There are 3 key concepts that are essential to be comprehended in order for your sports wagers to meet with anything more than hit-or-miss success: the point spread, the money line, and totals (over/under). Since these are the 3 most introductory bets that can be placed on any sporting event, they must be controlled if one is to gain sports gambling proficiency.
THE BASICS OF SPORTS HANDICAPPING
Bookies & Sportsbooks by nature get the betting odds in their favor, by virtue of the spread or vig charged on a betting line. For instance, Chicago may be favored to win against New York at -115, meaning you have to bet $1.15 to win $1.00 (if Chicago wins). If the odds for New York to win are +105, then that means that New York bettors need to bet $1.00 to win $1.05. The 10 cent differential between $1.15 and $1.05 is the vig, or the “house edge” and is the built in advantage that belongs to your bookie. (This example applies money line odds, which will be explained in further detail later on in this article).
Whether placed on current trends, generous or other skewed betting lines, or just a gut instinct; finding your own “edge”, or more fittingly, the way to overcome the “house edge” is the key to being a productive sports handicapper.
Before cutting into too profoundly into the skill of sports handicapping, it is crucial to have an understanding of the lingo that makes the sports betting world appear so ambiguous and discouraging to beginning bettors, and it is these basics that this article is entailed to address. Advanced topics and discussion of techniques to turn the odds in your favor will be explained in this this article.
There are 3 basic concepts that must be apprehended in order for your sports bets to meet with anything more than very random success: the point spread, the money line, and totals (over/under). Because these are the 3 most basic bets that can be placed on any sporting event, they must be mastered if one is to gain sports betting proficiency
The Point Spread
In the early 1940’s, bookies were fighting to maintain an even book, (equal action on both sides of a sporting event) by and large in football and basketball because there were clear underdogs and mismatches which adjusted the action to the favored team. Appropriate to compensate for the chance that the underdog would lose the game, bookmakers started out placing a handicap on the potential winner.
In order to realize how point spreads work, we'll use a good example:
Let's say that the Saints are playing the Raiders, and the Saints are expected to win by a great margin. In that case, the point spread could be as high as 14 points. After the end of the game, 14 points is subtracted from the Saints’ score (or added to the Raiders’ score) for purposes of the wager made. Thus, in order for a bet on the Saints to pay out, they'd have to win by a minimum of 15 points. Then again, a wager on the Raiders would pay out not only if the Raiders won, but also as long as they lost by no more than 13 points.
The Money Line
Contrary to the point spread, which places a point handicap on the favored team or player, money line bets are only made over who will win the match. The money line is used mainly for sporting events in which the point spread is irrelevant; such as boxing, tennis, and racing, or sports in which the margin of victory is so minimum as to make it impractical to make a point spread for every game; such as baseball, hockey and soccer.
In order to understand how money lines work, we will use a good example: Let's say that the White Sox are playing against the Cubs. Money line odds posted for the game will appear similar to the following:
Chicago White Sox +120
Chicago Cubs -130
In this case, the Cubs are the favored team, as signified by the - (minus) written in front of the 130, while the White Sox are the underdogs, as specified by the + (plus) in front of the 120. What these numbers mean is that those wanting to bet on the favorite, the Cubs, will have to risk $1.30 to win $1.00, while thosewishing to wager on the underdog, the White Sox, will risk $1.00 to win $1.20.
Totals (Over/Under)
Totals bets are possibly the easiest form of sports betting and one that good wagerers and bookies alike center a enormous amount of attention on.
Bookies will post a totals number that makes up their estimate of the total points that will be scored in the game (dictated by adding together the final score of both teams together). The wagerer can wager whether the concluding tally will be over or under the number that the bookmaker offers.
So to understand how totals bets work, we will use a good example: Let's suppose that the New York Jets are playing against the Green Bay Packers and the posted total is 40. If you bet over on the game, you win your bet if the two teams combine for more than 40 points. And so if the Packers win 24-17, for example, you win your wager. Yet, if the Packers were to win 24-14, you would lose the over bet, as the final combined score would be 38 points. If the final score added up to exactly 40, the bet would be considered a push (or a tie), and your wagered funds would be given back to you.
The 3 types of bets talked about in this article are the foundation upon which sports handicapping abilities are built upon.
|
