Are There Professional MMA Gamblers?
If you came looking for professional MMA gamblers to follow, check the bottom of this page for suggested Twitter accounts, sites and other resources found on our site. Now, if you wish to become a pro gambler, keep reading.
MMA Betting is somewhat new for sports gamblers, but regardless of the sport, principles to become a professional gambler are the same. Having a deep knowledge of the sport is a must, off course.
History, present fighter’s profiles, statistical records and knowing what really goes inside a fight ring is also required; but there is also an financial investment angle to this all, that is, if you desire to be successful.
Here you will learn the principles to become a professional MMA gambler.
Many from the new gambling generation have mastered the first aspect, to be fully knowledgeable about the sport. They know the fighters, enjoy watching the fights and can predict several outcomes out of “hunches”.
This is what lures them in the first place to MMA betting, their ability to predict. But once bettors begin to continuously take part in bets, the more they realize how incredibly difficult it is to turn a profit, even with their high range of correct predictions.
A typical gambler requires to win 4 out of 5 bets to stay in profit. A professional only needs 2 wins out of 5 bets to be in business, sometimes just 1 in 5.
Why is it that you can predict so many correct outcomes and not turn a profit?
Is it not a scam or cheat by the sportsbooks, but a lack of understanding of financial investment principles by the gamblers who tend to see gambling as a side distraction that earns cash.
Most mainstream bets for high profile fights offer the worst odds in the market. If you are betting on the top fighters every single time, the risk taken is just too high.
Straight or money line bets on favorite contenders tend to pay 30% to 50% of your stake. This means you need to win 4 out of 5 bets every single time to turn a 20% profit. That is a lot of hard work for so little money. And the truth is, favorites do not always win.
So what do successful MMA gamblers do?
Something called Value Betting.
Following we will mention a few pointers to perform value betting like a real pro. With value betting gamblers risk less and win a lot more. The table turns around, you can lose more bets but still come out in profit. Less work, more money.
Steps to Become a Professional MMA Gambler
1. Value Betting on MMA
Value Betting is the process of selectively picking your bets based on the value they offer, not the probability of winning.
For example, you might have a fight featuring Jon Jones as the super favorite, you can intuitively think he can win the fight, but the odds offer a 20% payout of your stake.
So Jones odds pay poorly, so what? It is a sure winner.
A smart value bettor will consider this bet, but before taking a final decision he follows a process called handicapping lines.
2. Handicapping Lines
The sportsbooks present you their odds on the fighters. How they define these odds is based on their own personal formula to determine a fighter’s chance of winning, these odds will then shift up or down based on market demand.
Handicapping lines are a formula defined by your OWN rules to determine your OWN odds.
– Sportsbook #1 – Jon Jones 80% chance of winning
– Sportsbook #2 – Jon Jones 60% chance of winning
– You – Jon Jones 75% chance of winning
Who do you bet with or not?
According to your analysis Sportsbook #1 is overvalued and you ignore it.
Sportsbook #2 is offering good odds, 15% in value based in your analysis. You might want to take that bet.
The formula and steps to build a handicapping line are simple, it’s mostly a score card and all you have to do is add-up all scores to reach a percentage and compare the handicap lines vs the bookies. Take the most valuable offer and scratch the low ones.
This process is also known as gambling theory or expected value. Its foundation stands on the prospect that if you only take odds that are undervalued under your expert view, in the long run your balance will turn out positive.
3. Margin of Safety
Margin of safety is the difference between the money line odds and the bookies odds, a part of the process of Value Betting.
Your minimum limit should be 20% margin of safety (20% more value than what the bookie offer)
To be honest, you will not find these on favorite fighters, only underdogs and prop bets. But this is the key to being successful, this is how you win more with a smaller margin of effectiveness.
4. Professional Sports Gamblers Bet on Underdogs
Most of the professional bettors that I know focus on the underdog when making a pick.
The general public usually loses money because they bet on the favorites all the time. There is more value in the smaller fights.
This also becomes an advantage for underdog bettors (one of the most solid strategies of professional gamblers is to bet underdogs only) as the betting pools shift to offer them better odds.
Sports Betting Fact: “Favorites win 80% of times.”
Underdogs only win 20% of the time. This means you as a professional need to learn how to correctly pick your fights, and bet a whole lot less than the usual betting junkie.
BetMMA.Tips has a special section on the top 10 underdog winners by category (source 2), a perfect starting point for your value betting strategy.
5. Less is More
Every professional gambler will tell you this, make it a rule of thumb. Bet less but smarter.
If you desire to be profitable you need to be picky with your selections. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Only take bets with juicy margins and value odds.
6. MMA Betting Tools
Our site supports one of the best MMA odds feed in the market. It provides live odds from 12 major online sportsbooks for every MMA fight featured.
Additional data includes:
– Average odds across sites
– Graphs with odds movement over time (demand for a bet)
– Fighter´s odds history
– Alerts on specific bets or odds
7. Free Betting Pools and Bonus Offers
Bonus offers and special promos might have nothing to do with your skill, but they offer an extra edge in your bankroll. Take advantage of deposit offers, the only requirement is for you to bet multiple times before claiming any winnings.
– Free Betting Pools are special bonuses that reward you at no risk.
– Pick Em bets are contests by fantasy sites that award gamblers who make the top picks.
– Overlays, also known as “guaranteed events”, allow you to place a specific bet on a hard selection, but if you lose a cashback will be awarded for the same amount of your bet. Cashbacks can be used to place other bets, but not to cash out.
8. Gambling on the Undercards
Undercards are low profile fights that usually open the main fight, or fights between unknown fighters that are making a debut.
There is a lot more value on undercard fights because there isn’t enough info for the sportsbooks to determine proper odds, and the general public does not flood the betting pools for the favorite. Which makes it safer to bet on the favorite, if you can determine who it is.
9. Arbitrage MMA Opportunities
Arbitrage or Arb betting, is the process of finding odds from two different sportsbooks that are completely different. The difference is such, that if you make a bet on both offers you will make a small profit no matter the outcome of the fight.
Example:
Rory MacDonald vs Demian Maia
MacDonald: -222 (Bovada)
Maia: +249 (5 Dimes)
With a $222 bet on Macdonald and a $100 on Maia the results will be:
– MacDonald win – Breakeven
– Maia win – $27 profit
A specific bet amount on each offer is required for the arb to be successful. You can use an arb calculator (source 2) or better yet, use an arb software like OddStorm (source 3).
Considerations with arbs
– Most sportsbooks hate arbitrageurs, and it is not really understood why. Check the TOS to know if your account is in risk of being frozen if caught. There are arb training courses to learn how to be a pro arber and hide your actions.
– The profit range from most arbs is 1% to 3%. This means you need to place dozens of arbs in order to break a profit. There is no room for mistakes.
– Arbs can go wrong when you are not quick enough to place bets. This is why successful arbing needs to be done through an arb software.
– Arb software accounts are expensive. It requires a high bankroll to perform, in the $5k and beyond area in order to have sufficient funds on several different sportsbooks.
9. Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is how you plan to spend your balance. Follow these basic tips most pros consider standard:
Stake sizes should be 1% to 2% of total balance
Example – Your balance is $200, then your stake size following a 1% rule is $2.00 per bet.
Maintain your stake size in percentages to help grow your account
Everytime you cross a $100 barrier in your balance adjust the stake size.
Example – Your balance grows to $305.00, then increase your stake size to $3.00, which is still 1%.
Established a withdrawal amount in percentage and fix dates
A suggestion would be to withdraw once every 30 days, between 10% to 25% of your earnings.
10. MMA Pro Tipsters for Free
There are many successful tipsters that can be followed online for free:
– Our Pro Picks section is a great area to begin at. 8 expert picks for the same upcoming fight, that way you can balance what the general opinion is. Our tips are up to date.
– @MMA_Betting can be found on Twitter with more than 16k followers by the time of publication.
– @betMMAtips, one of our favorite sources for MMA data also has a free following Twitter account.
Citacions
(2) betmma.tips, UFC 10 Underdog Winners, 2015
(3) scalpulator.com, Arb Calculator, 2016
(4) oddstorm.com, Oddstorm Arbitrage Software, 2016
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