Soccer Betting Systems – Pros and Cons

With the innovation of computer software to do the analysis for them, today’s handicappers and sports bettors can search for an angle, trend or recurring situation with the click of a mouse. In contrast, us “old school” era tipsters originally had to spend many painful hours each day or week manually compiling and studying past statistics and comparisons. During my 35 year handicap career I have seen and studied all the systems, angles and trends that have emerged, but have always used them as one of my many tools to determine winners.

Are trends and systems always reliable enough to put down your hard-earned money on a bet at the sportsbook and expect to win? The obvious answer is no.” Although they are a valuable tool in handicap, trends and systems are simply based on recurring results from past performances in given situations. For example, a very popular system that was used by many soccer bettors throughout Over the years, it was always to go with the Green Bay Packers at home in the months of December and January.

That game got even stronger if the team they received was from a hot-climate region or played in a domed stadium at home. The reasoning is simple; The weather in Green Bay is extremely cold during the winter months, often dropping below freezing with the wind chill factor. The Packers were used to practicing and playing in this weather, and it seemed to give them an automatic advantage over any warm-weather or dome team. However, most average bettors don’t realize that bettors also know this and have already taken it into account.

So, if the Packers were statistically, say a 3-point better team in a given game, bettors could have the line set at minus 6 ½, knowing that a vast majority of bettors will automatically take the Pack and place the number. . Other punters will dig deeper and look well beyond the teams and location, and hopefully take advantage of the upside of the inflated number, evening out the bets. Ironically, this Green Bay cold weather theory would have shown no profit in the last 10 seasons, he had a bet on every Packers home game that had fallen in this situation and time frame.

There are literally hundreds of other similar systems related to betting on soccer and other major sports. Here’s another example of a popular one that’s used more in the NFL than college football. Let’s say you have a local loser who plays on a different pitch surface than his favorite away player. Without isolating or considering any other factors, it is said that the domestic dog is generally good game in any situation.

The simple reasoning is that the home team is believed to do a better effort for the home fans. In theory, if they have the advantage of the visitor playing on an unfamiliar surface, the game becomes stronger in the mind of the average bettor. But before you jump in and bet on all those situations this year, think about the 2008 season and the Detroit Lions, for example. After going 4-0 in the preseason, they became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16 in the regular season. They hosted 8 games last year and in 6 of those games, the visiting team was playing on a different surface than what they had on their home field.

However, the Lions lost by an average score of 15-37 at home last year and never came close to covering the gap. They hosted a 16-20 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but that game did not fall under this system, as the Vikings also play in a domed stadium with the same type of surface as the Lions. Simply put, if one had brought this “home dog/different territory” system into play on the Motor City men last year, the results would have been very costly, all bets off. For what it’s worth and to their credit, the Lions actually performed better on the road last year, losing by an average score of just 19-28, rather than losing by an average 22-point margin at home.

Trends and systems can be a valuable tool and are used by almost all serious handicap players, as well as many average sports bettors. However, always remember that trends are based on history and at some point, what goes up must come down. Always look at the big picture, consider all other variables and never make a betting decision based on just one or two things, be it trends or other factors.