Sports Betting on the NFL and college football is a national pastime. Every week millions of dollars are bet on the home town favorites with local bookies. People bet even more money with online sports book agencies. Even the major news services publish all the betting stats. If you're going to bet money on games, you might as well be as informed as possible!

There are even many sports betting sites that provide up-to-the-minute information on your favorite teams and this weeks games. Have you ever wondered how the football betting "smart money" became the smart money? Do you wonder what the football betting smart money does differently than the amateurs?

The biggest difference between professional gamblers and the amateurs is that the pros keep track of what they do, and learn from their mistakes. So with that in mind, here are the top 3 biggest mistakes I've made when betting on sports:

1. Trying To Make Up For Losses With The Next Game

This is the biggest mistake I ever made when I was younger. What would happen is that I'd get used to winning a few weeks in a row, then run across some bad luck on Saturday and Sunday. I'd be down some money going into the Monday Night Football game, and instead of being rational about the game, I'd bet 5 times as much as I should have in an effort to try to make back my losses from the weekend. This is the surest way to go broke!

2. Making Decisions Based on Emotions Instead of Logic

This mistake is closely related to mistake number one. I used to bet on games to feel good. For example, growing up I was a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I'd bet AGAINST the Steelers just so I'd feel good no matter how the game turned out. If the Steelers won, I'd lose money, but I'd be happy because I'm a Steelers fan. If the Steelers lost, I'd be happy because I'd make money.

3. Betting On My Favorite Teams

This mistake is the flip-side of mistake number two. When being involved in football betting, you must separate your feelings from your desire to make money. I used to bet on the Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates because I got tired of losing money betting against them! What happened was when my favorite teams won, and I lost money by betting against them, it would take away from enjoying the victory of my home team.

So instead, I would then bet ON my favorite team, and feel twice as good when they won, and twice as bad when they lost! What can you learn from this? Simple. You must treat football betting like a job or a business and be professional about it. You can't treat it like a form of entertainment or like an emotional fix and expect to make money with football betting. If you do find yourself betting on emotion, then you really should subscribe to a professional handicapping service that will help you to keep focused on making money instead of making yourself feel good with your bets.

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