Go all in on the pitch: 3 gambling principles to improve your team’s performance

The connection between gambling and football isn’t exactly something that most football fans spend too much time pondering – but when you think about it, a round of poker and a game of football are actually similar in many ways. Both are games of strategy as well as chance, they are not easily mastered, and once you go pro, the stakes can be sky-high.

Below, we’ll take you through some of the biggest, most important lessons you can learn from the gambling world as a football player or coach. Take them to heart, implement them in the way you play – and watch as your team spirit blossoms and your number of wins increases.

Practice makes perfect

First of all, a piece of advice as old as time itself: No pain, no gain. Work hard, play hard. Practice makes perfect – however you want to say it, you have to do the work in order to improve.

If you’re a beginner at casino games, you’d start out by studying the rules of the game and researching strategies. Then, it’s time to gather your friends for practice games – or maybe even try your hand at some online casino games, e.g. at https://www.yggdrasilcasino.com/ – before you visit a land-based casino for the full experience.

In the same way, a football team wishing to improve should invest as much time as possible in getting on the pitch and practising. Make sure everyone knows they’re expected to show up every time and that they also work individually on building strength, agility and stamina. By regularly playing together, your teamwork will improve massively – and you end up instinctively knowing how the others will react to any possible scenario and how you can play off of that.

Keep your emotions in check

Besides practising the game itself, it’s also important that you get used to keeping certain emotions under lock and key. Of course, this by no means applies to all of them – in fact, letting yourself get riled up is the key to giving your all and enjoying a game of football to the fullest – but a certain amount of professionalism is still necessary.

In gambling, a poker face is a must for not giving away your strategy. If you’re in control of your expressions enough to bluff your opponents, even better. And while we tend to focus on skills and strength in football, keeping your opponents guessing what you’ll do next also increases your chances of scoring. Controlling your passionate outbursts between games also helps set the right tone of mutual respect for your opponents. Lightly goading each other to get hyped up is fine – but unnecessary hostility only clouds your judgement and takes the fun out of the game.

Be prepared for losses

Lastly, whether your game is football or poker, you have to accept that losses are a part of it. In poker, this means only betting what you can afford to lose and continuing to practise, even though you lose the first many games in your gambling career.

In the world of football, losses come in many forms: Losing a game, which we of course do our best to prevent – but when it does happen, you should be able to focus on learning from it and moving on. Star players will also inevitably leave sooner or later. For this to not be a devastating blow to your team, nurturing every talent equally and regularly bringing new people in is essential to preparing for the future.

Viewing football as a game of poker brings a whole new level of strategizing to your playing. Have fun implementing these tips with your team and watch them improve and strengthen their bond.