Best Way To Bet Sports
- Best Way To Bet Sports Online
- Best Way To Bet Sportsbook
- Best Way To Bet On Sports In Canada
- Sports Betting Techniques
- Best Way To Sports Bet In California
- Best Place To Bet Sports In Vegas
Moneylines are the simplest forms of bets. They are simply bets that pick a team to win, which team is going to have the highest score at the end of the game or quarter, or half, whichever time limit your betting on. You certainly can choose to take your betting seriously, and it may affect the way that you watch sports events, but it really doesn’t take the fun out of things. It’s quite the opposite in fact. In our view at least. Using the media to your advantage when betting sports is heightened exponentially when betting on the NFL. The NFL is the league that gets the most coverage, by far, so there is a greater volume of media.
Winning at sports betting is very challenging indeed. With standard pricing at -110/-110 on most games, the house enjoys over a 4% edge on most bets. That is very hard to overcome, especially since many gamblers struggle to win more than even 50% of their picks. To overcome that edge you must win at a nearly 53% clip.
However, not all games have such a large house edge. These are the lines that can be bet into to show a profit.
Ways to Win at Sports Betting
Just as the old saying goes, “there are many ways to skin a cat.” There are also many ways to win at sports betting. Let us examine some of these ways now.
Line Shopping and Steam Chasing
Line shopping is an easy way to gain an edge. This method involves looking for sharp, trusted lines (usually from well respected, liquid books) and then finding other sites that are slow to update their lines. This can happen a lot in the last hour before game time. One book may list a team at -3 and then all of the sudden the line starts dropping, first to 2.5 and then all the way down to 2 and finally 1.5. However, while the line is at -2.5 at one book, another may still have -3. This would provide a great opportunity to take the underdog and “chase the steam.”
Check out these selected bookmakers which are known to provide some of the best value odds online, both before and during games:
Terms & Conditions: T&Cs Apply. Full terms apply.
Tailing a Respected Capper
Sometimes, you will find a handicapper who sells or gives away picks who has a solid track record. There are a few reputable sites that offer picks for sale that you can use to profit. Being early is key here, as this can be where the “steam” mentioned above often originates. If a big time syndicate is pounding a line into shape, you want to be in as early as possible, before books catch on and adjust.
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Bonus Chasing
Bonuses are in shorter supply than in years past, but there are still good values to be found here. Best Bookmakers sites often offer a “first time deposit” bonus or a reload bonus for players who are depositing. This can be a goldmine when played correctly. It is good to always try and max out the bonus while it is available. So if a book offers a reload bonus of 20% up to a $2000 deposit, it is in your best interest to deposit the full amount and take advantage of the $400 bonus. Signing up for a new book just to get the bonus is often a good play as well. Hunt online for books, talk to your friends, and search forums to find the best bonuses available. Be especially aware of special bonuses during busy times such as the NFL Playoffs or big soccer betting events such as the World Cup, Euros or even the Champions League finals, since books will be highly competitive and vying for your action.
Do It Yourself
You can also “do it yourself” and become a handicapper. However, most, if not all, information that you come up with (widely available information) is already priced into the lines. So, it doesn’t do you much good to look up the weather forecast or the coaches’ records on primetime games or other stats such as rushing yards or goals scored. The bookies, and other smart handicappers, have already pored over all this information and it has been accounted for. But if you are a computer whiz, or good with numbers, you may be able to develop a computer program to crunch tons of numbers in order to come up with an edge. A tip here: the smaller the market, the less attention paid to it, by bookies and other gamblers. So you may have a better shot at finding an edge in a smaller sport or market such as certain props.
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Become the Bookie/Bet on an Exchange
Exchange betting is becoming more and more popular nowadays, with the advent of the internet and online books over a decade ago. This can allow you to effectively “become the bookie” and offer other gamblers odds on a certain outcome. Even when taking into account the house commission, this can still prove very profitable.
Let’s look at an example now.
Respected bookmaker A has a MLB baseball game listed as
Team A -130
Team B +110
You are browsing your favorite exchange and see the best available offer at
Team A -145
Team B +100
You decide to put in an offer and put up $105 to win $100 and pick Team B to win. Now the exchange will update to show
Team A -145
Team B +105
Someone decides to take your offer and bets the full $100 to win $105. Even taking into account the house’s cut (2% of all winning bets), you are still in good shape and better off than taking this bet at the well respected Book A.
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Getting Paid
Of course, if you win at sports betting, it is no good unless you ultimately get paid. Make sure you bet with highly respected books for the most part, but don’t be afraid to take a shot at a smaller, up and coming book. Read up online about the book and find out what others are saying. Try the live chat and see what withdrawal options they have. Maybe start off with a small deposit and then withdraw after a few weeks and see how they treat you. If you are getting endless emails and vague answers, it might be best to avoid this book. Initiating a cashout during peak times (NCAA March Madness, Super Bowl, World Cup) might be a good idea, since the books will probably be flush with cash and able to pay to keep the business going.
Things to Avoid
Probably the most important aspect of winning at sports betting is knowing what to avoid. There is a myriad of things to avoid when betting sports. For example, try to avoid paying -110 when -105 is easily available somewhere else. Don’t bet more than normal because you’re stuck for the day/week/month/year. Don’t bet more because the game is on TV. Take any picks with a grain of salt. Most picks, especially picks that are given away, are worth their weight in gold, so 0. Occasionally you’ll find someone worth following, but chances are they are just trying to sucker you in to purchase future “locks” with the promise of a free half-season if they happen to lose.
Avoid betting on your hometown team if it becomes a big deal if you lose. What I mean is that it’s fine to bet on your hometown team, but not if a loss will cause you to automatically bet bigger and bigger on later games that day. Some fans become so emotionally invested that it is best to just watch the game and avoid making a bet. Another solid reason to avoid this is because most local bookies (online and on the streets) will bump the lines to account for heavy action on the hometown team, giving you a worse value.
For the most part, avoid teasers, parlays, and future betting. The same goes for betting in running. These markets do not offer much value, unless you use line shopping or other tactics to scout out a good value. Bookies are too smart and will simply chew you up with the juice over time. The juice is simply too high for teasers, parlays, futures, and live betting for the vast majority of bettors.
Conclusion
There are many things to consider when betting sports. If you are just playing for fun, it is still advantageous to follow the advice listed here, so your money lasts longer and you get more action for your dollar. However, if you are playing professionally, you must take heed of this advice and also do additional work to remain profitable. Topics such as bankroll management and variance come into play for the professional gambler every day. Read more about the Kelly staking plan to answer questions such as “How much should I bet?”
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Sports Betting Techniques
In life, when someone hedges a situation they are limiting their exposure to the downside. In day to day life, someone can hedge many things.
When someone hedges in sports betting they are limiting their exposure to a potential financial loss. Hedging a bet is an advanced strategy used by sports bettors to either reduce the risk of a wager or to guarantee a profit of some kind from a wager.
Similar to middling a wager, hedging is a strategy that involves placing wagers on the opposite side of your original bet. As futures bettting has become more popular, so has hedging. New sports bettors might have heard about the sports betting risk management strategy in mainstream media.
If nothing else, hedging a bet has become a popular discussion point for any occasion when a sports bettor has a futures wager pending that could result in a large win. Hedging a bet is a way to guarantee at least some kind of win.
While there’s mainstream media coverage about hedging a wager, there isn’t much mainstream information on how to hedge a bet.
What is hedging a bet?
Hedging a bet is a strategy in which a bettor will place a second wager against the original bet when they’re unsure that the outcome of a wager will be a win.
Even if a bettor thinks they might win, they could decide to hedge a bet just to be safe and guarantee they walk away as a winner. The win won’t be as large but the additional wager is a way to create some kind of insurance if the original wager loses.
Hedging is a useful strategy even though betting on all sports isn’t the same. Futures wagers are long term bets that use a moneyline. Some individual games use a point spread while betting on other sports may involve a moneyline.
A bettor can hedge against any of these types of wagers. This strategy allows the bettor to walk away as a winner or less of a loser if they choose.
How to hedge a bet
Hedging a bet isn’t difficult. However, the concept isn’t at the forefront of everyone’s mind when placing a wager. Hedging a bet is protecting some kind profit that was — and still may be — possible from an original wager.
Hedging a bet is done by placing a second wager against the original wager that will guarantee that the bettor sees some kind of profit at the end of the event. A bettor can hedge a future bet or hedge individual games. Here’s an example of hedging a futures bet:
Original wager: $100 futures bet on the New York Jets to win the Super Bowl at 60-1.
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- Potential win: $6,000 + original $100 wager.
- Hedge: $1,000 wager on Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl at 2-1 when they face the Jets in the Big Game.
- Best result: Jets win the Super Bowl and bettor wins $6,000. The $1,000 hedge on the Rams for safety is a loss. The total win is $5,000 instead of $6,000.
- Hedge win result: Rams win and the bettor wins $2,000. After everything, the $1,000 hedge minus $100 original wager gives a final win of $900.
- Worst result: No hedge and Rams win. $100 wager and the potential $6,000 win is completely lost.
This example shows that a hedge on a futures bet is still a profitable wager. The hedge protects the bettor from losing the entire potential profit from the wager.
Hedging a bet means the original bet isn’t as profitable as it could be. However, winning something is better than losing everything. That’s the purpose of hedging a wager.
This example also shows that everything risked (the original $100 wager and $6,000 potential win) is lost without hedging.
Some bettors don’t mind losing the $100 wager and potential profit. There are other bettors that prefer to walk away with some kind of profit after waiting an entire season.
Other times to hedge a bet
Hedging a futures bet used to be the only time this strategy was discussed. Sports betting trends in the US are changing and so is how bettors use this strategy.
In Play wagering makes it easier to hedge against an existing pre-game wager that looks shaky. In the past, bettors had to wait until the middle of a game to place a halftime wager.
Parlay betting continues to become more popular every year. Bettors are now using the hedging strategy to ensure a win. A bettor will place a hedge on the final game of a multi-leg parlay to ensure some kind of positive result from a wager.
Depending on the amount of the original wager, a bettor might choose to hedge a little so they can mitigate a loss. Losing is never fun but losing less is better than losing everything risked.
Hedging a bet is a useful tool for any sports bettor. Gambling on sports does not have to be about winning or losing a wager. There are multiple strategies to use where a bettor can guarantee some kind of profit on certain wagers.
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ALSO READ: Sports Betting Lesson: When It’s Smart To Hedge Your Bet