by Stanley Ong

Created on: July 02, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Football betting is like running a marathon, not a 100 meter sprint. Each football season lasts an average of nine months. Each punter must be prepared for the long haul.

A very high percentage of punters eventually lost money. The ratio of losers could be as high as 95%. So, there is this small elite group of 5% of punters who can generate consistent profit year after year. What separate these punters from the losing punting crowd?

These are the six factors that separate the winning punters from the losers :

1) Football betting must be treated as a business, not as a hobby

This is a key factor which is often under-estimated. When you are in a business, every business transaction will be carefully handled to ensure it brings in a profit. You do not transact the business just to have fun. Same with sports betting. Serious punters devote much efforts and time to running their betting campaign as a business. They will do utmost to maximise profit and stay solvent during the gruelling campaign.

2) Have a strategising checklist

The pros establish very clear strategising criteria which involve thorough research and analysis. They place their bets based on laid down strategies and not from the 'sure-win' tips that they heard or the 'lucky hunch' that they feel.

3) Keep a systematic betting log

No business exists without proper paperwork. In football betting, this is called the betting log and all successful punters swear by it. Documenting their bets will help them to identify the reasons behind the winning bets and the causes behind the losing bets.

Keeping records takes a lot of time, efforts and discipline. But the betting log will reveal an accurate picture of all your bets.

Losing is bad. But losing not knowing why is worse. Most losing punters do not make an attempt to find out why they lost. If they knew, they would have done something about it, reverse the tide, and then become winners.

From the betting log, you may be surprised to find out that some things work better than others. Just do more of what's working and less of what's not.

4) Have sound money management rules

The winning punters know that even though they may pick more than 50% of winning bets, they may still lose if they stake more money on the losers. They know that no staking plan can turn a losing selection into a winning one BUT a good selection can be ruined by a poor staking plan.

The pros will set up sound money management rules especially on staking size. The amount will

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