Finding your own way

A common question you hear from newcomers to sports trading is, "How do you...?" and the frequent answer is, "I can't tell you." Information is the key to success in sports trading and people will hide information from others if it is of value. Once valuable information is shared it loses its value. You only have to look at a betting market to see information being shared and its value being divided up amongst the quick thinking.

I have spent the majority of my life learning how betting markets work. Even as a child I was fascinated by sports betting. And yet, I never excelled at school, in fact I was the exact opposite of a good student. You don't need to have had a good education to be a successful sports bettor but you do need to gain one. The ability to learn and research is important. At school I learned nothing. The classical schooling system never worked for me.

I wasn't a misbehaving pupil. I tried my hardest but I wasn't good at anything because I couldn't concentrate when people spoke to me. However, I am good at reading. Through reading I learned what I wanted to know for myself in the style and pace that suited me. I left school with few qualifications because I read things that 16 year olds don't need to know to pass their O-levels and yet I still ended up at Oxford University many years later.

The greatest invention during my lifetime must be the World Wide Web, although the web didn't come into being until I was 27 years old. A web browser is the best research tool available. We must all learn how to use it effectively. And by effectively I mean finding things out for yourself and not just going to a forum and asking, "How do you...?" because more often than not nobody is going to tell you and you've just wasted valuable time.

If you are weak at mathematics (statistics and probability theory especially) then learn it online. With sports markets ever more similar to financial markets you should use financial trading websites to help you understand betting markets more. Both markets work using the same principles of supply and demand. You must also learn some basic programming techniques to increase your work flow.

Read. Learn. Experiment. And keep on doing it until you succeed.