Successful betting on soccer games is a matter of balancing what you can learn about the team, what the current conditions are and what is the likelihood of a win against how much money you would like to win and, most especially, how much you can afford to lose.

Successful betting on soccer games is a matter of balancing what you can learn about the team, what the current conditions are and what is the likelihood of a win against how much money you would like to win and, most especially, how much you can afford to lose.

Betting on a soccer game, or lots of them, doesn't have to be a hassle, but there are issues you should consider before you put your money down. You could always pick your home team—but if you want to do better than even, you should also investigate the team's records and statistics to pick the team to support.

(Creative Commons photo by Paolo Camera)

• Here are a few things you might want to look into before you decide who to wager on

1. Look for a recent report of wins and losses for the teams you are interested in often called a Team Form
2. Search for recent news about a team. For example, look to see if a good player has been recently injured or a rookie player introduced mid-season is hot
3. Look for things that might motivate a team—is this a grudge match? Is there a player who is unhappy? Is the coach in trouble?
4. Check the schedule to see if a team has been extraordinarily busy or has faced the same team before
5. Find out if the game is at home or away. Where do they play best?

• In a listing on an Internet betting site, the Game Line will show you who is the odds-on favorite. That will help you determine how much to bet and whether you should bet on the favorite, on the underdog or on a draw.

1. Consider how much you would like to win
2. Consider how much you would hate to lose
3. Betting on a team with more favorable odds means you will have to risk more to make the same amount of money then the underdog

• Different betting parlors offer different kinds of bets, but these are a few of the most popular

1. Match odds is when you simply choose who is going to win
2. In Over/Under, you choose if you think your team will make over or under a certain number of goals
3. Total Goals is you have to choose over/under for both teams
4. To bet on what will be the Exact Game Score at the end of the game is risky, but profitable
5. Other bets include Half-Time Score, First Goal, Draw No Bet (in which if the game ends in a draw you don't lose any money)

1. There are several online betting houses, each of which has benefits and costs. Here are a few of the better known online houses, but be sure to shop around and look into the fine print. What does it cost to bet?

2. Sportsbook.com: Sportsbook

3. Bodog Life Sports

4. Ladbrokes: Soccer (Football)

5. BetFair: Soccer (Football)

6. SoccerBettingInfo: Soccer Betting

Picking your favorite team to bet on is certainly a no-brainer; but if you're really serious about making some reasonable bets and winning some reasonable money, you should do a little digging if you want to know how to bet on soccer successfully.