Football is almost more complex today than it used to be. It seems crazy to say this as the rules of the game haven’t drastically changed, but the amount of data generated can make a big difference to the way people research and strategize for bets.

Fortune is always part of things and nobody can tell the future, but some forms of betting are based on luck alone while some have an element of strategy. Research always comes into account, too. This could just be researching the top offers or odds, but it can play a part in many forms of gambling.

Forms of Betting That May Involve Strategy and Research

A strategy is a plan to try and get the best results. Football fans are familiar with the concept and spend a lot of time debating strategies put in place by top teams and players (referring to them as tactics, but this is effectively a strategy).

There are betting forms where strategy tends to make no difference but there are games where people try to implement their plan and understand the game better. Poker is the top example and Texas Holdem is the most popular form of online poker. As it involves a competitive side by betting against other players and also choosing when to play a hand or when to fold a hand, people can implement some form of strategy or play the game differently. Beginners usually spend some time learning poker strategy and may play with a Texas Holdem strategy chart to help make the decisions on a hand in real-time. Knowing how to play each hand and choosing a method of approaching the game is how strategy is ingrained in the game.

Poker players may have their strategies that they try to implement based on the facts they have or even what they know about the people they are playing against.

Strategy and research may be suitable for table games more than games that have a totally random outcome – these aren’t influenced by any form of strategy.

Football’s Unbelievable Amount of Data

Strategy and research are inevitably tied to the data generated by the game. One of the first things to understand is that football is a game of numbers as much as it is of skill and athleticism. Every match, every player, and every team brings with them a lot of data that some people choose to pore through on spreadsheets or even use software to analyze.

Looking at a team’s form—how they’ve performed in their last few matches—can give a good indication of their current state. Are they on a winning streak, or have they been struggling? Such details can influence the way someone chooses to bet. Even individual records and whether a certain player is on the pitch can make a difference to the markets. The big leagues including the Premier League keep details of player performance and this can be used for people who want to make predictions. A quick winger against a full back that makes lots of fouls might tell somebody that a foul bet is an option, for example – it is down to the individual to read into it.

Understanding Markets

The number of markets has grown in the mobile gambling age. The days of just being able to bet on winners and scorers are gone and now, there are many ways to bet on football: over/under goals, correct score, first goalscorer, and more.

Odds are decided based on form, too. A player with the goalscoring record of Erling Haaland is likely to have much lower odds to open the scoring than a fullback, for example.

Bookies and sportsbook sites all have their own markets and different types of bets come with their terms and definitions – understanding them requires some homework. Knowing when to place a bet is another critical aspect. Odds can fluctuate based on where the money is going or news that happens before the game. Maybe the star striker got injured in the warm-up.

Football is played in two halves to give players a halftime break and for tactical reasons, and a lot of the markets are also split into these halves. For instance, a player to make a foul in the first half may have longer odds than a bet on a player to make a foul in the whole game.

On top of that, understanding the concept of value is critical in football betting and value is what a lot of bettors are looking for. This means looking for bets where the odds offered by bookmakers are higher than they think the actual probability of the event occurring is. It is yet another area that is up for debate and interpretation.

Understanding the markets is another way that bettors should do a bit of research before they make any choices or stake any money on football, and remember that there is always an element of fortune. A player may get injured in the first minute, after all.