Record-keeping: review by market

Good bettors review their decisions, not just their results — because a good decision can lose to a late winner and a bad one can win on a deflection.

Keep a betting log

Write down every bet as you place it: the date, the market (1X2, over/under, BTTS, corners, handicap), the odds, your stake in units, and — crucially — why you backed it. A note like "backed the under on two cautious defences and a low-stakes derby" turns a vague memory into something you can actually learn from later.

Process versus outcome

A single result is contaminated by luck, and football is luckier than most. The right question is never "did it win?" but "was it a good bet at that price?"

• A well-reasoned over that loses 1–0 is still a good decision — repeat it.
• A reckless five-fold that lands is still a bad decision — it was lucky, and luck runs out.

Review by market

This is where football record-keeping earns its keep. Slice your log by market and you learn what you're actually good at:

1. Are you genuinely beating the closing line on over/under, or just on 1X2?
2. Do your BTTS and corner bets make money over a large sample, or only feel exciting?
3. Where did you break your own rules — chasing with an acca after a bad result — and what did it cost?

A betting log split by market is the single highest-value habit in this whole track. It is dull, it takes minutes, and it is the difference between learning and merely hoping.