It is easy to get really inventive when having a punt on a football match. It is certainly a regular feature to see a rather extravagant permutation in a bookmakers window, displaying potential winnings in large numbers which inevitably can suck you right in to thinking it is worth it.

Tons and tons of money flows into the bookmakers satchels however every season thanks to people staking fivers here and there on 4-1 and 3-2 score lines combined with the first goal scorer for example. For every one you may be lucky to strike up, I can say with confidence that there will be ten which fail.

The funny thing is then, when punters do hit some success and return there 100GBP lets say, they believe they have won 100GBP, when in truth it may not technically have accounted for a whole host of losing bets in the past.

One really effective bet in my opinion is simply combining the first goal scorer and his team to win regardless of score line. Some people go the other way to the speculative people I speak about above and just bet on the first goal scorer alone. However if that first goal is scored and the team who takes the lead is strong, they are more than likely to go on and win the match. By adding that team to win to your first goal scorer wager, it can really enhance your winnings even if the odds are not great.
Take this simple example:

5GBP win first goal scorer @ 5/1 = 30GBP return 5GBP win first goal scorer @ 5/1 + home win (potential goal scorer’s team) @ 8/11 = 52GBP return

As you can see, by combining the result with the first goal scorer into a double, the odds have now increased to over 9/1. If you believe a certain player is going to score first, naturally, you would think that his team are favoured to win. A double of this kind is a sensible way to enhance profit. Predicting results is a much easier feat that predicting score lines no matter how much football knowledge you feel you might possess.

Other good tips/methods to think about when football betting are the half-time/full-time bets and total goals scored. There are numerous different way nowadays that you can stake on any given match but these one’s are particularly effective depending on the scenario.

Do you believe the fancied team will indeed win but may find it hard to break the lesser team down away from home? Backing half time draw/ full time away win will give you much better odds than simply backing the away win.

Have the last three meetings between two particular sides produced a flood of goals? Betting on over three goals scored in total could be a real banker. Likewise two teams with the best defensive records in the league are likely to fight out a low scoring game - betting on under two goals could pay out really well.

The trick is to try and enhance odds in whichever way possible, without taking away any realistic chance. Betting on score lines and especially goal scorer/score linen doubles does this immediately as a reasonable strike rate will never be achieved.