- Up to €2400 in promotions
- Great GamblingPlanet deals
- Mult. currencies & langs.
Sports Betting Rookie School (Part 1 of 2)
-
17-Sep-2007, 17:53
To put it simply, many of us live for sports. We follow it in the same way that some devote their lives to a religious following. We idolize our favorite athletes much like our ancestors revered their spiritual leaders. With supreme awe and unbridled attention, we devour any and all information about a particular team, player, or event. It should come as no surprise then that many of us also choose to somehow get personally involved in the event, in the only way we know possible: by believing in our knowledge and devotion and putting something on the line. Betting on sports is the one way that we have to be a part of that higher echelon that is professional sports. It’s what allows your average Joe to join the team, and subsequently experience the thrill of winning and the despair of losing, albeit from his armchair or sofa. For the 99% of people out there, it’s the closest thing we have to getting on that bus and listening to a coach’s pre-game speech.
But just as a pro athlete couldn’t have gotten where he did without dedication and hard work, the same goes for those who bet on sports. The ones who consistently win have, at some point, made the extra effort to educate themselves thus allowing them to move that much closer to the highest ranks of the profession. This is why we invite you to join our Sports Betting Rookie School, intended for those of you who are new to the field and would like to hit the ground running, rather than getting dumped into the deep end and eaten up by the sharks. Because there’s nothing the shark loves more than fresh meat - so pay attention, rookie!
Basic Sports betting Strategies
Most often, sports bets are placed on the outcome of one game or event, in which two teams or players compete against each other. The idea, of course, is to pick the right one. In almost every case, there is a favorite and an underdog. Because of this expectation, the sports books (the ones who accept the wagers and pay the winners) must set the odds for each outcome, which is called the line.
The Odds Line
The odds line is basically a prediction about who will win any given match or event. Let’s use a hypothetical example to illustrate this point. The line is often annotated as such:
World Cup 2010 odds:
Brazil 4/1
Canada 500/1Brazil, always a heavy favorite to win the World Cup of Soccer, enjoys 4/1 odds which means that, in the event of a Brazil victory, for every dollar wagered the bettor will receive 4 dollars back. Canada, on the other hand, are big-time underdogs and if they pull off what the odds say is nearly impossible, a one dollar wager will net the lucky bettor $500 in return.
Odds get a bit more confusing when the line is written something like this:
England 1/3 This essentially means that if it takes three dollars down in order to win one back. So if you bet $100, your return with these odds will be $33.33.
The Pointspread
Often the point spread is what scares off many potential sports bettors, but it shouldn’t. Here’s an example of the point spread, used regularly, but not exclusively, in NFL sports betting.
Chicago -7
New Orleans +7Let’s say that you visit an online sports book and after seeing the above spread, you choose Chicago. What this means is that, in order for you to win the bet, Chicago must win by more than 7 points. If you select New Orleans they may lose by up to 6 points or win outright for you to collect the winnings. If there is a seven point margin in the game with Chicago on top, then the game is a push and everyone gets their money back. The spread is usually set in half-point intervals to ensure that a push does not occur.
One of the nice things about the point spread for sports fans is that it creates an added dimension for the game or event. Even if one team is predictably blowing out another, you must stay tuned until the end of the game to find out if the point spread was covered. For many sports bettors, the point spread is the real score.
That concludes the first part of our look at the basics of sports betting. Look for pt. 2 soon for some additional sports betting strategy and a few interesting facts about this growing online industry.