How the fear of losing affects your chances of winning

The fear of losing a bet is nothing else but a simple misrecognition, which occurs when we are too afraid of making too adventurous and sometimes even risky decisions, that very often have the potential of bringing us some profits. This fear prevents us from making such decisions by keeping us too afraid of losing that we don't even want to try. The reason behind this happening is a simple biological and genetic heritage we inherited from our ancestors or even from our previous experiences.

This fear also finds its application in our everyday lives. People who suffer from such an issue are usually shy, struggle to build a professional career, do not take challenges and feel uncomfortable meeting new people. Even if they engage in any of those activities, they are always questioning and doubting their success from the beginning. A great example of this would be the fear before taking the driver's license test or a job interview when applying for the desired position. Why do those people have this problem, why does it keep happening to them? Click here to find out more about the most common mistakes committed by punters.

People tend to wrongly comprehend every failure and mistake they personally made. Using the example from above, people, who theoretically have failed the exam would not blame it on the mistakes made during the actual driving test but rather on the fact that they are losers who are not capable of doing anything. The same could be seen in the situation of a rejected job application, people who cannot control this fear would find the reasoning for not getting a job in their sloppiness and hopelessness, instead of the fact that they have spilled the whole cup of coffee on their potential boss's new white shirt. Please, remember! Every failure you face ONLY says something about the action you have done (which you could fix in the future) but not about you as a person! Even if you have had a tough time passing the exam over and over, it never means that the following attempt will be unsuccessful again.

The already spoken about phenomenon can be very easily applied to sports betting. However, in this case, it is not that punters opt-out from betting completely, but rather change their betting approach due to the biases that are coming from the fear of losing. That forces punters to bet in the disagreement with their initial plans, which brings up issues further down the road.

How many times have you already started building up a multiple with what you thought were supposed to be sure bets, after losing a couple of singles in a row, or had changed your betting strategy, opting-in to much safer betting options, you thought they would have been. We can assume that it has not happened to you just once or twice and that it was always directly connected with the fear of losing. In the meanwhile, you would not be able to start making consistent profits in betting if you won't realise that minor mistakes are an indispensable part of online sports betting & bookmaking in general. Even the world's best punters face dozens & hundred of losing streaks, therefore it is completely normal. If you would like to minimise your losses, check out one of the risk-free offers from our recommended online bookmakers.

Winston Churchill once said, «Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.». We are, in no way, wishing you a losing streak, however, if you are serious about your betting, there will always be a high chance of going through one. Unfortunately, but sooner or later, everyone finds themselves in such a situation. You should rather treat it as a lesson and focus on staying profitable in the long run. Sometimes life hits you hard, but instead of giving up or letting it throw you off, try to learn from it & draw valuable conclusions for your future experiences. Of course, to the extent, we can and wish to do it.

If you have noticed that your betting is being affected by the fear of losing during crisis situations, then you must answer yourself what are you being afraid about. What strange is going to happen if you lose another bet? Just close your eyes and try to simulate the worst possible outcome. How does it look like?

Well, assuming you are not going broke completely, and not staking all your mortgage money on your next wager, then nothing really bad is going to happen to you! You are just simply not going to land your next wagger, just like the dozens you have already not landed and hundreds you would not land in the future. Nevertheless, you are most definitely going to have numerous chances to get back what you have lost before. What is more, you do not have to do it all here and now. Be patient, if not today, then tomorrow!

You are, surely, have seen hundreds of football players' interviews, and we bet, you can easily count those, where players expressed remorse and blamed it all on themselves, on the fingers of your one hand. Professional footballers are usually reasoning their loss by giving the game all they got and just simply being outplayed by the opponent. Moreover, they are usually thankful for such an experience, which will help them fix the issue, they were not aware of before, in order to become better in the future.

This is a great case to take notes from. Sometimes you are going to lose your bets, so what? It is honestly not that big of a deal. You have done everything you could - went through the thorough analysis, checked all the necessary data like cards, referees, injuries, priorities, lockerroom environment, etc. What else could you've done? Have you missed anything? The only extra thing you could've done was suiting up for the game yourself and scoring that much-needed goal for your team. Honestly, though, what are your chances of doing it? Therefore, since you have no control over the situation after placing your wager at one of the online bookmakers, then just simply stop treating your lost bet like a disaster, but rather look at it as an opportunity to get better.

Could you have done more? Have you considered every detail? The knowledge and experience you gain from such situations will definitely improve your betting and eliminate the «shaky hand» factor the next time you place a wager. «A wise man learns from his mistakes», have you ever heard this saying? This one basically says it all. Nothing will help you avoid your previous mistakes in the future (even bettingwell.com :D) better than your experiences. However, only if you draw out the right message from it.

Please, do not get us wrong. Overcoming your flaws like the fear of losing a bet should not be forced, stubbornly trying to tempt your fate over and over. If looking at your own record, you can clearly see a 19-NBA-bet losing streak or that the last German Bundesliga wager you won was back in September 2005, then that might be a sign for you to try your luck somewhere else.

It could also be that you're staking too much based on your bankroll. Maybe that is your problem? Betting under such pressure will definitely play against you! We do not say it is easy but try your best to make the decision of placing a bet in a more comfortable environment. Maybe it will not completely erase your fears, but it will surely decrease the risk of being biased by the most common cognitive mistakes.

Let's go back to our first examples of the driver's license exam and job interview. If, during the moment of entering the car with your instructor inside, you are thinking about not knowing where is the gas pedal and the breaks, or, during the job interview, you are thinking that among all the applicants who showed up, you deserve the job the least, then your chances of succeeding will not be that big by default. The same applies to sports betting.

If you think that only a miracle will help you land the bet you are about to place, then, please, do not be surprised when it comes out as a loss, and that your history log looks all red. Remember, you can only become a successful bettor if you build up your confidence and make your predictions cold-headed!

We are usually focusing on the punters, who are trying to make profits with their betting, however, there are also those who are betting just for the feeling & emotions it gives them. Such tipsters, like to occasionally place small (or big) wagers at one of the top online bookmakers and nervously sit in from of their TV screens, biting their nails off from excitement. Being honest with you, this is not our preferred way of releasing endorphin, however, we have nothing against spending your free time in such a way. The bottom line is, we are almost certain, those punters addicted to the adrenaline are not your common sports betting guide readers. Thus, let's just assume they are not going to bother themselves reading online betting tutorials like this one.