A question for sports bettors

[IsraelK]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

I get exactly what you’re saying, and you’re not wrong. Watching a sport closely is a form of analysis. If you follow cricket daily, you already understand form, conditions, matchups, momentum, and context better than someone staring at stats once a week.

The difference is that when people say “analysis,” they often mean structuring that intuition, checking lineups, pitch/weather, odds movement, motivation spots, or price vs probability. For some bettors it’s formal; for others it’s instinct built from years of watching.

[Rockstarguy]

Analyzing a game is about looking back at the performance and the outcome of the club you want to choose for betting. When betting, you don't just look at the current performance of the club you are choosing but also consider the historical performance of the club. Analyzing means bringing everything together to examine the team.

If you are betting based on the current performance of a team or the performance of recent games, you may be making some mistakes; you have to consider everything to increase the chances of winning. That is why you must analyze.

[libert19]

No matter how much of a sports person that you are, there will still be a lot of things that you won't know about some teams if you don't do even if it's small search on those things and fact is that the minutest detail can sometimes influence the outcome of a game. Take for instance the ongoing African cup of nations, Nigeria has been doing really well but at the moment, they have small internal friction that's cursing speculation that some of their key players are not in good terms. If that's the case, regardless of how solid the team is, it might affect Thier general play. Those are the kind of things doing proper analysis can help reveal.

In addition to this, sometimes, you might be led to include teams you're not too conversant with, you will need to do some check on them to know what you're actually doing. Those are the basic place where research is quite necessary.

Albeit, I mentioned watching itself is analyzing but alongside I also mentioned, keeping up with sports, being passionate about it and that implies following the relevant social media handles so you stay up to date with stuff going behind the closed doors.

...I analyze because I want to know the history of the two teams playing each other, the results of the last 5 or 10 games, if the team usually concedes a lot of goals, if the team plays well away from home, and a few other things

I think it's very important to analyze, especially because it's difficult and practically impossible to watch all the games you bet on...

All things you mentioned can be known by watching game, and that's what I mean, you don't have to 'analyze' if you are keeping up with sports but sure do analysis if you are not keeping up and need to pull out history.

In as much as watching a game on a regular basis has that chill feeling you will have for teams, that does not automatically translate into betting, because betting requires very technical readings, for example, you will have to put player injuries into account, head to head count records, and how the teams form is, not to mention the environmental conduciveness! becuase you will have to look at the venue and weather quality as well and all these factors can alter the outcome of a game without the permission of passion.

Most of that can be known by watching the game. For player injuries, you can follow updates handle(s) on social media.

Since you mentioned cricket, match analysis is definitely important for you. Because in cricket, knowing the nature of the pitch is very important. It is important to analyze the strength of the players of both the teams on that pitch. If you look at the last T20 World Cup, you will see that Australia lost the match against Afghanistan, can you say why Australia lost the match despite being so strong? If the format had been an ODI or a Test match instead of T20, would Afghanistan have had a chance of winning the match?

Afghanistan is team that can pull off upsets, they have shown it several times by coming close to beat much stronger teams or by actually beating them, and you take this knowledge into account when making a bet. As for whether AFG could win against AUS in ODI, they came close to doing so in ODI '23 WC, for test I wouldn't get my hopes high (that's if they play in first place).

...You don't need to analyze it separately because your mind can automatically analyze and make a decision...

Precisely.

...This is a really thoughtful and helpful thread. People who watch live matches have a higher chance of correct predictions over people who just analyze based on statistics, because they see these performances live, the chances created, the possession held and the understanding as a team, that is beyond just normal analysis.

Thank you. I feel validated.

I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

It depends... Are you watching the match as someone who is a fan and enjoys the sport, or are you watching it to place an educated bet?
^{- If you're someone who belongs to both categories, then it makes sense to watch & analyze it again, but this time on a deeper level (you can miss relevant details when you're under stress or excited).}

I think the one who's fan and enjoys the sports can only make a good bet, without this passion what exactly are you gonna get by watching? Boredom?

Analysis gives you more clarity about the match, allowing you to place a bet wisely. You are watching as a fan, but there is a difference between watching a match as a fan and watching a match as a gambler. As a fan, you watch a match out of love for a team, but as a bettor, you pay attention to the bowlers performance, the pitch conditions, the excitement of the players, injuries, previous match performances, and much more. As a fan, you can't focus on such details, but as a bettor, you consider all of this, and that is made possible through analysis.

As a fan too, you automatically get relevant info etched into your head, that too without any deliberate effort.

I get exactly what you’re saying, and you’re not wrong. Watching a sport closely is a form of analysis. If you follow cricket daily, you already understand form, conditions, matchups, momentum, and context better than someone staring at stats once a week.

The difference is that when people say “analysis,” they often mean structuring that intuition, checking lineups, pitch/weather, odds movement, motivation spots, or price vs probability. For some bettors it’s formal; for others it’s instinct built from years of watching.

Good comment. Why do you ruin your account even before you start by using AI!?

[danadc]

Analysis is useful for generating more accurate predictions The goal is to make money, not just bet for the sake of betting Those who don't do any analysis won't get good results Results are directly related to our analysis, Sports betting is different from entering a casino where it all depends on luck in this case, analysis is crucial.

[KTChampions]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

I don't know about everyone else, but how much free time does the average person have to watch games of more than just their favorite team? It seems to me that the pace of life is such that there is no time even for your favorite team. So, it's hard for me to imagine watching a lot of games and therefore understanding the balance of power. I rather read a lot of information (including text broadcasts of games) and derive my understanding from that. The big advantage of analysis is that you can do it at any time convenient for you, while games can only be watched according to someone else's schedule.

[Bright0515]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

I understand what you are saying, watching the match is same as analyzing the match but because of the entertainment while watch the match live will make you lose focus on analyzing (I'm speaking based on how I understand it). You can watch a match today and forget mody of the part the next day, that is why sometimes gamblers still check the history and head to head and highlights so that they can remember what they forgot happened in the match. From my understanding , gamblers that don't watch live matches do more of analyzing than gamblers that watches live match.

[hedgeh0g]

Analysis is useful for generating more accurate predictions The goal is to make money, not just bet for the sake of betting Those who don't do any analysis won't get good results Results are directly related to our analysis, Sports betting is different from entering a casino where it all depends on luck in this case, analysis is crucial.

Of course, this is true; analysis is crucial, but it's important to understand how well we're actually betting. We might bet and win 10 times in a row, but in reality, that's just random chance. And then we'll just think we're experts and keep betting, ultimately losing a large sum. I'm saying there's only one way to understand this: by playing according to risk management and taking various factors into account, such as placing identical bets to determine whether we're profitable after a few hundred or thousand bets.

[Antotena]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

These comes different with some sports. If I bet on game, I don't like my attention to be divided when I'm watching the match, I like to arrange my games some hours before the match, I do the analysis and the check before the game time and then put the amount I'm ready to let go till when the match are done before I go back to check, even during the second half I don't check them, I wait for the completion of the games because cashout can deny you good money.

Today a team is doing well but before the next game, their main guy get injured. By next game, you will have to look around who is going to be a fix for that position. You may even have a change of mind about who becomes the new guy that play the position. If you don't look at all this and analyze them before the game, you are going to eat your next L, maybe I'm the only person that view it this way but that's the way I run my games.

[Mhizlove]

You can't watch all the matches which is why some people do their analysis before placing their bets. Some matches clashes with the other, I only watch these big clubs matches because I want to bet on them. For the club that I don't watch their matches, I have a make a proper analysis.

If it's two big teams or rivals, no need of any analysis because I use their current form to pick the winner.

I get what you're saying. Because nobody can watch all matches especially when the games clashes and we all know that the analysis is necessary. All your attention will be on the big clubs you watch and understand them, relying on the proper analysis.

 For strong opponent matches keeping current form alone can guide you when your making a pick and it's key factor is when your balance and with the combination of watching also add analysis and lastly discipline yourself to avoid you from informed betting.

[yhiaali3]

There's a difference between watching live and analyzing it separately. Watching gives you a general impression of a team's or player's performance, such as who seems to be in good form or who is applying more pressure. However, it's often emotional and fleeting, tied to the moment of the match. But watching alone can be misleading.

As for separate analysis, you must collect data and figures outside the realm of real-time viewing such as performance statistics (possession percentage, number of shots, successful pass rate....) the history of encounters between the two teams or tactical patterns that are repeated across different matches, not just in one match.

[Gozie51]

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?
.

Analysing the match means taking time to look at the possibilities in the match without biase, sentiment or emotions. If you just base your bet on what you have watched previously, you might be making mistakes because you won't capture the real analysis like injuries, team spirit, the bench and the players that will be featured, this is important and that is why matches are analysed. It is hasty if you don't take all those into consideration and you just make a bet because of the name of the team. As far as you are analysing, you will also take into cognizance about the features of the opposite team that you are betting on and that will give you a balance analysis.

[rachael9385]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

There is a difference between analyzing the game and actually watching the game, this is something that a lot of people get mixed up. analyses has to do with taking informations and doing comparisons to come up with a final decision and watching the game adds a little bit of knowledge to you what you already know as a sports bettor but it has no connection with analyzing a game prior to when it starts

[uchegod-21]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

In my opinion, some people who watch matches regularly some get emotionally biased when finally placing bets base on what they've watched.  Everyone has a team they support, no matter what, some will never bet against their favourite team. In this case, an extra analysis will help in ensuring that the decisions are not emotionally influenced. The bettor will be sure to check out avery fact that validates his decisions, such as the players, injuries, fatigue, odds and even previous records. An additional analysis won't hurt

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

Well, other bettors may not have the type of opportunity or privilege you have, for example, myself - I love to bet on football games, especially in the premier league and the current African cup of nations being played currently, when the world cup comes, I love to bet on football games in the world cup as well but as a business man who hardly stays at home, I hardly have time to watch match or follow up on the scores, there are times 3 to 4 or more rounds of match will be played and I won't know what the scores are, this is mostly when I travel out of my city..

When in such a situation, when I come back and decided to place some bets on a coming match, I will have to sit and make analysis to know the outcome of all other matches that I missed, before I decide who to bet on and how to bet, this is it for me, and this does not mean I don't love the game enough, I love but not to the detriment of my business or personal stuff.

[9ja Amaka]

I don't think, there is anyone here that watch all the games in sports to know every team, how they play, perhaps remember to weight the strength of each team in a match by remembering their last performance.

Statistics is not stored in the brain, not everyone can remember it vividly. Also, most people watch the premier league, not all others league. While some people watch all the leagues. Someone that watch only the premier league need to analyze matches in other league before betting on them.

[Zlantann]

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

History has a way of repeating itself. That is why sports bettors analyse past games of both teams to ascertain which club is the favourite based on head-to-head. You also need to check the quality of the pkayers available. If key players are injured or suspended, this could affect the outcome of the games. There is other information that would have to be considered before placing bets. Watching games is also a good source of information but there are still others that could be helpful.

[rbynxx]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

it is analyzing the mach yes but most of the time you tend to bet on games during pre matches and only there's also who tend to bet during live matches. No, it's not, you won't be able to analyze everything because players and teams do have some changes and there's a few percentage that the same thing will happen the next match. You are probably into live matches and that's not a bad thing but with live matches odds tend to change quickly whereas during pre matches you can lean much better on a team or a player but it's not a guarantee of course.

[HONDACD125]

I remember reading some comments here that say, we spend time, 'analyzing' the matches, and I wonder, isn't watching the match, itself analyzing the match?

If you keep up with sports you are passionate about, shouldn't that automatically give you an idea about everything? What's up with this idea of 'analyzing' the matches separately?

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

Analyzing a match is not about the matches that you have watched, it's about the matches that you have missed but you need to know what happened in those matches, how the teams played, and how the players performed, etc. When you watch a game, you obviously don't need to analyze it because you have watched everything, and you already know how both teams played and which side is better, have more understanding of the situations, play better at that particular stadium, etc.

You said you watch cricket, and you understand everything, but that is only possible if you are constantly watching all the games of the teams on which you are going to make your bets on, because you can't watch every single cricket game that is being played, and this means that you will only have to wait for the games where teams are involved which you have watched recently, otherwise, you won't be able to make any bets.

Someone who analyzes the games they haven't watched will gain knowledge about the teams and players involved, and then they can make bets on those teams as well even if they haven't watched their games live.

[icebar]

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?
.

Analysing the match means taking time to look at the possibilities in the match without biase, sentiment or emotions. If you just base your bet on what you have watched previously, you might be making mistakes because you won't capture the real analysis like injuries, team spirit, the bench and the players that will be featured, this is important and that is why matches are analysed. It is hasty if you don't take all those into consideration and you just make a bet because of the name of the team. As far as you are analysing, you will also take into cognizance about the features of the opposite team that you are betting on and that will give you a balance analysis.

Watching matches and analyzing them are both important and neither can be ignored. If someone watches the match live, he will get a good idea about the current condition of the players. There are some who perform very well but their performance in recent matches is not good, in that case, the previous results will definitely not be useful. It is also true that those who sometimes see a player play on the field have a weakness or emotion towards a player. If the previous statistics can be combined with watching the match and making a decision, I think that can be a logical decision.

[Porfirii]

-snip-

Do you understand what I am sayin? Do you do this separate 'analysis' of games before making a bet or is merely keeping up with sports is enough for you to make your bets?

As for me, I never did this, 'analysis' thingy, I watch cricket regularly, and I know what I should be doing while making bets.

In my case, my favourite sport is football, and since I watch matches regularly I don't think I need to carry out a more thorough analysis, just like you said. Other members like comparing stats and objective data on different teams' and players' performance, but I doubt it is worth the effort and, besides, I find it terribly boring. So you can call me a more intuitive player, if you want, because sports analysis is definitely not for me, even if I respect those with the patience to do it.