What insights you can learn from tracking your bets, and what spreadsheets and apps are the best for tracking them!
Tracking your sports bets - why do it?
If you hang around circles of avid sports bettors or consider yourself one, you've heard of the importance of tracking your sports bets.
For those who just throw a few bucks on a big game like the Super Bowl or World Series (we like to call them "weekend warriors"), tracking isn't as important because the main priority is just to enhance the entertainment.
But for those of us who are serious about improving as we place 100+ bets throughout a given year, tracking is vital.
Let me put it this way...
You can spend countless hours researching before a game, looking across sites from OddsChecker to ESPN to find key pieces of insight to bet with... but if you're not tracking your own sports bets, you're missing out on a TON of key insights that are right in front of your face!
What are the benefits of tracking your bets?
1. You can find what bet types you excel at. By tracking your bets, and grouping the data by bet type (spreads, totals, moneylines, props, parlays, teasers) you can quickly find out what types profit you the most, and which ones cause you to lose your bankroll to the books.
2. Learn what leagues you profit from the most. This is a big one, and although you probably have a good idea of what leagues you're best at, grouping your bet data by league can greatly improve your chances of figuring out exactly what is causing those wins on your NFL bets, and causing those big losses for NHL bets, for example.
3. Spot any favoritism or biases you have. I spoke with a semi-pro bettor named William after the 2020-21 NBA season. Will told me that after the season, he broke all his tracked bet data down by team and compared it to the research he had done before he placed each bet. He realized that there were at least 15 times he lost a bet where his research had pointed him to bet on one team, but his favoritism caused him to bet on the opposite team! Crazy right? Think of all the biases that could be keeping you from making the right decisions.
4. The ability to follow your money. By this I mean knowing where your money is going, where you are putting the most in, where you are losing the most, and what areas you are profiting the most
This is just a snapshot of the benefits of tracking your sports bets. Now, the obvious actions remain which are doubling down on areas where you excel, reassessing your strategy on areas you are losing the most, and avoiding giving into any biases you have when your research points you in one direction!!
Now, the obvious actions remain which are doubling down on areas where you excel, reassessing your strategy on areas you are losing the most, and avoiding giving into any biases you have when your research points you in one direction!!
What's a GOOD way to track my sports bets?
Spreadsheets
For those that are looking to dive headfirst into tracking their bets, there are a number of Excel and Google Sheet templates to save you the upfront time of creating one yourself. Some examples include Sportsbook Scout's bet tracking spreadsheet, this one from aussportsbetting.com, or this one we created Vault Sports Bet Tracking Spreadsheet!
These templates look pretty scary at first but start by only filling out the basic information as you place each bet, and when you become more accustomed to it, start adding the more complex data.
The more information you can track the better because the more insights you'll be able to draw!
Another option could be to create your own template. For starters, the major items you'll need are the game date, teams playing, bet type, amount you wagered, odds, and result.
From there, you can determine the Potential Return, Profit, ROI, and other stats. Again, if you need help with these formulas, just check out the manual spreadsheet we created here and copy them over to your own spreadsheet.
Overall, the spreadsheet method can be very tedious and time-consuming, especially if you are betting a lot on your phone and need to switch to your computer to access the sheet.
Manual Tracking Apps
A less tedious method for tracking your sports bets is iPhone or Android bet tracking apps.
There are a number of options out there, many of them allowing you to easily jump from your sportsbook after you place a bet, over to the app to enter in the bet to track it.
These are great solutions for when you don't want to deal with the pain of manually typing and entering each bet into a spreadsheet.
Still, when you're placing a large number of bets, and require key insights as to how you are doing as a bettor, it can still be very tedious to manually enter all this info.
What's the BEST way to track my sports bets?
Chances are you use a budgeting app that automatically tracks your spending. Or maybe a health app that automatically tracks your steps, heart rate, and exercise.
What do these apps have in common? They do all the tracking for you - you don't have to lift a finger!
Your sports betting app should do the same and automatically track all your bets for you.
The Vault app allows you to sync with each of your sportsbooks, so every time you place a bet it's automatically tracked in the app so you don't have to lift a finger!
Vault aggregates this data, providing you with your stats, your most profitable bet types, teams, and leagues, and provides you with the ability to follow your money across all your books!
Budgeting apps automatically track your spending. Health apps automatically track your steps, heart rate, and exercise. And your sports betting app should automatically track all your bets for you!
If you're an avid sports bettor, you know the importance of tracking your bets, but having to do it in a spreadsheet or manually in a tracking app sucks.
Vault allows you to seamlessly track your sports bets without having to lift a finger, and provides you key insight to help you improve as a bettor.
Download the Vault app for ios now!
