In order to fill your time or even to earn some money, gambling is, by its very nature, one of the riskiest ways to do so. However, this can also make watching sports more fun and exciting when done sensibly.
Nevertheless, how can you maximize your chances of winning a bet? How do you get around the tricks that bookies use to try and put you through their door and get you to play their game? You first need to know how to find the best betting odds.
There’s a lot to consider when looking for the best deal. The following tips are from an ex-worker who helped shop owners get the most out of their gambling experiences, whether finding the best price, the right market, or even when to place the best bet.
1. Know your sport inside out
A team’s performance is determined not only by how well they have played offensively and defensively in the past six games but also by how well they have played in previous games. For example, do they have good possession control, or do they have luck on their side?
How many tennis players are having a spat with their coaches? There might be a golfer out there who has won two major tournaments this season, but what is his level of expertise on a links course?
I believe that these details will help you make better betting decisions and provide you with a better understanding of finding those great value bets.
2. The favorite doesn’t always win
That is a point that seems obvious to make, but there is no way any punter can ignore the price that the bookmakers have given.
Do you know of an example that illustrates this point well? The oddsmakers had Rafael Nadal ranked as the heavy favorite ahead of Fabio Fognini at the Barcelona Open back in April. The odds of Rafael winning were as low as 1/10 at some points.
That seems reasonable at first glance. However, Rafael Nadal has won this tournament an unprecedented eight times and is undoubtedly the King of Clay.
It is worth mentioning that the books had missed the fact that, just a few months earlier in Rio De Janeiro, Fognini had beaten Nadal on clay. Fognini has a record of knocking out top-seeded players, and so, this adds up to several reasons why I consider him to be a good pick at 8/1 odds.
3. Don’t just stick to one bookmaker – shop around
Brand loyalty is such an important aspect of the betting business that there is a lot of emphasis on it. Considering the competitive nature of the betting industry, you can expect companies to go to extremes to ensure that you bet only with them.
It doesn’t care what type of loyalty program the organization offers or what type of in-shop offers they have; the objective is the same. Therefore, you should never be discouraged from shopping around because of loyalty programs.
Find out what offers are available for specific bets by checking the offer pages. For example, one of the most popular bets in football is the first goalscorer; therefore, there is no shortage of bookmakers who offer their own opinion.
When your player scores twice or three times at Betfred, the odds will be doubled and trebled when he scores three times.
Interestingly, many other bookies have their version to try and entice you through the doors instead of going somewhere else’s, so if the scoring must happen within fifteen minutes, Ladbrokes will double his odds while most other bookies will have their version, as well.
For any particular match, you should be able to determine which of these offers will most suit you through your research. However, do not be rigid and underestimate how much legwork you will need to put in.
4. The fewer selections, the better
It is interesting to note that punters often forget that, although it seems so obvious to them. The number of selections per bet should not exceed two to increase your chances of winning.
Think small when you want to win money, and not big when you want to lose it. Choose only one selection or team if you can stake enough. The maximum amount is three to four selections. When you first put on one of those 20-fold accumulators, you will be swept away with the sense that you are on cloud cuckoo land.
There is no question that bookmakers lose most of their money on single bets. It is possible to portray an extreme example of this, for example, some high-roller entering a shop and placing ￡10000 on a 4/6 shot.
If there were just one winner, even a big one at odds-on, the shop would have to earn ￡5,448 to cover this payout on its own.
It should not be a problem for you to put a few dollars on one selection, particularly if you do plenty of research first. However, if you are looking for a high payout, trebles can offer quite a decent return.
5. Avoid the temptation of odds-on prices
When you are craving that long-shot stake on a Saturday afternoon, sometimes it seems that you do not feel like you have time to settle for odds-on picks when you have an accumulator. Unfortunately, by decreasing your chances of winning for little to no extra money, you’re decreasing your chances of winning.
It is possible to do this by playing a variety of great games. Tennis is one of them. You also observe the first week of a Grand Slam tournament, and it is intriguing to see the top players in the world taking on relative unknowns.
To try and win money easily, it seems like a good idea to take them all together and put them into one multiple bet. But, unfortunately, this would not be a good idea.
There is no doubt that tennis offers terrible prices when it comes to matches, and for this reason, you could put ten-fold the world’s best in and still see returns of just 3/1 on a few matches.
What’s the point of using ￡10 only to treble your money when a single loss for 1/8 would mean the entire pot is lost? Is it worth it when the downside risks are so high? It may not be worth it.
Rather than paying full price for a player with a good draw, I think it would be more beneficial to research and use them at a discounted rate.
6. Consider the less obvious markets
As you’ve already done enough research, should you decide to find a better value, once you have done enough research, you should have enough knowledge about your sport to see where you can find it.
It could very well be argued that this is designed with the sole purpose of giving you more opportunities to lose, but if you look hard enough for it, you can find some really good prices.
For example, maybe you’re not comfortable putting the goal of Leicester City beating Man City in your accumulator.
They are high in the league, but does this mean that they are stronger than them? Again, it’s something we’ll have to discuss on the football pages.
Even if the research is minimal, it does not take an expert to prove that Jamie Vardy is the league’s top scorer. So it would be as safe a bet as any to bet on him to score at any moment. It is quite good value, too, as it is available on 7/5.
7. Make sure you understand the markets
If you are interested in less obvious markets, the best rule of thumb is to make sure the betting shop staff knows the terms before choosing an obscure one.
It is not uncommon to make the mistake of betting for halftime/fulltime instead of betting for both halves to win. With an HT/FT bet, your entire team has to be winning by halftime and then winning the match by the end of it.
It is a way to back your team to win both halves of the game, especially if you want them to win the first half. There is only one condition to winning your bet. The team must score more goals in both halves than the opposition.
That is an obvious difference in sportsbetting odds, which can be frustrating for punters whose team led 2-1 at halftime and won the match by 2-1, despite the slight difference in odds. Therefore, there must have been a 0-0 score at the end of the second half, and therefore the bet is invalid.
8. Don’t bet with your heart
There might be a strong desire in your heart to win for your team. It’s so much fun to want it so badly that you even begin to believe that you can get it. You believe that type of thing so much that you have already placed your money on it before you even realize it.
Bookies love this because they will rake in all the money from all the home fans hoping against hope that their soon-to-be relegated team can beat leaders from the other side of the table each week.
As well, it is advantageous to avoid important events like derby games. But, again, because there’s so much on the line and players may feel they have to heighten their performances for that extra feeling of accomplishment and pride, the unpredictable element is amplified.
It is not advisable to place a wager on these events if you are not comfortable doing so. The table leaders will probably not be beaten by them, but can they possibly score a goal? A more sensible bet would be for both teams to score and the result.
9. Pick your moment
The ideal time to place your bet is on the day of the event itself since, unlike horse racing, it is not possible to guarantee the ‘best odds’ on sports bets, and it is usually best to have your bet placed on the day of the event.
However, most bookmakers will increase their prices or offer special offers for major sports events the day before they take place.
Depending on the event, some people may attend this event for the entire day. It often happens that certain shops will boost a price for a specific period at random times, and unless you spend the entire day in the store, you will only encounter these types of deals by chance.
Bookies, who usually advertise events with offers to persuade you to part with your money, will almost certainly promote a particularly popular event with offers.
If the favorite scored first in a match, the bettor could receive money back as a free bet.
Similarly, a shop might increase the price of a player to score anywhere from EVS to 6/5 between 12 pm and 3 pm, depending on what the shop thinks is cheaper.
10. It pays to follow less popular sports
There is a full range of sports & markets that bookmakers offer today, as bookmakers are trying to offer more and more ways to place our wagers and gain our loyalty.
It is certainly the case that they may not know as much about sport as they would like to cover it effectively.
MMA is an excellent example of how this can be accomplished. As a result, we see more coverage increasingly, and more information about MMA competitors as the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) is on the rise.
At UFC193, Ronda Rousey, the bantamweight world champion, battled with Holly Holm, who was heavily favored since early in the fight. When the fight began, Rousey was still favored, but Holm was still out at 9/1.
What were the reasons for Rousey’s price being so low? First, Rousey’s striking isn’t as good as Holm’s as she is a former boxing world champion. Second, Rousey had a distinct advantage as a judoka, but Holm always had takedown Rousey.
There was never a clear winner as everyone had anticipated, and any serious thought considering analyzing the stats ahead of the event would suggest the 6/1 price was an amazing deal.
Holm didn’t just go on to win the fight. She not only destroyed Lennox Lewis in the shortest possible time.
Types Of Sports Odds
Those new to sports betting may be overwhelmed by the wide variety of picks available to them.
You can place straight bets on upcoming games such as the money line, points spread, and totals, all of which can be placed on straight bets. There is also the possibility of making betting predictions one long way in advance by putting your money on “futures,” which involves picking who will win a major title down the road. In addition, if you are looking for the best chance of making money, you can combine multiple bets into a parlay to maximize your win potential.
The sportsodds of a game of chance represent mere probabilities, not a certain outcome. What they represent are bookmakers’ predictions for a game of chance. The lower the sportsbetting odds or your chance of winning, the greater the odds, like any gambling odds.
Moneyline Bet
Sports betting odds can be expressed in one of two ways: money line or spread. Sports betting odds can be interpreted in two ways: money line and spread. It doesn’t matter which is right; it doesn’t matter whether it is right or wrong. It doesn’t matter which pick wins; it doesn’t matter whether it is correct or incorrect.
In most cases, the sports odds of winning large payouts when betting on the favorite (the team the bookies expect to win) are rather small. In contrast, betting on underdogs may have a much higher chance of winning. As a result, the money line will be one of the most popular odds in sports betting, especially if the match-up is close or if the score is very close.
Point Spread
Moneyline betting is nearly the same as points spread betting, except the favorite team must beat the spread by a certain number of points. The underdog has two possible outcomes: they can either lose within the spread or win by an unknown number of points.
For example, a favorite team must win by 4 points and lose by 3 points or less in an NFL game with a betting spread of +/- 3.5 points to win the match.
Over/Under Betting
As over/under betting odds are also known as “totals,” it means that bettors can use the bookmaker’s guess as to the total number of points scored by both teams (the total score). After that, based on that score, the bettors can bet either over or under.
Looking at PointsBet’s over/under 56 points for 2021’s Super Bowl LV, the over/under was 56 points. However, I think that the under was a good choice since the game ended 31 to 9 for a final score of 40 points, and you would have won if you had placed the under.
Parlay Bet
An overall parlay bet is won when several wagers are won (called “legs”), which are all needed to win for the overall parlay to win. In other words, the chance of parlay odds changing is determined by two factors: the number of legs you include in the parlay bet AND the odds on each leg.
To calculate the overall odds of winning a parlay, online parlay calculators are an excellent tool. There are also some sportsbooks where you can place a parlay bet and view the parlay odds before you are required to secure the wager and lock it in.
What Forms of Odds Are There?
In sportsbooks, you will find odds presented in three ways: American, Decimal, and Fraction. There are three options for selecting a payoff, and we should understand how they are calculated.
It is American: odds are three-digit numbers with either (+) or (-) in front to indicate whether the team is considered an underdog or favorite. In addition, the number shows how many bets have been placed on that team to win.
It is a number that represents how much you would have to bet to win $100 on a favorite. If you bet $100 on an underdog, it is the amount that you will receive if you win.
You can calculate the payoff using the following formula: (Your Wager x the Odds)- Your Wager. For example, it is likely that the following would have happened had someone bet $100 on the Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl:
(100 x 2.43)-100 = $143
For fractional bets, you merely multiply your wager by the fractional payoff to determine your payout. If 100 people had bet the Buccaneers $100 to win the Super Bowl, they would have done the following:
100 x (143/100) = $143
How Sports Betting Odds Work?
Each sportsbook sets its betting lines by using professional bookmakers and artificial intelligence technology to set the odds. Both of these factors contribute to determining the odds in sports betting for every event, and this is true also for that the in-game sports betting lines that change second-by-second during the game.
It is extremely valuable to access websites and apps that offer a wide range of sports and odds. The sportsbook allows you to check each of the lines for each sport without creating an account and without having to log in. Regardless of the event you choose, you will be able to see how much you may stand to win (once again, even before you sign up).
Most sportsbooks cover most professional leagues. However, you can also find some bookmakers that also cover international competitions.
What Affects Sports Betting Odds
There can be several ways where the odds on sports betting futures can change before a season begins. For example, in the last few days and weeks leading up to upcoming games, events could sway the underdog from becoming the favorite or separate the two squads further.
The impact of some events is greater than that of others. For example, it is more likely that the team would lose its star player if their coach changed or hired a new coach if a star player retired than in which round they picked up in the draft.
