How To Keep a POSITIVE Mindset For Betfair Trading

It is often said that a POSITIVE MINDSET is needed to succeed on Betfair and I certainly agree but it is definitely easier said then done.

If you have not yet become frustrated whilst trading sports then you have not been trading long enough. Most of us will have grown frustrated and even given up several times before recommencing after a short break. As with many jobs, if you over-work yourself it can be easier to become stressed and frustrated. Therefore, if you are trading on Betfair it is important to keep yourself fresh and “happy” with your trading as then it will prevent silly mistakes from creeping in and, for some, it might prevent the inevitable bank being blown!

From my own personal experience I can share some ways that you can remain happy and positive about your sports trading. I can safely say I have learned the hard way!

1 – Don’t trade every day

When you are new to sports trading it can be easy to make the mistake of trading every day as you are learning. This can be fine at the start but at some point you need to tell yourself that you need some designated days away from the markets. In a normal job you might only work 5 days per week but the average newbie trader might try and get on to the markets every day at some point. I admit I was the same in my younger days and although I felt like I was enjoying it I do not think that “dreaming about Betfair” was a sign of a good mental health. Once I started designating at least 2 days per week when I wouldn’t even read about sports let alone look at Betfair I found I was much fresher when I returned to trade and made better decisions as a result. I probably missed some opportunities on those days off but I felt better for it.

2 – Don’t skip socialising in order to trade

This was a big, big mistake I have to admit to making in my early years as a trader. Most football happens on a weekend and, unfortunately, so does most normal social events. This is quite inconvenient for a sports trader and many will forgo those social events in order to trade. I found myself forgoing almost anything social that happened on a weekend and as a result I found myself feeling a bit reclusive and possibly feeling a little bit depressed too. I was enjoying the trading but having regular fun social interactions is important to your sense of well-being as a human. Also, there was that feeling of resentment when I knew my mates were out having a fun weekend somewhere while I was stuck on the ladders which is not healthy for your mind either.

You obviously can not attend everything you are invited to, but one Saturday off per month is hardly going to destroy your trading calendar and you will feel so much better for it.

3 – Don’t trade events you want to “enjoy”

This is something I rarely see mentioned anywhere but it is important to bring up. Most of us trade sports because we already enjoy that sport. This is fine but once that trading begins to distract from the enjoyment of that sport then you could be in trouble.
Every now and then there might be a really big sports event like a cup final, tennis final, golf tournament etc that you might like to enjoy watching anyway from an entertainment point of view. These days I often skip trading these events and just enjoy them for what they are. One of the main reasons being that whilst I would feel great if I turned a profit on that event, if I managed to make a loss on that event it would totally ruin that experience for me. I remember trading the World Cup final in 2010 and making a terrible loss on it in the first half. The rest of that match and that evening I was in a bad mood and did not enjoy any of it despite it being the match that I had waited 4 years for since the last one. I will never trade a World Cup final again for this very reason and I know of some tennis traders who love tennis who never trade the final of tournaments like Wimbledon since they just want to enjoy the occasion. After all, what difference will missing out on one event of hundreds that happen every week?

4 – Switch off after trading is done

There used to be a time when trading was done in the evening and I would then go over all the results and trades and keep reading them through to bedtime. It was these times I would then have Betfair related dreams and, as a result, I was never truly turning off from it. When I would eventually go out socialising the only thing I would be able to talk about would be sports related which can quickly grow boring depending on the company you are keeping. So now I make a point of switching off all sports related content once my trading is done for the day. I absorb myself in the complete opposite so I can then relax and sleep better. The end result is that I feel so much more fresh and eager once I return to the ladders the next time rather then having that jaded feeling I was experiencing so often.

5 – Laugh!

Finally, you should remind yourself that when trading sports not everything can be in your control. Sometimes you can do everything right but some sort of freak occurrence happens and you are out of pocket. I have learned that laughter is the best medicine in these instances.

There was a point last season when I was not having the greatest weekend football trading and not much was going my way. I was trading a match between QPR & Liverpool. I laid Liverpool at some low odds in injury time when they were leading 2-1 and QPR had a dangerous free-kick. QPR equalised from the free-kick and I was looking at a pretty big win and something that would have made up for the whole weekend. When the markets reopened there was not long left on the clock and I was wondering whether I needed to cash out my lay. Then QPR had another free-kick so I let it run thinking there would not be enough time for Liverpool to even have another attack let alone to score. I am sure you can imagine what happened next, QPR wasted the free kick and went up the other end and scored to make it a 3-2 win for them. A huge win turned into a loss just like that.

The old me would have gone crazy and started throwing things around the house but this time I just laughed since sometimes you really can not make it up!