Most sports fans will likely say to themselves “betting on sports must be easy!” Sadly, it is not. Even the most “expert” sports bettor will struggle at times and experience cold spells. However, there are things that any bettors can do to help improve their chances of success.

The most obvious way to do this is to remove emotion from your betting decisions. This may seem like common sense, but bettors often make poor choices when they are emotional or overly excited about a particular team or outcome of a game. This is why many bettors fail to make money and eventually quit.

Another important aspect of sports betting is to research the teams and players you’re putting your money on. This includes knowing the current state of the team, the past record against the opponent and any other pertinent information about the team. You should also read the latest news, listen to radio and television broadcasts and watch practice sessions. Lastly, a pro sports bettor will keep near-obsessive records of their bets. This will allow them to test theories, such as the theory that left-handed pitchers have a better chance of winning games against right-handed batters.

In addition to researching teams and players, sports bettors should be familiar with the different types of wagers. The most common are moneylines, spreads and parlays. But there are also prop bets, which are based on individual player performance and don’t show up in the boxscore, like how many touchdown passes a specific player will throw.