How to Avoid Availability Bias

Perhaps, you have stumbled upon many football bettors who tend to follow their instincts while they are making up their mind about the stakes they should make, or about the teams, they are going to punt on. You might not be aware of this but the main reason why this happens is that in the decision-making, gambling enthusiasts are guided by the so-called “rules of thumb”. Unfortunately, on account of these rules, soccer lovers might not make the best possible moves in the particular situation.

Beyond all dispute, one of the biggest roadblocks for gamblers remains to learn that they will become successful punters, provided that the decisions they make are objective. The problem is that in most cases, we tend to rely on our emotions in the decision-making, which in other words means that we are guided by bias. When it comes to availability bias, football lovers should remember that the term is used to describe the proneness of people to make use of examples which spring into their minds while they are appraising the current state of affairs, and which can greatly influence the decisions they make. The good news is that once you have become aware of this, you will be able to deal with bias in soccer betting which is definitely essential due to the fact that it might have a lasting effect on your profit over the long term.

Availability Bias Explained

As far as availability bias is concerned, football bettors should remember that it shows the inclination of people to overvalue certain events due to the fact that they leave a more lasting impression in their memory, or people simply find it much easier to look back on them due to the fact that such events are more vivid. Despite the fact that our reliance on such memories might save us the hassle of checking facts all the time, our decisions are more likely to be unsound.

Thus, a typical example of availability bias would be that for their most part, people tend to overvalue the risk which has to do with some distressing events which can be caused by any disasters the likes of inundation, earthquakes, and so on.

In a similar vein, when it comes to wagering on sports, or on soccer, in particular, gambling enthusiasts tend to do the same thing. Thus, as long as someone asks you to name at least one matchup in which the home team has managed to gain the upper hand or a matchup which has ended in a draw, perhaps, you will manage to provide as an example a matchup which has taken place quite recently. Other than that, most of the gambling enthusiasts are more likely to name a matchup in which the home team has come off better. Thus, punters tend to overestimate events which were held most recently, simply because the results of these events have managed to engrave on their minds. This is precisely what you should try to refrain from doing during your sports betting session.

In essence, soccer fanatics tend not only to overestimate the importance of certain events, but they are also prone to do the same thing when it comes to evaluating the prevalence of certain events. The mainspring of this remains that people and soccer bettors, in particular, are inclined to memorize things such as the number of the penalty shots, for example, due to the fact that such events can be committed to memory much easier, and at the same time, they are quite easy to recall. Hence, this proneness of soccer bettors might dramatically affect the decisions they make.

That is the reason why it is of no surprise that when it comes to making over/under bets, for their most part, football lovers are inclined to go for over. Once again, the main reason why this occurs is that availability bias makes them think that this outcome is more likely to take place than it is in fact. By the same token, gambling enthusiasts tend to wager on teams which are said to be heavy favorites, and on teams which are said to be doing well recently.

There is yet another tendency which is extremely widespread among gambling enthusiasts, and which has to do with diversity. Football lovers might be interested to find out that more often than not, punters get to make more diverse decisions than they would normally do when the options they can choose between are presented concurrently, rather than when they are presented consecutively.

Once all is said and done, football lovers should know that one of the most essential things which have to do with sports betting is the calculation of the actual probabilities, rather than the following of their gut feeling. Any knowledgeable soccer bettor will tell you that as long as you wish to enjoy good results, you will not be required to select the supposed favorites too hastily as instead, you should go above and beyond to scout out the most advantageous prices. That is the reason why even if your intuition tells you to follow the yes/no pattern, you should not forget that you should pay special attention to the probabilities.

To put it in another way, these cognitive biases bring about some of the mistakes people tend to make. The good news is that once you have become conscious of this, you are on the right track to enhance your capacity for thinking critically, which therefore means that you are more likely to become a successful football bettor.

How to Avoid Availability Bias on Football Events

When it comes to the availability bias on football events, gambling aficionados should keep in mind that in some cases, they might not be capable of escaping it. Still, since they are aware of the availability bias, punters will have the chance to challenge it, thus ensuring that they will be able to make better decisions much easier. One of the most essential things you should do as long as you wish to deal with the bias is to seek several perspectives. It is fair to say that when you wish to make decisions which are based on statistics and on facts, rather than on your own intuition, you are more likely to get it right about them. Best of all, the decisions you will make will be informed, which further enhances your chances to enjoy even better results. In this relation, we should not forget to mention the fact that soccer bettors should also dedicate some time to making researches for more information.

There is no doubt that the thing which will help you mitigate the availability bias is to try to think in an objective and logical manner. Despite the fact that it might seem like quite an easy task, this is definitely not the case due to the fact that it might turn out to be quite hard to make up your mind about the stakes you make in an impartial manner, rather than to place your trust in your intuition.

Let’s presume that you are watching a football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. As you can see both of the teams are considered heavy favorites which explains why such events draw the attention of gambling enthusiasts. Still, it has happened on many occasions that the odds of such teams drop sharply in the last minutes of the matchups, which makes many punters go against the grain.

Thus, because of the availability bias, we might end up creating short-lived trends which might not bring gambling enthusiasts that favorable results. You may not be aware of this, but when it comes to wagering on football, punters are more likely to enjoy better results, provided that they pay attention to long-term trends as this is the best way to enhance your edge.

Thus, one of the best things you can do in order to make sure that the decisions you will make will be objective, rather than emotional, is to make something like an analysis. Thus, you will find yourself compelled to stand your grounds why you should make such a stake. As long as you have managed to complete this task in an assiduous manner, you will be capable of figuring out that your stake might turn out to be a losing one as well. In this way, you will be able to make the right decisions which is exactly what you might be aiming at.