Contents
Sports Betting Tips and Strategies
There are wagering techniques that work when properly applied. For instance, hedging against your bets, which mainly applies to futures bets, can guarantee you a profit. When dealing with futures bets, odds on your bet change in your favor as the season progresses.
Hedging also applies to big parlays when you have won a huge number of bets but still have one or more bets left to play. Hedging allows you to forfeiture a larger potential payout in exchange for minimal risk and a guaranteed profit. Another strategy you can utilize is betting the middle.
This strategy allows you to make an early point spread bet because the line might move later. Sometimes, you may use this strategy when you are in line shopping and identify a different point spread for the same game.
General Tips and Strategies
Below are the general betting tips for beginners.
Avoid longshots and parlays
Focus more on teams leagues you know better
Read relevant news
Search and compare different sportsbooks for the best odds
Stick to an average wage
Bet on the underdog
Utilize money management skills
Have strong math skills, as this can make it easy for you to understand what the data you have means
Evaluate all game factors, not just the sports betting basics
Don’t let your emotions get to you
Sports Betting Strategies That Do Not Work
Martingale System
This is a betting system that involves doubling the bet amount after any losing bet. This allows the bettor to recover their money plus a small profit. The problem with this system is that any bad losing line will require more money just to make it even.
Again, not very many sportsbooks take bet sizes that are necessary to overcome this betting system. Another issue with this system is that it relies on a clear even-money bet, which is rare since most sportsbooks charge a 5-10% commission on all bets.
The Negative Progression System
This is a system that requires you to increase your bets by equal units after each loss. You must then go back to the bottom betting unit after every win. This system is a more moderate version of the Martingale system because instead of multiplying your bet by two after a loss, you will only increase it by one unit.
This system needs your final winning percentage to surpass your losses.
The Labouchere system
This system is also known as the cancellation system. First, you will need a base setting unit. Then, you will come up with a Labouchere sequence like 2-2-4-4-2-2.
To choose your bet amount, you will take the initial and last numbers from the sequence. In this example, you will bet two units (2+2). If you lose a bet, add your bet amount to the end of the sequence.
When you win, rule out the initial and final numbers in the sequence. Carry on with this process until all numbers in the sequence have been ruled out. However, this system doesn’t guarantee a win either.
The biggest issue is that sportsbooks don’t offer true even-money bets, and you may not have enough money to keep doubling your bet size. Sportsbooks also don’t have high bet amounts that can prevent you from doubling forever, even if you have an unlimited bankroll.
Advanced Sports Betting Tips and Strategies
NFL Betting Strategy
Looking at historical betting stats, you can see how amazing the oddsmakers are. For instance, over the past ten seasons, the underdog has beaten the point spread 50.3% of the total time. This stat is known as ATS (against the spread).
The stat measures how teams perform against the point spread and not just the players. You should check the best NFL picks against the spread in different sportsbooks to enjoy the best offer. It is vital to note that when combining data with point totals, the point spread for the underdog increases to 53%.
This is when the over/under is 34 points or less. The extra 3% represents a major difference for your bottom. At the start of the NFL season, you can use the Pythagorean wins strategy.
This football betting strategy enumerates a team’s performance from the previous year. Using this betting strategy, you will consider the number of points scored by a team and compare it to the number of points scored against them. Instead of doing all the calculations by yourself, you can find all the stats posted for all teams posted during the start of the season.
You can also use free online calculators to complete all the calculations. For more advanced tips for betting on football, check out the comprehensive sports betting guide on how to bet on the NFL.
NBA Betting Strategy
In basketball, one advanced strategy you can use is betting against the public. This mostly works with point totals and teams that achieve big numbers at home. Sports betting for dummies involves considering how a team performs in its hometown, how quick their pace of play is and how many points they give up to the opposition.
They then bet the same way the next time the team plays at home. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that oddsmakers push the line higher since they know most people will take the favorite. This means you can get a better price when you bet on the underdog or the under on the totals in these spots.
This usually works well when the two teams have had busy workloads.
MLB Betting Strategy
Advanced bettors have a lot of data to analyze in baseball. You should always pay attention to the relationship between the over/under the line and how much the underdog plays. Statistics have shown that when a total is higher (8.5 or more), and the game is likely to have multiple scoring, it favors the underdog in terms of value.
However, this only applies to underdogs of +150 or less who have the ability to pull off a minor upset. Another viable option is when the underdog has lost their previous game, the public is swayed by small sample size, and the odds have gone up.
NHL Betting Strategy
Since hockey is low scoring, there are a lot of games and teams to pick from. There are a lot of edges you can take advantage of. For instance, the betting public for hockey puts a lot of weight on home-ice advantage.
As a result, although since 2005, home teams have won at least 55% of the games, because of the odds, the profit over the same period was better for betting on road teams. The value of the road team gets bigger when the majority of the public bet on it. This creates more value for those bettors who bet on the underdog.
You should consider looking for the road underdog paying +185 or less, as they have historically had the most success winning on the road while having the highest return on investment.
