Welcome to our new article series where we ask experts in the sports betting industry the questions you need answered!

To kick things off, we thought we’d help out all you beginner sports bettors, as we ask the question:

Q1: What are your Top 3 tips for sports betting beginners? Answers below!

Check out Part 1 of our answers here, where we get the opinions of professional sports bettor Spanky, Smart Betting Club, Daily25, and football trader Alex Ong.

JOSEPH BUCHDAHL - SPORTS BETTING ANALYST 12XPERT

1. Don't bet what you can't afford to lose, because nearly all of you will lose in the long run.
2. Become comfortable with probability, variance, and the idea that most of what takes place in betting is chance, not your skill, over the short term (individual results and even tens, hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of results).
3. Learn what value betting means and understand this is the only route to find long term expected profit, and hopefully actual profit too if you are not too unlucky.

Follow @12Xpert on Twitter & check out the 12Xpert website here.

JAKE - HOST OF THE BUSINESS OF BETTING PODCAST

1. Do something (sensibly): Whether it is entering a new betting market/league/sport or augmenting your skills (e.g. learning to code) the vital ingredient is to start somewhere … anywhere … and continue to refine and adapt your process.
2. Know your limitations: Between (1) analysis/handicapping, (2) bet execution, and (3) bankroll management, be able to identify your weaknesses and address them adequately so a deficiency in one area does not cascade to impact your overall betting success.
3. Global endeavor: The business of betting is a global enterprise & a global endeavor for those that are involved in any given market. How the market is formulated & evolves is based on a multitude of factors spanning countries, syndicates, bookmakers, and bettors alike.

Follow @BettingPod on Twitter & check out The Business of Betting Podcast here.

TRUE POKER JOE - AUTHOR OF ‘SHARPER: A GUIDE TO MODERN SPORTS BETTING’

1. Maximize your sign-up bonuses. If a book will give you x% of your initial deposit in free bets, play up to a certain amount, deposit that amount. If you don't have enough to maximize the bonus, wait until you do. Think carefully about the bonus rules. You may have choices between bonus types at the same book. And to avoid unpleasant surprises, also think carefully about how to meet the bonuses terms and conditions. Read the fine print.
2. Sign up with probably at least 5 books so you can line shop (and research which 5 books will give you the best line diversity). So now you need even more money to get properly started. Good. Don't do this for more than beer money until you're ready to do it right. Making air bets when you're new is fine.
3. From the very beginning, make numbers. There are different ways to make lines, but there's no way to avoid making lines if you want to handicap because making numbers is what handicapping is. Even if you're only guessing, of any given game, that the odds should be, roughly, -150 or -3 points or whatever, make that guess. Then compare your guess to the market odds. Then think about why you're wrong because step #1 in beating the market is equaling the market, meaning that if you can't make a good estimate on what a game's line will be, you aren't ready to win. And do NOT come up with "reasons" for a bet other than "I made the line X and the market was Y." In sports betting, stories are excuses for bets, only numbers are reasons.

Follow @TruePokerJoe on Twitter & check out his book ‘Sharper: A Guide to Modern Sports Betting’.

Editor's Note: If you are looking for somewhere to find the best odds available (line shopping) on a game, Vegas-Odds is a great website to help you find all the prices bookmakers are offering.

NENKO - THE CHURCH OF BETTING

1. Be cautious: Be risk-averse at the beginning until you build a decent bank. Focus on bonus offers, sure bets and the like. If you don’t have a large bank, high return/high risk strategies will destroy your capital.
2. Educate yourself: Be curious, talk to people, try to learn as much as possible. Learn about the overround, expected return, drawdown, closing line value. Maybe read some of the good betting books out there. Try to calculate your own odds for a certain game as an exercise.
3. Have fun with it: You can make good money with sports betting if you do it right, as with most things. Some would argue that sports betting won’t bring you the most financial value per hour invested and they would probably be right. So enjoy the journey, don’t get carried away and if you figure out it is not the right thing for you, find a new hobby.

Follow @ChurchOfBetting on Twitter & check out The Church of Betting website here.

Check out Part 1 of our answers here, where we get the opinions of professional sports bettor Spanky, Smart Betting Club, Daily25, and football trader Alex Ong.

Love getting the opinions from experts in the betting industry? Then subscribe to the Trademate Sports Podcast, where interview the most important people in the sports betting industry, along with the occasional chat about the EPL.

Here are the other questions we got our industry experts to answer:

• Q2: How do you define “finding value” in betting markets? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q3: How do you determine whether your betting results were caused by skill or luck? Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.
• Q4: Kelly criterion or flat staking: Which stake sizing strategy do you consider to be the best and why? Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.
• Q5: What is the best method to use to make money from sports betting? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q6: How difficult is it to beat the sports betting markets? How efficient are the odds? Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.
• Q7: Best way to manage risk in sports betting? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q8: Is there a best sport to bet on? If so, what is it? Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.
• Q9: Assuming you have an edge, at what point can you start accurately evaluating your results and say that variance has played out? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q10: What is the one thing you would like to see change in the gambling industry? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q11: Do you think emotions play a part in people's sports betting results? If so, how should they overcome this? Part 1 & Part 2.
• Q12: What are the top 3 mistakes people make when betting? Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.