There are many ways that people place sports bets and many different strategies are used to maximize their chances of winning. But the number one key strategy to maximize your chances of winning that important bet is information. Having all the relevant information you can gather before placing your bet is of the utmost importance to ensure that you have the best chance of winning big.

This is the same idea behind many other financial investments in life. If you’re buying a home or car, do a little research to make sure you’re investing your money wisely. The exact same principle applies to betting.

It certainly helps if you know a lot about the sport you are betting on. No one should bet on a game of cricket if they don’t know anything about the game. But if you follow your local soccer team every week and know their strengths and weaknesses, you have a much more informed view of how they would fare in their next game than the average player.

Bookmakers and other high rollers exploit the ignorance of the average bettor. By doing your research, you have a much higher chance of winning. Trying to get that information is a slightly more complicated proposition. If you want to know the way of horse racing, buy the Racing Post. Unfortunately, everyone does that, and you will only get information that anyone who is serious about betting on horses already knows.

Often the best idea is to examine a small area of ​​a sport and become an expert on how that area works and the various complexities of competition. You can focus, for example, on 20/20 cricket, and know the form of the various players, and whether or not a race chase is feasible based on previous games on that particular field. Many successful bettors have made their fortune just by focusing on a specific area and knowing it.

Another important tool to use is the odds comparison websites. Now, thanks to the Internet, it is possible to check the different odds offered by the main bookmakers in an event and select the bookmaker that offers you the best value. Some examples of these sites are http://www.oddschecker.com and odds.bestbetting.com. These websites also allow you to assess whether you are getting a good deal by looking at the odds history. If you see that what was long, the odds are rapidly decreasing just before the event, you will know that a lot of back money has been spent. Obviously you can’t tell why this has happened, but it does give you an idea of ​​what the rest of the betting public is thinking. Every piece of data you can collect counts.