WHY BETTORS MAKE MISTAKES
Analyzing the psychology of a bettor can bring out some interesting facts which can be noticed with most people, regardless of their activities. Let's explore some reasons causing bettors to misjudge and at the end we provide some suggestions how to avoid them.
Most bettors make mistakes because they bet intuitively, based on an impulse or on some superficial and subjective data which was brought to their attention through several channels or sources. Knowing the real facts or consulting objective data with clear and exact information regarding the events you plan to bet on can significantly increase the chances of success.
When it comes to being rational and placing bets using real facts or information that can strengthen an argument for or against a particular prediction, very few people manage to get out of this state of ignorance which is perpetuated by mass media. For example, if you read sport newsletters or watch TV with sport shows, you can notice how big the influence of these kinds of channels is on the behavior of people.
Examples:
1. Because it won a large number of titles until the 90s, Liverpool continues to be highly mentioned regardless the fact that those old results don't have anything to do with the actual performance of the team in the last 10 years. Therefore, bettors tend to overrate a team and place irrational bets just because it has a popular name or because it use to have great results in the past decades.
2. Because of the golden age of the Brazilian national football team, an idea exists that Brazil provides the best football players in the world. Those great results from 1958-1970 and 1994-2002 still have a strong influence on the public perception regarding the expectation of the current team. Even though the "greatest" results since 2002 were only 2 lost quarterfinals, many bettors still overrate this team and think it has the highest chances of winning the World Cup, ignoring any objective analysis.
The point of these examples is that our minds can easily be manipulated, especially through mass media, to accept an idea, believe in it and spread it on - without analyzing and passing the information through a logical and rational filter.
Some of the things that bettors could do in order to avoid making mistakes based on this kind of lazy judgemenent are to ignore as much as possible all the information which comes from media, search for clear and objective stats regarding the events they plan on betting and try to come with reasons every time they place a bet. Only by doing these things, a bettor can overcome the situation that prevents him from becoming a successful bettor.
You may also want to read the following:
Betting strategies
Sports stats and results
Money management
