As a sports bettor, you most likely enjoy the thrill of betting on live events. But, occasionally, you may wonder whether your wagers are going to pay off. After all, you can’t control what happens on the field once the game starts! Fortunately, with a little bit of preparation and planning, you can ensure that your betting leads to greater profit. This article will help you track your betting so that you can have all the relevant information at your fingertips when it’s time to cackle about the big win or loss.
Create A Spreadsheet
The first thing you should do is to create a spreadsheet where you can track your bets. You might use a tool like Google Sheets or Excel to do this. Both are free and have plenty of features that you may find useful. For instance, you could use Google Sheets to pull in data from multiple sources and use formulas to analyze the information. You could even create automated reports so that you can track your betting activity day-to-day or even hour-to-hour. Automated reports like these can be accessed remotely via a web browser or downloaded as a regular spreadsheet so that you can view and edit them offline. If you use Excel, you could use its ‘Formulas’ tool to create automated calculations so that you can track your bets easily.
Track Your Wins & Losses
Once you have a spreadsheet, you can begin entering your betting data into it. You want to enter winnings first and then losses so that you can analyze your overall performance. For example, if you had a $100 wager on the game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles and the Giants beat the Eagles by three points, your profit would be $33. (It might help to keep a running total at the top of the spreadsheet so that you can track your earnings and losses over time. This will also make it easier to follow along as we go over various examples in this article.)
Use Categories To Organize Your Data
It’s important to keep track of your wins and losses in an organized manner. To avoid any confusion, it might be a good idea to use different colors to denote different categories of data. For example, you can use red for wins, green for losses, and yellow for ties. This will help you see at a glance which categories are performing well and which ones need some work.
Track Your Net Wager
To calculate your profit or loss for any given week, you need to track your net wager. A net wager is the total amount of money that you bet minus the total amount that you won. For example, if you bet $100 on a game and the game ends in a tie, your net wager for that week would be $0. But if you won the bet, your profit would be $100 (the $100 you bet plus the $0 that you won).
To track your net wager, add up the amounts that you bet for each game. Then, add up the amounts that you won. Your net wager for the week should be the sum of these two numbers. For example, if you bet $100 on a game and won the bet, your net wager for the week would be $100 (the $100 you bet plus the $100 that you won).
When you enter your betting data into your spreadsheet, you will enter the net wager for each game. This will make it easy for you to determine your profit or loss for each week. (For instance, if you had a $100 net wager for the week, you would have a $100 profit or loss).
Keep Track Of Your Active Bets
You will often see people keep track of their sports activities in a ‘to do’ list. This is a good idea, especially if you want to keep track of all your active bets. To do lists can be quite helpful when you are trying to keep track of various tasks that you need to complete. If you use a tool like Todoist, you can create a to do list for each niche topic (such as ‘Wins’ or ‘Losses’).
For each entry, you can include a brief comment about what you are doing. This will be very helpful when you are trying to keep track of numerous wagers. For example, you can use the comment field to jot down the scores of various games or the results of NCAA tournaments. If you use a tool like Todoist, you can keep track of all your sports activities in one place. This way, you can follow along as we discuss various examples of how to track your betting in this article.
Use The Trendlines To Monitor Your Performance
If you are newer to sports betting, you might not know how to measure your performance accurately. After all, you can’t control whether or not your wagers are going to pay off. This is especially true in the early stages of your betting career. But, eventually, you will figure out that there is such a thing as ‘betting efficiency’.
What is betting efficiency? It’s the theory behind the ‘power curve’. Essentially, the power curve states that over time, your investment should produce a profit. The reason for this is that it is usually more efficient to bet on the side with the stronger record (as long as the spread is favorable). For example, if you bet on the New York Yankees and they have an excellent record, but the Cleveland Indians have a very good record as well, it may be more profitable to bet on the Yankees. This is because the edge in power usually favors the more experienced team.
To test this theory, you can use trendlines. A trendline is essentially a line that connects previous seasons of data. If the trendline for your chosen sport crosses above (or below) the line of even money, there is probably an edge of some sort in play. In addition to comparing your chosen sport to the ‘money line’, you can also compare it to the ‘point spread’ or ‘over/under’ for the game. For example, if you are analyzing the New York Yankees, you can compare their record to the Browns’ record (or any other team that plays in the American League).
With a little bit of research and preparation, you can easily keep track of your betting activity. You will be able to calculate your profit or loss for each week and look back over the previous season to see how you are doing compared to the ‘best’ (or average) sports bettor in your area. In addition, if you use tools like Todoist or Excel, you can have all your betting data at your fingertips whenever you want or need it. This makes it easy to find and analyze when determining which wagers to make in the future.