As a general rule there are two groups of gamblers – those who hope to win and those who expect to win. The vast majority of gamblers belong to the first group, and always will, because their actions contradict their intentions. Here at VinnOnline.com, we aim to explain why.

There is no simple secret to attaining long-term betting profitability, all professional players serve a long apprenticeship, but if you aspire to join this elite group there are some basic concepts that you need to come to grips with in order to make the transition from ‘square’ to ‘sharp’.

The first choice that a novice gambler must make is where to place their bet. More often than not, this is where they make their first and biggest mistake, simply because they don’t understand how bookmakers work.

In simple terms, bookmakers make a profit by pricing their betting markets so that the odds offered do not fairly represent the actual statistical probability of the event concerned. The simplest analogy is betting on a coin toss, which statistically represents a 50/50 chance (even money or 1/1) on either outcome – heads or tails. When betting with a friend, you’d bet €10 to win €10.

Most bookmakers however, would offer heads or tails at odds below 1/1, so you would for example have to bet €11 to win €10 (10/11) on what is essentially an equal chance. If one player bets €11 to win €10 on heads and another punter bets €11 to win €10 on tails, the bookie takes in €22 in bets but regardless of whether the outcome is heads or tails, he will pay out €21 (€10 in winnings and return the player’s stake amount of €10). The difference between the odds they offer, and the true price represents the bookies’ margin, in this case a €1 profit or 4.5% on turnover.

At PinnacleSports they typically price two-way markets – such as the five major European soccer leagues – to 102%, which offers up to 60% better odds than traditional bookmakers. Using the example of the coin toss, you would have to win close to c. 53% of bets to break even with traditional bookmakers, but at a low margin online sports book like PinnacleSports you would only need to win c. 51% of your picks to break even.

Don’t waste your money when you’re trying to make a profit. Play the highest odds available. A nice starting package of bookmakers in my opinion would be Bet365, Betfair, Betsafe and Pinnacle. Bet365 provides the best livebetting experience available online, Betfair provides the benefit of being able to bet against other players, Betsafe is a nice allround bookie who often gives away free money and Pinnacle very often gives away the highest prices there is online.