Betting on yourself - an extra motivator or mental burden?

[Hatchy]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

I just remembered I did this alot while in the university.. when we as friends play together we bet on who would win to take all the money. It was a cool time of ones life.. then you had to take personal practice sessions in the field alone, trying to train for the next game so you would not lose to your opponents.. even on virtual games we do this alot. You would have to beat up to 3 different players on different matches to collect the win and the best player takes the staked reward. Betting on oneself helps to improve performance.. yes it might stress you to a huge length but along the line, you would become better with your thing.. it's just an open room for improvement..

[HONDACD125]

I've never been into professional sports where one could possibly place bets on themselves or the team they are playing in, also because I come from a place where such things were not available, especially in those times when I was still into sports and stuff, because gambling and casinos are not allowed or legal in our country. However, people did use to place bets privately like with each other, or maybe there were people collecting bets on teams that are playing a specific game and then give away winnings to those who placed bets on the winning side, but I never did it on myself.

Just like some other friends said, we used to play games among friends where we would make bets with each other, mostly for food and drinks where the losing team would pay for food and drinks for everyone in the circle, etc. I think such bets would make you put in more efforts in trying to win the game because obviously, you wouldn't want to be on the losing side and pay a portion of the amount used for the after-party, lol.

[bhadz]

It benefits those who have bad intention of how the game will end. They'll simply bet that they're against themselves and they'll win the money. I won't do it to myself but I've seen people who are part of leagues that have done it. And so, it's obvious that they have made funny moves that are against themselves and that's why they chose to lose because that means more money to them and they'd win their bets. But seriously, if it's like a friendly game, I'll definitely will put my trust on myself and will bet for my team to win.

[AVE5]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

You can count on me Op, betting on oneself on either a game or sport events is accompanied with a lot of positive energies to go beyond your capabilities.
During performance in such an event, it's usually motivating that someone can go beyond thought with a very high energy to take the crown.
Betting on oneself can bring lot of controversials that sometimes brings disagreements amongst friends who're participating on the competition which they still don't understand that once it involves staking to win, it should be treated as a just fun because, some persons betting on such p2p ends up creating enemities amongst themselves.

[promise444c5]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

Never bet on myself even though i used to be active in sports back then.. Football, table tennis, running, high jump and long jump(this particularly gave me a serious injury that made me quit ).

I never bet on myself, but if I were to use myself as an example, I would always carry the responsibility of winning the money, and that depends on the structure(which is definitely flawed).. I could still decide to lose the game just to win my bet, or make some group win through an agreement.

If it’s all about betting on yourself to win, there’s nothing bad in it, it gives extra motivation to win.. Going beyond that probably isn’t something cool to do.

Overall, answering the question according to the thread, it doesn’t lead to bad performance unless you decide to purposely make it bad.

Betting on oneself shouldn’t be allowed anyway, and it usually isn’t allowed in professional systems .

[Alpha Marine]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

Betting on myself is extra motivation for me. There are times when friends have challenged me to a race, and I usually get extra motivated when a bet is involved. I have also bet on myself in table tennis (ping pong). I used to be very good when I was still active and I usually get extra motivated when a bet was involved.
Sometimes, even when money is not involved, the challenge alone would be an extra motivation. I usually do better under those kind of pressure.

In team sports, long ago, we also place bets on ourselves against another team. The games where money is involves gets very competitive and physical. Nobody wants to lose. the money alone might not be the motivating factor. The bragging right is the bigger motivation.
So yea, I think betting on myself is an extra motivation.

[finaleshot2016]

Is placing bets to your team winning against other teams in a 5v5 computer shop custom game considered?

'cause if yes, IMO it's an extra motivator.

During my early days, I usually gamble to fight other teams, I bet my savings and it's not a hindrance because it's normal, you need to defeat the enemy team to have a 2x multiplier on your bet. That's one of my sources of money during my young age, gamble in 5v5 dota2, counter strike or lol game and not to brag but I'm undefeated until I stopped playing competitive. So for me, as long as you have a good mental, it's a motivator for yourself, you need to win the game no matter what, you don't feel pressure if it's the nature of the game.

but it's not for everyone, if you don't have a good mental, then stop gambling if you feel that pressure will just be a hindrance. and besides, sports and esports should be fun at all so even if you gamble with it, you should enjoy it, it's just money that you've risked because you trust yourself, don't overthink everything and just enjoy. If you lose then it's not your fault, the money is gone but at least you had fun and show your potential because there's a risk on the line.

[Dave1]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

I'm not really sure if this is will be an added motivation for you specially if you are a pro player. Maybe if you are just a regular player or the league that you are into is a low tier. But if you are a pro and we have seen this before, that this is illegal and if you are caught, your career is on the line.

As per my experience though, just friendly bets on some games with friends and that's it. I never bet on myself most of the time. As it could really be put a lot of pressure on yourself or even with your team mates because you want to win and the game might be ugly.

[robelneo]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

It really depends on how you handle the pressure. There is pressure when you need to win because you bet on yourself, and we all know that if you force yourself to win, things will not go your way. You may even disobey your coach or instructor's plan because you will find a way for yourself to win.
But it's better to bet on yourself than to bet on your opponent; the former is that you are pressuring yourself to win, the latter is that you are finding a way to lose.

[Davidvictorson]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

People reacting to pressure in different ways. Pressure may be a motivating factor for people or it may break some others. Personally, in any competitive game, I would never bet on myself. It is a mental burden for me.
I prefer to be the judge of other people's perfomance and bet on them and not the other way around.

[Hazink]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

It will definitely put unnecessary pressure on the player. As long as he places a bet on himself, he will have to push himself more than his limit just to make sure that he wins the bet and the same thing will also be applicable to the other guy that's if both people who place a bet are on the field, and for football such type of betting will destroy team collaboration as one person will want to score or meet up with what ever they place bet on.

[pawel7777]

Whenever betting on an event is available to the public, participants of such event should not be allowed to bet on it, even if they are betting on themselves.
Even betting on yourself would have an impact on the outcome, and it's not necessarily a positive one.
Let's say you're a boxer with a lot of confidence and you bet big on you KO'ing your opponent within the first 5 rounds. But what if that didn't happen and the fight goes to round 6? You realise you lost a fortune and even if the fight is still going, you could already be mentally broken, demotivated and distracted, which could affect the outcome.
Or let's say you only bet on you winning (instead of winning by KO) - it could still impact your performance, e.g. if the fight is close, you might be winning but you don't want to leave it to judges, so you're changing your strategy to overly aggressive and reckless, which could actually result in your loss.

As for the motivating factor, I guess it entirely depends on personality. Some athletes perform better under pressure, others do better when they are calm and relaxed.

[Gozie51]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

I believe this is like a P2P betting in with an individual or grouped games. In the past, I have taken part of this kind of betting but not for a long time  before I stopped that. But what I see such kind of betting doing is that it served as a training ground for more serious games because back then, there were matches played in secondary like competitions, so with such smaller group matches, you can grow from not being fit to being fit if you are consistent playing the individual or group betting. So it is a source of rehearsal for a bigger competition.

[alastantiger]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

Betting on yourself is a nuanced form of motivation, but it rarely works the way people would imagine. The idea that money automatically sharpens focus is seductive, yet it ignores the psychological cost. Your performance under pressure requires more than just drive, you need clarity, composure, and trust in your own process. Introducing a financial stake shifts attention from playing well to not losing money, which can undermine the very performance the bet is meant to boost in the first place.

[death69]

You are already dealing with adrenaline, crowd noise if there is any, your coach yelling something, your own internal dialogue on whether you are playing well or not. Now add money on top of that? It is extra variables and the brain does not deal with multiple variables very well when you are meant to be operating on instinct.

This happen in poker rooms more than sports but the principal is the same. People play differently when it is their stake versus other people money. Tighter, usually. More conservative. Which in poker might be OK but in basketball or whatever you need it that flow state where you are not thinking, you are just reacting.

The bet causes you to be more concerned with the outcome than the process itself, which is completely upside down from the way performance works. You start playing not to lose instead of playing to win if that makes sense?

[Ivystar5]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

Betting on yourself is not allowed but however I believe it's an extra benefit if you win but if you loss it's a double loss, vice versa, so it's going to be a very big motivator but a high pressure on your shoulder as you will want to prove yourself frequently and pushing beyond your limits, it could even get you killed in that especially when it has to do with boxing.

[lixer]

This reminds me of my college days. We all used to play sports like cricket, tennis, etc and to make it more fun and challenging, we used to put money. Like Team A vs Team B in cricket and then the losing team pays like $5 to the winning team. It never turned ugly because it was small amounts we were betting and it made the games a lot more challenging such that everyone wants to give their 100%.

Obviously as professional athletes you cannot bet on yourself. I wonder if some sports players still bet on themselves though because it's so easy for them to win bets. Recently a UFC fighter sold a fight and got caught lol.

[EluguHcman]

It's fun to bet on yourself or on a team that you are part of. I could remember when casino wasn't that common, the only way to enjoy gambling is betting on yourself. I played snooker a lot and do stake on the game to make profits on who wins the game. Sometimes, we organize a three man football match and bet on it.

I wouldn't say it puts pressure on me rather, it makes me take the game more seriously than when money isn't involved. I have gambled through various means in the past.

I have also undergone the experience of staking in one on one gaming social activities such as swimming competition with friends.
It usually goes with some settings that requires participants to put their possible best efforts just to secure winning chances. Not just for the winning price the entertainment.

Of course you can call that pressure because you will force yourself with extra energies to make sure you emerges winner just as others will also put up to their very best to sound's out.

[Agbamoni]

Yes, I bet on myself when I'm playing either Chess, snooker, or table tennis. They are one man sport, and sometimes we get tempted to bet with our opponent.

I actually dont see anything wrong when you bet on yourself, especially when you know you are confident enough to win your opponent. When you bet on yourself, you feel motivated to do better.

[tabas]

So, in your opinion, does betting on yourself benefit you and your performance, or will it only create extra pressure that can cause bad effects to your performance?

It has to put a buff on you when you do that because you've staked your money and there is no reason why you have to lose it. The extra pressure that it will create is nothing compared if you've become victorious to these matches or games that you are part of the game. As for the bad effects, I think that most of the athletes doesn't think of it when they're in the actual game and just casually to do the given part of theirs. If you fail your team then it means that you're also going to fail with your own bet which equals to losing money.