In theory, it all seems like a fairy tale: open the app, pick a favorite, collect your cash. Sports loves to thwart "one hundred percent" predictions.

Here's a checklist of the main pitfalls that almost every novice bettor falls into.

1. Betting "with all your heart" on your favorite club
Your home club always seems the best, but bookmakers don't care about the fans' feelings. Love for the team completely shuts down critical thinking.

2. Blind faith in the favorites
Top teams lose regularly. Anything can be the reason. Betting on low odds just "to be on the safe side" is the fastest way to end up in the red.

3. Trying to win back money right away (tilt?)
After a lost bet, you're seething with resentment. In this state, analysis disappears—money is frantically placed on the next event, simply to win back what's already been won. The result is usually the same: an even bigger loss. After a loss, you need to close the app and cool down.

4. Multisport Genius
Champions League during the day, NBA at night, cricket in the morning, and short track in the afternoon. It's impossible to understand everything. It's wiser to choose one or two championships and delve deeper.

5. Superficial Analysis
Professionals look deeper: who's the referee (does he like to hand out cards?), what's the forecast for the weather (a downpour will kill combination football), are there any internal team scandals, and what is the real motivation. Insider?

6. Buying "insider tips" and "cast-iron" bets
Captors with a 100% success rate don't exist. If someone really possessed information about match-fixing, they would quietly get rich on their own islands. This is all a typical scam for the naive.

7. "Locomotives" to the Moon
Putting together a 12-event accumulator with a combined odds of 150.0 looks attractive and tempting. But the odds are always against the player. The more events on the coupon, the higher the bookmaker's commission and the lower the real chance of winning. One random rebound in the 90th minute of a minor match—and the entire long "locomotive" goes down the drain.

8. Nostradamus Syndrome
Two successful, complex outcomes in a row often trigger a wave of euphoria. It seems as if the game's code has been cracked and the sport is completely transparent. It's at this point that inexperienced players triple their next bet—and the pendulum of fortune immediately swings in their favor. Short-term luck is the main enemy of long-term profit.

9. Playing by eye without accounting for money
Without a strict table where every move and every penny is recorded, the game is played completely blind.

10. Losing the fun
Sometimes you need to take a break and turn your head on. This process was originally intended to fuel interest in watching the match, not as a source of severe stress. If the fun disappears, it means the game has gone wrong.

There are no super strategies that guarantee millions. The main skill in this business is not the ability to guess the exact score, but iron discipline and composure.

I wonder if it's really possible to make money betting?