Every successful sports bettor tracks their bets religiously. If you're looking to improve as a bettor, you need to track yours also!
Tracking bets seems like a daunting task, but it is extremely beneficial in the long run. By tracking your bets, you can learn what works and what doesn't work for you. You can also identify patterns and trends that will help you make more informed decisions when betting on sports.
In this blog post, we will discuss why you should track your bets, how to track them, and seven different ways that you can improve your sports betting strategy by tracking your bets!
What is bet tracking and why do I need to track my bets?
Bet tracking is more than just the process of recording and categorizing your sports bets. Tracking your sports bets allows you to constantly have a pulse on how you are doing, and helps you continuously improve your skill.
Imagine a stock market trader not having an understanding of how their investments are doing. Chances are they aren't going to be as good as they could be, or worse, they end up going broke.
Sports bettors without this understanding face the exact same problem when they don't track their bets.
Tracking your sports bets allows you to constantly have a pulse on how you are doing, and helps you continuously improve your skill!
How to track my sports bets?
On your sportsbook's app
If you are a more novice bettor and only use one sportsbook, tracking your bets on your book's app is a great starting point. FanDuel, Draftkings, BetMGM, and pretty much all major books provide you with a list of your historical bets, how much you've won, and your current bankroll.
✅ Pros:
No manual tracking required
Doesn't require any other tools besides your sportsbook app
Works best when you only use one sportsbook
❌ Cons:
Only very basic data is shown (sportsbooks obviously don't want you to know too much info that may help you improve)
Hard to get a holistic view of all your action if you use more than one book
If you're a bettor looking to improve, you'll want to have at least 2 sportsbooks (I explain why in this article)
In a spreadsheet
This has been the most common method for more serious bettors over the past few decades. It's tough to beat the customizability of the old-fashioned spreadsheet, and if you know your way around Excel or Google Sheets, you can learn a lot about how you bet.
If you're interested in tracking your bets in a spreadsheet, but don't know how to set it up, we've created a basic bet tracking template here.
✅ Pros:
Virtually unlimited customizability
Track all your bets in one direct area
❌ Cons:
Requires you to build and maintain a spreadsheet
Need to continuously update it manually when you place a bet and when the bet has been won or lost
Difficult to use on a mobile device
In a bet tracking app
Since sports betting was legalized in the US back in 2018, there have been several bet tracking apps for iPhone and Android that have come out which make bet tracking a breeze.
The best ones sync directly with all your books so that you don't have to manually track the bets yourself. They also provide a ton of information that can be difficult to get from a spreadsheet, and impossible to get from tracking on your book such as your betting trends, or where you are most profitable.
The Vault bet tracking app is a great option to do this.
✅ Pros:
Automatically sync with your books and track your bets for you
Provide more useful information than what a sportsbook app will show you
Easier access to information than what a spreadsheet will display
❌ Cons:
Less customizability than a spreadsheet
Occasionally these apps will charge a subscription to store your data, but generally, the time they save you, and how much they can help you improve outweigh the cost.
How to improve my sports betting strategy by tracking my bets?
1. Staying consistent with your wager size
If you've bet long enough, you know that consistency is the name of the game. Although betting off-the-cuff and inconsistently can be fun at times, if you're goal is to improve, staying consistent with your wager size is critical, and tracking your bets can help you with this.
If you're wondering how much to bet in the first place, there are a number of strategies you can find in this article.
2. Follow your bankroll
Knowing where your money is going and where you're profitable is vital to being a successful sports bettor. I don't know any serious bettors that don't keep track of their bankroll in some shape or form. If you're not tracking your bets, it's impossible to see where your money is going and how much profit or loss you are making.
3. Find what leagues you excel at
Just like it's critical to stay consistent with wager sizes, it's equally as critical to bet in areas you're doing well in. Tracking your bets allows you to find what leagues you excel in.
4. Discover what bet types you are doing well at
Just like knowing your best leagues, you also need to know your best bet types to double down on them. For example, you may learn your strategy for Spread bets is great. Or you could find that you need to improve upon your Over/Under strategy.
5. Spot your weaknesses immediately
One of the worst feelings is looking at your bet history after a season and realizing you had a weakness that could have been easily solved if it was spotted.
For example, if you didn't track your bets, you might not notice that you should have changed your MLB pitcher prop strategy early on in the season due to a rule change.
You don't want to be in that position at the end of a season, ever. Tracking all your sports bets across all your books helps you notice these things early on so you can act on them!
One of the worst feelings is looking at your bet history after a season and realizing you had a weakness that could have been easily solved if it was spotted.
6. Learn your strengths right away to capitalize on them
The opposite of #5 rings true too! What if you go through an entire NBA season and THEN realize you were up 15 units on underdog spread bets.
Tracking your bets would have allowed you to spot this strength so you could have placed more of those types of bets.
7. Identify biases you have that could be killing your strategy
Many sports bettors face the bias of favoring one team or player over another, even when the data points them to bet against them. This is a bankroll killer, and you need to be able to spot this right away!
Another common bias is called confirmation bias. This is when bettors only look for information that confirms their existing beliefs. For example, a basketball fan might only remember the times that their favorite team won when they were favored by the oddsmakers, and ignore all of the times that they lost.
Sports bettors need to be aware of these biases in order to make more informed decisions, and tracking your bets can help with that.
The best sports bettors track their bets
There you have it! Seven ways to improve your betting strategy by tracking your bets. Now it's up to you to put this information into action.
How will you track your sports bets? On your sportsbook app, in a spreadsheet, or on a bet tracking app?
Vault is the leading bet tracking app for iPhone and is used by hundreds of bettors nationwide. It helps them track their bets automatically, follow their bankroll, and ultimately improve season after season!
Download it now!
