you beat the bookies!

Draw-win outcome

Betting on soccer is easy once you know the best markets and mistakes to avoid. The 1X2 bets are the most common but there is a wide range of betting options to explore. For example, a bet on a draw-win may be much more effective if you know what the usual football teams’ performances are. The most usual half-time/full-time result is of course the home/home outcome. However, when you place a bet on the favorite team to draw at half-time and win the match, odds offered by bookmakers are quite lucrative and it could offer you great value. To use this football strategy, it’s essential to first analyze the last teams’ results and head-to-head statistics but in any case, remember that the occurrence of half-time draws is consistent in many football leagues, especially the English Premier League. Also, if you don’t want simply bet on the draw-win, you can cover yourself by betting on the win-win and the draw-draw scenarios, so that you will ensure your stake back if your team doesn't lose the match.

Both teams to score markets

Another frequent soccer betting strategy is to place a bet on the Both teams to score market. Basically, it means that you think that both teams will score (or not) at least one goal respectively during the match. In this market, statistics of the latest matches will help us determine the team’s state of mind and its ability to score or concede a goal. So, find out what is the team's news before you wager. You’re looking for teams that are strong going forward but with weaknesses in defense or temporarily weak-minded. We recommend that you target reliable soccer teams but not necessarily the biggest ones.

Correct score

If you fancy betting on the correct score of the match, you will have to predict the exact number of goals scored by each team after 90 minutes. It’s not that easy even for the most skillful punters. To increase your chances of winning, you advise you to follow this simple betting tip: only predict the exact full time result when few goals are expected in the game, in other words when odds for "Under 2.5 goals" are lower than @1.75. Ideally, the following conditions have to be fulfilled as well:

• The favorite team is the “Away team”
• Odds for “Away wins” are included between @1.50 and @2.10 (so that the favorite shouldn't score too many goals but the risk of a draw is limited)
• The home team has lost or drawn its last games.

If all conditions are met then bet on the Correct score market, looking for "0-1" and "0-2” scores.

Total goals markets

For those bettors who love over / under 2.5 goals markets, it’s highly recommendable to develop an evaluation framework in order to decide whether or not you will place a Total goals bet. Here are some criteria you should take into consideration to evaluate each match:

• Average number of goals scored by the home team in the last 5 games in home matches
• Average number of goals conceded by the home team in the last 5 games in home matches
• Average number of goals by the away team in the last 5 games in away matches
• Average number of goals in the last 2 head-to-heads
• Injuries (especially in forward and defense positions)

Once you have defined the criteria by which soccer games will be evaluated, you can rate each criterion on a scale of 0-5 and compare the final rating with the value previously marked as reference. That’s a good way to minimize the number of games that are eligible to bet on and maximize your chances of winnings.

As always, you should keep in mind some basic principles of football betting: use your knowledge to place your bets and not your feelings, bet on soccer leagues that you usually follow, try to understand all odds movements and manage your bankroll wisely.