Talking Betting with…. Sam Ingram: What I’ve Learned From Sports Betting

Sam Ingram is a contributor to bettingexpert News. In this special interview, we ask Sam for some insights into his life as a bettingexpert writer.

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• Do you remember your first bet?

I don’t remember my first bet, but I know it was a 10-fold+ acca. No research, no data – ten or more favourites. It got nowhere near.

• What do you bet on these days?

I decided to create a Twitter account to share all my selections, and it’s something I’ll continue to do. There you’ll be able to find the majority of my bets as well as any fancies I come across when writing for bettingexpert.

My go-to markets are Asian Handicap, Team Goals, Cards, Corners, and a selection of Prop markets – most notably, shots.

However, away from what I share publicly is an area where I feel like I have the edge over the bookmaker, and that’s betting in-play. I tend to feel more comfortable predicting the outcome of a game or judging player performance whilst the match is underway.

That’s an outlook likely not shared by most, but betting in the long term is all about finding your own edge – stumbling upon what market or angle works for you. If you’re at a stage where you’re unsure what that is, this is where tracking bets came in handy for me. I track everything and have done since I began placing bets more frequently than the odd acca here and there on the weekend.

Not only can you keep track of your profit/loss over multiple bookmakers, but it’s a valuable tool to see what markets are most profitable. Try and determine what stands out head and shoulders above the rest for you in terms of returns. What leagues prove most fruitful? What props do you have a knack for landing? Etc.

• How are you currently employed?

I’ve amassed a few followers posting tips on Twitter, which has, in turn, provided opportunities to share my thoughts around upcoming fixtures. One of those opportunities is that I now contribute to bettingexpert.

It’s a cracking team at bettingexpert. I work alongside them in a freelance capacity, providing betting insights and analysis exclusively for the site in a selection of articles throughout the month. It’s not just me but also Scott Thornton, Tom Winch, and Jack Wright who make up the betting contributors on the site. Not a bad betting trio!

Alongside betting, I’ve always enjoyed writing. So, for me, it’s a perfect match. I’m often asked to research leagues and fixtures that I may usually avoid too, which has been an eye-opening experience. One that has probably improved my process of locating value selections in the more obscure leagues around the world.

• What does the average week look like for you? Day by day

The football schedule is crazy at present (I’m not complaining), but let’s assume there weren’t many games on during the week for the following:

At the end of a week, I’ll usually look ahead to any new markets for matches played the following weekend. Here, it would be a case of going through each league in England, plus the top flights in Italy, Spain and France. Firstly, it’s the 1X2 and Asian markets that I look into to see if there are any standouts. If there is, I jot down said selection and delve into it further before Monday morning comes.

Away from results and handicaps, it would be a case of locating any mismatches in particular markets. For example, if Team A hits 10+ corners on average per90 and Team B hits 2+, that would interest me. Of course, I’m not going to break down my whole process, but it’s essential to work in advance of upcoming fixtures. If you’re in a position where you’re waiting for markets to be released and you know exactly what price and line would be perceived as value, you’ll be streets ahead of others waiting for the said market – not all, but the majority.

With the writing for bettingexpert, my schedule for the week is much different than it was. Now, I’m tasked to submit articles to varying deadlines on different days, making my working week one that changes every seven days. At present, a Monday would usually be where I upload the Early Bird Article. This piece includes three selections for the week ahead that stand out to me and why that’s the case.

A Tuesday is when I pen bettingexpert’s Championship Best Bets. It’s one that I had plenty of joy with last season. A league I love watching, but one that can be infuriating to bet on. Every team can beat their next opponent, making it one of the best leagues in the world.

As the week progresses, weekend markets are released by each bookmaker on different days. I’ll ensure I’m available to keep up to date with the offerings and decide whether the prices match up to any notes I’ve made throughout the week. Not only that, but any other external factors such as referee appointments and pre-match press conferences, to name just two, have a say in said selections – two happenings certainly to be mindful of.

There’s usually football on Friday evening, so I’ll watch that for any in-play opportunities. The same goes for both Saturday and Sunday. I’m confident that watching several matches on a weekend will prove valuable in-play for me. However, it also allows me to keep up with specific teams and leagues for future betting opportunities.

• What are your favourite leagues to bet on and why?

My go-to leagues to bet on are the top divisions in France, Italy and Spain, and the Premier League down to the National League in England. I have never got on well with the Bundesliga from a betting perspective, although I will dip my toe into it here and there. I’m fully aware that I’m closing myself off to potential value and betting opportunities, but it’s one league where I’ve never done too well. So, I mostly leave it be.

My favourite competitions to have a punt on have to be the Champions League and the big international tournaments. I find the bookmakers present decent betting opportunities in both – often not giving enough credit to the weaker sides and/or failing to call just how dominant one of the leading elevens will be.

• What betting markets do you target and why?

I’ve touched on them previously; Asian Handicaps have to be up there for me. Preserving your bankroll is so important in this game, and they provide the perfect opportunity to do so. To be able to take a position at shorter odds where half of your stake is returned in the event of a draw, for example, is something worth considering. You can pick the best selection in the world, and the other side can still nick a last-minute, undeserved equaliser. It’s why we all love the sport so much – cruelly unpredictable and, in fairness, really quite difficult to bet on.

If you don’t utilise the Asian Handicap market, I strongly suggest you look into it and learn what each handicap offers you as a punter. It’s a handy betting tool to have in your arsenal.

• What advice would you give anybody who wants to become a better bettor?

The worst thing you could do is create a situation where you need to win selections to be able to pay rent/bills in the coming weeks. The majority of people lose and it will cause plenty of stress and sleepless nights.

Most importantly, my advice would be to give it your all. It requires a level of devotion. Most of the time, I’m working through the week and on weekends.

This point is just as important as the previous two for me. Look, I’m no expert, far from it, in fact, but one thing I’ve always been able to do is to be clinical. Not having a bet is fine; it can be just as profitable as taking three or four losing selections. I’m happy to sit through a weekend and not take a bet if there’s nothing that stands out. I think that’s really important. I understand why people may struggle with that.

Embrace variance. It’s going to happen; you’re going to lose a lot of bets. It’s such a challenging sport to bet on, so don’t get too disheartened. But that’s not easy, especially considering how much time is spent researching and locating specific bets. For what? To pick a loser? That’s the type of question that’ll haunt you if you let it. What’s important here, though, is that you’re confident you took a value position and the reasoning for doing so was strong. You can back what looks like a sure thing, which could lose miserably. That’s sports betting. It’s brutal.

If you can harness your passion for betting/sports and prop it up against a strict staking plan and keenness to use data to inform the majority of decisions – you’ll be on the right path.

• What do you think the future of betting looks like?

I could be way off, but the high-street bookmaker may be in for a resurgence. With affordability checks and online restrictions becoming such a pain, don’t be surprised if there’s a mini-boom on the high street.

Although we’re well on the way, it’s hard not to envisage a betting landscape where you can bet on every market imaginable. The data providers are in place to facilitate it. There’s scope for in-play betting to become a more immersive experience. The plethora of markets available before kick-off aren’t available during – that will change at some point.

I imagine the leading bookmakers will continue to venture into prop markets, and that will, eventually, make up a sizable chunk of their custom on football specifically. Bet Builders have taken the industry by storm, and I’m sure the bookmakers will be looking at ways they continue to grow those bet-building functions.

• What can readers of your work expect to see on bettingexpert this season?

If I’m putting my name to something, rest assured it’s off the back of extensive data-led research. Any selections will have solid reasoning behind them.

We won’t win them all, but I’m confident we’ll remain on the right path.

Sam Ingram is a writer for bettingexpert.com. You can find him on Twitter and read his work for bettingexpert.com here.

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