I have been betting on sport for 16 years and can say hand on heart that you never stop learning in this game.

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3 years ago I went on a good run but rather than withdrawing all of my winnings I left a fair percentage of it in various bookmaker accounts and formed what I call my float or bankroll. It has turned out to be the best move I could have made and this past weekend was a case in point.

As with most weekends I had begun formulating my opinions well ahead of time and Western Province to beat Griquas by 7 points or more was my best bet. On Friday night though I went for the Bulls over the Leopards, a bet where I only started making money on the home team when they won by 36 points or more. Being a spread bet (not fixed odds) my potential reward increased the more points over this line the Bulls won by but on the downside I would be punished the more wrong I was and boy was I wrong!

The Leopards came close to winning the game and having pictured a worst case scenario of a Bulls win by 20 points I took one of my biggest ever single match hits, I won’t mention the figure but it was ugly.

Had this happened 3 years ago my weekend would probably have been done and dusted but thanks to my bankroll I was able to get up the next morning to plan my comeback. I bided my time until my best bet arrived and although my confidence was low I stuck to my guns and backed WP to break their Kimberley hoodoo.

The log leaders did not let me down and they crushed their opponents by 47 points and I enjoyed my biggest ever single match win which was enough to not only cover Friday’s losses but actually put me well up for the weekend.

While obviously relieved at the outcome I took some time to pat myself on the back for keeping enough money in my float to absorb the big Bulls hit which allowed me to punt on with a clear mind rather than with the mentality of a desperate gambler chasing a loss.

If you are serious about sports betting then build a bankroll, it will take some pressure off and you won’t regret it!

Betting previews for the weekends Currie Cup games will be posted in our RUGBY SECTION and for the opening weekends previews in the English Premier League go to our FOOTBALL SECTION

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 12th of August 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”..

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za