A proposition bet, also called a side bet, prop bet, or exotic, is a bet made on an outcome or a proposition. These can be anything from statistics and happenstance in a regular game to personal, one-of-a-kind bets. In the sports world, the most popular time of prop betting revolves around the (more…)
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Month: February 2013
A Future bet is a type of wager on the outcome of a special event or tournament format event. You are only required to select the winner of the event or tournament. Future bets are often made before a season or tournament begins and could be bet on almost a year (more…)
The Martingale Betting System was developed in 18th century France. It was actually part of a group of betting methods that were classified as “martingale.” Today, Martingale refers to a relatively simple sports betting system that dictates when you win a wager, you bet the same amount on the next wager, (more…)
Those who win more than they lose while sports betting, usually possess some sort of advantage over the house. Advantage gambling is a term of art relating to any bettor who attempts to attain a legal edge or advantage before placing a wager. This practice is also known as advantage play, (more…)
You’re getting ready to bet some money on a match-up between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have lost to the Lakers the last three times they met and this is the final game of the regular-season series. You decide to put your money on Denver because they are (more…)
Fixed odds sports betting means, quite simply, that at the time you place
your wager, the winning payout is known and will not change. Additionally,
fixed odds bets are based on picking the actual winner of the contest,
not using a point spread.
Unlike pari-mutuel wagering, where odds change continually depending
upon the wagering pool and (more…)
Most sportsbooks offer bettors a chance to engage in proposition wagering. Proposition bets are also called props, prop bets, side bets and exotics. A proposition is a bet made on some sort of special circumstance that can have two or more outcomes. Prop bets normally do not include wagers on the (more…)
If you’ve made a point spread wager, then you probably know that the odds are listed at 1:1. Which means with 1:1 odds if you make an $11 wager and win, you’d get back $22. But when you make an $11 wager on a football, hockey, baseball or basketball game and (more…)
Spread betting was created to help even the playing field in sports wagering. In most contests, there’s a favorite and an underdog, and more times than not, the favorite will win. Of course, that’s not always the case, but often the team that is supposed to win does and most people (more…)
The Kelly criterion for sports betting was developed by J.L. Kelly, Jr. He described his theory in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1956. In essence, the Kelly system is a progressive method of wagering in which bettors wager more on their sports picks when there is a higher probability of (more…)
Should You Buy into a Sports Betting System?
Sports betting is immensely popular throughout the world and the Internet has made it accessible across the globe. Of course, gamblers want to make money and folks who put money down on sports are always trying to get that extra edge that will ensure (more…)
With Pari Mutuel betting, which was created by Pierre Oller in France in the 1860s, bettors wager against one another, with odds being determined by what percentage of the pot is bet on each competitor in the race or event. You’ll find the Pari Mutuel system in effect in horseracing, greyhound (more…)
Wimbledon is a unique Grand Slam tournament, and not just because members of the Royal family are frequently in attendance. The grass surface and the timing of the tournament leads to some unique considerations for bettors. If bettors haven’t properly compensated for those differences in their handicapping then they are limiting (more…)
Each November in the U.S. brings around election season and every four years that election is Presidential and therefore important. Sportsbooks will offer political prop bets any time election season rolls around, and will offer many more when the President is being chosen. These political prop bets are not always particularly (more…)
When it comes to betting on Grand Slam tennis there are big differences between betting on men and betting on women. I’m obviously not suggesting that one is better or more worthwhile, but different rules and strengths lead to the necessity of different betting approaches if you wish to succeed equally (more…)
Each Grand Slam tournament is unique. That means that bettors need to be aware of the differences between tournaments and what they mean for handicapping. Perhaps no tournament is more different and unique than the French Open. The clay surface is entirely different than anything else. If you handicap this tournament (more…)
College World Series is an interesting event in the sports betting world. Virtually no one pays attention to college baseball during the regular season, but when the teams head to Omaha, interest is piqued and suddenly betting interest arises. It is still not a top level event in terms of a (more…)
Sports bettors need to understand that the location of major international soccer tournaments like the World Cup or European Championships is a potentially significant and often overlooked factor in the handicapping of the events. Location factors can give a weaker team an important edge, or can handicap an otherwise strong team. (more…)
For sports handicappers, there is a lot of appeal in betting on major soccer tournaments like the World Cup, European Championships, or Confederations Cup. However, for a lot of casual soccer fans, these major tournaments not only mark the only times that they bet on the sport, but the only times (more…)
One of the best ways to make attractive picks on major soccer tournaments like the World Cup or European Championship is with tournament long prop bets that are offered before the tournament starts. There are a wide range of options available to the soccer bettor, and if you are willing to (more…)
A lot of North American sports bettors are not very serious about betting on soccer. They may bet on the sport during a major international event like the World Cup or European Championship, and they may even throw down a few bucks on a high profile European league game, but they (more…)
Handicapping and betting on soccer is not something that a lot of North American bettors do very often. When the major events roll around, such as the World Cup, Euro and Confederations Cup, the temptation to bet on the sport can be too much to exist. If you aren’t a regular (more…)
Whenever a major soccer tournament like the World Cup or European Championship starts, sports bettors and fans are automatically looking forward to the final game. This is where every team dreams of getting to and where all the hardware is handed out. For bettors, the finals are very exciting as well. (more…)
When betting on a major international soccer tournament like the World Cup or the European Championships the first, and often most potentially lucrative place to focus is on group play. Those early games are where you can find mismatches, inaccurate public perceptions, teams that aren’t as mentally or physically prepared as (more…)
One thing sports bettors can be sure of is that every time there is a major international soccer tournament (the World Cup, Euro, Confederations Cup, etc.) is that there are going to be some shocking results. It won’t happen often, but in every tournament an elite team will lose against an (more…)
Experienced sports bettors know that injuries are inevitable during the intense play of major international soccer tournaments like the World Cup or Euro. A single injury can change the effectiveness of a team, or it can have little or no impact. Soccer bettors who want to be successful in handicapping these (more…)
A lot of casual sports bettors only bet on soccer when the big events such as World Cup, Euro and so on roll around. When you are only betting on the sport every year or two it can be easy to make costly mistakes that can put a big hole in (more…)
Betting on major international soccer tournaments like the World Cup or the European Championships is a unique and challenging experience at the best of times. As the tournament transitions from group play to the elimination round things can change significantly for teams, and therefore for bettors. Those bettors who wish to (more…)
Handicapping major international soccer events like the World Cup or Euro is very tough. It’s hard to know what type of form a team is really in heading into the tournament. Because of the format of a tournament, a team in bad form can really get in trouble quickly. That can (more…)
If you don’t bet on soccer year round but are drawn to the major international events – the World Cup, Euro, Confederations Cup and so on – then you really need to focus on your bankroll before the event starts. If you don’t effectively choose how big your bankroll needs to (more…)
Betting on the Olympics can be a highly enjoyable and nice profitable affair. When you are hanndicapping the Olympics, track and field is one event that is worth focusing on. For a number of reasons – it’s true to form, the high profile attracts a lot of clueless public money, oddsmakers (more…)
When it comes to events to bet on during the Summer Olympics few are any more attractive than the men’s road cycling. The sport is predictable enough to give handicappers a chance, but wide open enough to provide good prices. The participants are largely well known, and we have plenty of (more…)
Field Hockey isn’t a sport most North Americans spend much time thinking about or betting on. If it is played at all in North American schools it is typically a sport for girls while boys play football or rugby. On the world stage, though, field hockey is a very competitive and (more…)
Olympic boxing is a great sport to watch, and a great sport to bet on. The tournament format is very different from what we typically see in boxing, and it can create some great betting opportunities. For those looking to maximize their profit from betting on the Olympic boxing tournament here (more…)
The Olympics roll around every two years and smart sports bettors know there’s great opportunity in the event. For most people they are an excuse to spend far too much time on the couch watching TV, caring intensely about sports you know nothing about and only watch every four years. For (more…)
Chances are pretty good that you probably don’t bet on swimming that often. During the Summer Olympics, though, swimming is actually a pretty good sport to bet on. The results often follow form, you can easily do a lot of research about the swimmers, and prices can be attractive. In order (more…)
European Championships are about as exciting as any sporting event can be – both as a fan and a bettor. The Olympic soccer tournament intentionally doesn’t compete with those events, and is far less entertaining or prestigious as a result. Like baseball when it was an Olympic sport, the soccer on (more…)
Olympic beach volleyball may get more of the attention and the advertising dollars during the games these days, but from a sports betting perspective the traditional indoor variety of volleyball is typically more attractive. It’s often more predictable and more reliable to handicap, and opportunities for profit are more frequent. When (more…)
Water Polo, which is an Olympic event, is not a sport that most North American sports bettors know much about – or really care to do so. In some parts of the world, though, it is a very big deal. During the Olympics it is also a pretty good opportunity for (more…)
Betting on tennis in the Olympics is different than betting on other sports. Tennis is a very popular betting sport essentially year round, and the Olympics fall right in the middle of the busiest and most popular part of the schedule. That means that there are more bettors who will be (more…)
Men’s basketball at the Summer Olympics is always among the most popular events for sports bettors – especially when the American team is playing. People who regularly bet the NBA are going to be drawn to betting on the Olympics as well. While many of the fundamentals are the same between (more…)
I love betting on the Olympics. It’s exciting, and it can be very profitable. If you aren’t prepared, though, it can be very easy to make costly mistakes that will erode your bankroll and really take away the fun of the event. Here are five big Olympic betting mistakes bettors need (more…)
Betting on the Summer Olympics can be very exciting and potentially lucrative. Needless to say, there are some sports that are better to bet on than others. Before you head to your online sportsbook to place your bets, here are six sports that are particularly attractive for Olympic bettors. Some will (more…)
As fans and sports bettors know, every team in the NHL plays every other team at least once in the regular season, so teams that meet in the Stanley Cup finals are not total strangers. When people are trying to handicap the finals, those regular season meetings are something they are (more…)
As soon as the Stanley Cup finals pairing is determined successful hockey bettors will look to analyze that pairing to see what it likely means for the series. Does one team have a clear edge? How is the series likely to be played? What factors are likely to be significant in (more…)
Sports bettors need to remember that almost every year in the NHL playoffs there is a team that seems to forget how to lose on the road. Frequently those teams aren’t the ones that would be immediately obvious to casual bettors. That means that astute bettors can find nice value if (more…)
During the Stanley Cup playoffs most eyes of fans, sports bettors, and the media are trained on the teams that are toiling to win the nicest trophy in sports. While the playoffs are underway, though, the hockey teams that are not in the playoffs are quietly going about their business of trying (more…)
For some reason, in recent years the media and sports bettors seem to have started to view a long layoff between series in the NHL playoffs a negative for teams. The theory seems to be that teams will get rusty when they have to sit on the sidelines for a week. What (more…)
Veteran NHL bettors know that part of what makes the NHL playoffs so great is the overtime. In the regular season the sudden death period is limited to just five minutes, but it is endless in the playoffs. The drama is intense, and it’s not uncommon to see an overtime battle (more…)
Smart sports bettors know that losing the first two games of a playoff series in the NHL is never good for a team. It doesn’t mean that the series is over – lots of hockey teams have come back from such a deficit. It just means that the team is in (more…)
Veteran sports bettors know that there are few things as thankless as being an NHL goalie in the Stanley Cup finals. If your team wins then you are likely a hero, but you often won’t get the respect or attention of the powerful forward or the flashy defenseman. If you lose, (more…)
I’m not generally a big believer in momentum in sports – or at least in sports betting. So much can change from game to game that it’s really tough for a team to keep momentum going. One place where that opinion doesn’t always hold up, though, is in the NHL playoffs. (more…)
When two teams meet in the NBA Finals it isn’t the first time that they have faced each other all year. They are in different conferences, but NBA teams from those conferences have still played a pair of regular season games – one in each of their home arenas. Sports bettors (more…)
It seems like there is always a very surprising upset win by a serious underdog in each round of the NBA playoffs. Sometimes there is more than one. For NBA bettors these games are hard to figure out. Will the win give the underdog confidence and momentum going forward, or will (more…)
The NBA can never seem to achieve balance between their two conferences. As we head towards the NBA finals each year there always seems to be one conference that is significantly stronger than the other. Of course, it would be easy if it was always the same conference, but that is (more…)
Once the NBA Finals are set sports handicappers scramble to figure out how the teams match up, who has the edge and where the value is in futures bets and individual game lines. For serious NBA bettors this means looking back at every aspect of both teams that led to them (more…)
As soon as the pairing for the NBA Finals is known there is a rush for handicappers. There are futures bets to be made, and lines to be bet before the betting public unleashes on them. To take maximum advantage handicappers need to quickly get a sense of what the matchup (more…)
The last thing an NBA team wants when they start a playoff series is to lose the first two games. That puts them into a hole that can be difficult to recover. An 0-2 deficit is not the end of the line, and many good basketball teams have found themselves finding (more…)
For many fighters below the star level in the UFC, being in the biggest fight organization in the world is not a permanent career. A couple of bad fights or any number of other problems can lead to a fighter leaving before his career is over. Quite often those same guys (more…)
For MMA bettors there is a big difference between betting on a title fight and betting on any other fight on the card. Bettors who are aware of those differences, what they mean, and how to exploit them have the best chance at long term profit betting on them. Here are (more…)
Rematches are very common in the UFC. They aren’t always well promoted, but quite often the two fighters meeting in the Octagon have been there before. Paying attention to these earlier fights and how they turned out can be very useful for bettors. If you aren’t careful, though, they can also (more…)
The UFC has done a better job than any other sport of combining reality television with the highest levels of the sport. The Ultimate Fighter isn’t just a fighting contest to entertain television viewers between UFC events – it’s a very prolific source of serious fighters for the sport. Three different (more…)
It is very tough to win a title in the UFC, and harder still to hold that title for any length of time. It is surprisingly frequent, though, for a guy to win the fight, defend it multiple times, and seem like he has settled in for a long reign as (more…)
The betting public loves perfection – or at least the appearance of perfection. That’s why a fighter who is undefeated heading into a fight in the UFC always draw a little more attention than a fighter in his position typically would otherwise. In virtually every case, a fighter is eventually going (more…)
In the world of the UFC it seems like title reigns either last forever or are very short. The latter is more common than the former, so bettors need to be able to effectively determine how to deal with a fighter in their first fight after losing their title. Some fighters (more…)
Injuries are obviously a fact of life in the UFC. It’s a brutal sport that puts tremendous strain on the bodies of participants. Those injuries frequently lead to long layoffs as the fighter tries to recover and get back into fighting shape. Bettors need to be very aware of those layoffs (more…)
Most UFC fighters don’t face a whole lot of stress before their weigh-in. They may need to trim a little weight, but they essentially fight in a weight class that they live in. However, for some fighters, the challenge is much more severe. Whether they are dropping to a lower weight (more…)
It doesn’t take long in a baseball season – typically just a month or less – for it to become very clear that there are a few teams that just aren’t going to be competitive. They get off to a poor start, and it seems all but impossible that they are (more…)
When the baseball season passes the quarter pole – 40 games played – it is an important milestone for sports bettors. By that time in May we are starting to get a better sense of what we are really dealing with in the season. Hot, fluky starts have cooled off, teams that (more…)
The ability to quickly and accurately assess what statistics tell us about ball players and teams is crucial to success in baseball handicapping. Unfortunately, it’s not something that most casual MLB bettors understand or do effectively. With pitchers, quickly being able to assess their stats and what they mean is particularly important. (more…)
I love Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby. It’s a great spectacle, and a stunning display of just how good these hitters can be. It’s also a pretty good for betting opportunities – or at least it can be depending upon the ball field. When you are looking to cash in betting on the (more…)
Each year in baseball there seems to be one or two divisions that are particularly weak. The leading team is barely above .500, the competition is limp, and some of the teams in the division are just plain bad. For baseball bettors these weak conferences can be a particular issue. They can (more…)
By the middle of May in baseball we often have a division leader or two that is totally unexpected. I’m not talking about a MLB team that was a potential contender that has started strong. I mean a ball team that was expected to be plain lousy that has far exceeded expectations. (more…)
When I am handicapping Major League Baseball, the fifth starters in rotations almost always give me headaches. That’s not the spot where teams typically put their stars. That means that performances can be wildly inconsistent, and in turn means that MLB teams will frequently make changes in who they use and how (more…)
Every so often in baseball we see a truly crazy game that seems like it never wants to end. It can go into 15 innings or more and take hours to complete. If the ball game was a night game then it can be really, really late by the time it (more…)
The media loves rivalries in baseball. That means that the betting public likes them, too. the problem is, though, that both parties give a lot of rivalries far too much credit. Sure, there are some rivalries that are essentially blood feuds – hatred so intense that they have a direct and (more…)
For baseball bettors April is a time of getting comfortable – determining which teams are good and which aren’t, which players are poised to break out and which will struggle, and which managers are going to perform well. When May comes around bettors start to get a better sense of what (more…)
When you hear people talk about speed figures in horse betting they are likely talking about the Beyer Speed Figure. There are many different figures, but the Beyer is the most widely used and commonly available. The ratings were developed by Washington Post columnist Andrew Beyer in the 1970s, and have (more…)
In horse racing and betting, the track is important and there are more than a few differences between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. The size of the field, the media attention and the public interest all spring to mind. One of the biggest differences, however, is in the two host (more…)
The pick six is highly attractive to horse racing bettors because the payoffs can be so high. If it is a particularly popular betting day like the Triple Crown race days, or if there hasn’t been a winner and there is carryover in the pool, then it is quite possible for (more…)
Making winning bets on any Triple Crown race can be tough. The good news is that winning the Belmont Stakes is a heck of a lot easier in almost every case than winning on the Kentucky Derby. In fact, there isn’t a horse race in North America any harder than winning (more…)
Breeding is perhaps the biggest single contributing factor to success in the Kentucky Derby. The mile and a quarter Derby distance is a huge challenge for horses – well beyond the range of ability for most. You can never truly know how well a thoroughbred will handle the distance until they try (more…)
Betting the exotics – like the exacta, trifecta or superfecta – is a great way to bring home big profits in the Triple Crown races. The fields are so big and the public attention is so strong that big payoffs are very possible. In order to seize those big payouts, you (more…)
In a lot of horse races the post positions are very important. A poor draw can seriously hamper the ability of a horse to perform, and have to seriously be considered when handicapping the race. The Preakness is, for the most part, not one of those races. The post position at (more…)
Because of the infinite supply of trends, the Kentucky Derby is simultaneously interesting and challenging to handicap. There are three weeks between the last of the prep races and the Derby. For people who are interested in the Derby, that is a long time to wait. To fill that time, they (more…)
The majority of the time the winner of the Kentucky Derby goes on to be the favorite in the Preakness – and typically a popular one at that. Sometimes, though, another horse gets more betting attention than the one that wore the roses two weeks earlier. It could be another horse (more…)
Every year we see a handful of horses from the Kentucky Derby try again in a Triple Crown race two weeks later at the Preakness. Some of the horses that do so make sense – they finished high in the Derby and are looking to carry momentum forward. Typically, though, we (more…)
Betting on the Belmont Stakes when there is a potential Triple Crown winner is different in many ways than betting when there isn’t one. The race is frankly more important when history is on the line, and there’s more magic and excitement surrounding it. Bettors need to be aware of those (more…)
Bettors need top be aware that there is no bigger contributing factor to the success in the Belmont Stakes than the pedigree of the horse. The mile and a half race is a brutal challenge for horses – further than they have ever been asked to run, and further than most (more…)
It seems like college football can’t avoid scandal. Every year a few high profile players are kicked off their team – typically for off the field issues that are the result of shockingly poor judgement. When these dismissals happen, bettors face challenges. They need to be able to determine what the (more…)
This has been discussed a lot, the idea that sports bettors really need to properly manage their wagering bankroll in order to make money. The fact is that you can be a great handicapper and make solid picks, but if you don’t practice sound fiscal management, you’re going to lose a lot of cash that (more…)
Sometimes you can lose faith as a sports bettor. This can certainly happen when you lose the swing game numerous times in a row. The swing game, topper, final bet of the night are all the same thing. It is the game that for that night will make you a winner (more…)
If you’re a sports bettor and want to make money at it then you’ll need to commit to betting for the long term, and with that in mind, proper money management. The professional sports bettor who chases losses and takes unwarranted risks is doomed to go into the hole. It may (more…)
There are a lot of different sports betting strategies out there. What’s to say that one is right and another is wrong? A betting strategy is right if it is effective and wrong if it’s ineffective. In any line of work that involves strategy there are various ways to attain success. As (more…)
Okay, so you’ve decided to go with a sports betting pick service and the first night of picks they go 1-3. What are you thinking? Are you thinking, “I could have saved my cash and done better?” Is that what you feel?
This is what many sports bettors feel and say when they hire a (more…)
If you want to make money as a sports bettor, you must be knowledgeable about the sports on which you’re betting, about betting itself and about money management. Many sports bettors have a good sense of sports and betting but most don’t have a clue about what to do when it (more…)
If you engage in any sort of gambling, including sports betting, then you’ve had to experience a losing streak or two. What differentiates an amateur from a professional bettor is often the ability to deal with adversity. When a majority of your sports picks go south, when you find yourself losing that three-unit (more…)
Many times people get stuck on betting on just one or two sports. They might utilize a handicapping service to make their picks or do it on their own, but too many times they do so to focus on the NFL or college basketball or some combination of sports as they (more…)
You’ve hit a bump in the sports betting road. You’re on a losing streak, and you don’t know why. What should you do? It’s something every sports bettor should do whenever they put money on a game. Whether you’re on a winning, losing or breakeven streak, you simply want to practice the same drill.
That’s (more…)
Why is it that 65% to 75% of the time amateur sports bettors go with the favorite when they bet the point spread? That’s the stat on amateur bettors and it’s sort of an amazing one. Why is it amazing? Because the whole point of the spread is to even out wagering (more…)
