Another day I was fishing alone, in water I know like palm of my hand. And was getting skunked. Fishing all my usual water, using all my usual techniques I couldn’t even get a strike. Yet I knew I could and did catch fish in this spot, lots of fish. I kept at it, until I heard a fish jump behind me, in a riffle I hadn’t fished in years. I turned around and cast right at head of riffle, and nailed what was to be first of many beautiful trout I caught that day.

If I hadn’t been confident in my abilities, and in water holding fish, I would have stopped long before. That was an instance where confidence led to perseverance. But other two days, it seemed to be confidence only, that led to more fish being landed. Maybe there was something subtle in presentation of confident angler, something that can’t be taught. Like way some quarterbacks always seem to win. Or maybe like in other endeavors confident people just seem to do better. At any rate only way I know of to develop confidence is through repeated success. And in fishing only way to catch fish is to do more fishing.

If you are thinking this is all a stretch, I bet you can come up with very similar stories that have happened to you. Especially if like me, you have been fishing since you had a Leave it to Beaver lunch box. Give yourself possibility that confidence in your fishing ability does play a role, in your catch rate. And end result will be you spend more time fishing. And if that is end result of you reading this article, then it was time well spent. Now let’s go out there and build up our fly fishing confidence!

6.Test out customer services to see if they meet your standards or standards they promise you.

7.If you know about betting already, then check some of their odds and lines – are they in keeping with what you would expect? Some less scrupulous sportsbooks offer very attractive prices to lure unsuspecting bettors.

8.Find out if sportsbook is part of a larger group of companies. Sometimes this means added solidity.

9.What are deposit and withdrawal options and associated charges. These vary quite a bit from book to book. Options should be available that are ‘free’ or where sportsbook absorbs charges. But ask yourself ; “how easy is it to get access to my money and how much does it cost?”

Not all above are critical – but help towards finding a secure book.

If you have already have an account with a sportsbook watch out for lapses in customer service and slowness of payment – these can be signs that company could be in trouble.

The UK has a number of established books including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, and Victor Chandler. I also like SportingBet (www.SBSportsbook.com) who take US customers and cater for global sports markets.

I would say that US bettors are at most risk since they are generally forced to bet at offshore sportsbooks due to legality issues. The offshore books with whom I work are top grade but it is in offshore environment that problems occasionally occur. It is, therefore, critical that those customers put in research before signing up.

Happy betting!

The Author has been a professional sports bettor and trader for seven years. He runs his own sports betting and trading service at: www.arbitrage.ws as well as helping to advise a number of sportsbooks:

www.vipsportsgroup.com www.sbsportsbook.com www.betonenine.com www.betongameday.com