Frequently asked questions
Betting on the moneyline means you're just picking the winner of the game. That’s it. There are no point spreads, over/unders or any other factors that go into the bet. You are simply making a selection on the winner of the contest.
Since there is no point spread involved, betting on the favorite requires you to bet more to win a desired amount on the moneyline. Conversely, betting on an underdog on the moneyline will earn a larger profit.
Moneyline betting is a great introduction into the complex world of sports betting. New bettors that aren’t ready to attack point spreads and totals will often start with moneyline bets. Placing a moneyline bet is simply a wager on the team that wins the game. That’s a concept that even the most novice of bettors can grasp onto.
If you are looking to play the favorite on the moneyline, the number you see on the odds board is the number that you need to lay in order to win $100. If you are betting on a -200 favorite, you need to lay $200 to profit $100, and you would collect $300 if your team wins.
If you are betting on the underdog, the number that you see is the amount that you would win off a $100 bet. A $100 bet on a +200 underdog would profit $200 and you collect $300. Again, there are no point spreads involved, you are simply picking the winner of the game.
A teaser is a special kind of parlay where the bettor gets assistance on the point spread on multiple games for a decreased payout. The most common teaser is in football where bettors get six points added or subtracted from each of their point spreads. If you are looking at a 3-point underdog, a 6-point teaser would now give them nine points in the game. If you are looking at an 8-point favorite, a 6-point teaser would now require them to win the game by more than two points instead of eight. Each leg of the teaser has to hit in order for the ticket to cash.
Seasoned bettors use teasers to cross key numbers in football. The most effective use of teasing in football involves crossing the key numbers of three and seven. The most common margins of victory in football games are by three, six or seven points. So if you can find a teaser leg that helps you capture those three numbers, you are getting the maximum value from that teaser.
Commonly known as a Wong teaser (named after the analyst that promoted its effectiveness), the most profitable teaser angle contains these three parameters:
It’s a two-team teaser, preferably at -110 odds.
You are looking to target underdogs of +1.5, +2 or +2.5 and/or favorites of -7.5, -8, or -8.5
You are looking at games with low totals, preferably under 49 in the NFL.
Why a low total? You’re looking for games with as little projected variance as possible. The higher the total, the more variance that is expected in the game. The lower the total, the easier it is to project what should occur in the game. This is why college football games should not be used in teasers. College games are higher scoring than NFL games, thus creating higher variance.
To reiterate: You are looking to take underdogs of +1.5, +2 or +2.5 up to +7.5, +8, or +8.5 to get you through those key numbers of three, six and seven, and you are looking to take favorites of -8.5, -8 and -7.5 down to -2.5, -2 or -1.5 using a six-point teaser.
A parlay is a multi-wager bet that requires all of the legs to win in order for you to cash your ticket. The more teams you include, the more money you can potentially win. But if any of your selections fail to win or cover the point spread, your ticket is toast. Each oddsmaker has their own individual rules for what events can and cannot be parlayed together, so make sure that you are familiar with your book’s house rules.
Why do we buy lottery tickets? Or play slot machines? They can be fun! Parlay bets can provide some fun longshot entertainment, but serious bettors should not rely on parlays for long-term success. However, there are opportunities where small (keyword: small) parlays can present value to a seasoned bettor. Interested in betting on two strong MLB favorites, but don’t want to lay -250 juice on each? A two-team parlay becomes more affordable. Is there a correlation between events (i.e. if Team A wins, the game is also likely to stay under the total)? Try them together in a parlay.
It can be safe as long as you use a trusted online sportsbook. No bootleg bookies please!
It is also wise to have at least a minimum of 5 books to help you get the best line out there as they frequently change.
The ones I normally use and that may help you get started are:
https://www.betonline.ag/?RAF=G2MPN33H&product=SPO
As you know whenever there are 2 teams playing each other, the public usually favors one team over the other. Similarly when people gamble on a team, more money is bet on one team over the other.
What we normally look for is the percentage of money on a team to be greater than the percentage of bets. This is ideally who the sharps are betting on. Same thing goes for Overs and Unders, we want to follow the money. Now I like
to take it a step further. I would prefer my money percentage to be 50% or less and the bets percentage to be between 7 and 21% less than the money percentage. 7 to 21% is called the “sweet spot”. For example if the Yankees are playing the Red Sox and the Yankees have 48% of the money and 35% of the bets then the Yankees are the team I would most likely take.
Now there is also something called trap lines that I want everyone to be aware of.
Let’s say the Knicks are playing the Hornets and the percentage of money is 60% on the Knicks with 48% of the bets.
Now at first glance you would probably want to take the Knicks… but before we pull that trigger, we need to check the opening line and confirm that Knicks is the right play. If 60% of the money is on the Knicks and the opening line was -3, we expect the line to move from -3 to Knicks -3.5, maybe -4 or more! If the line moves the opposite way such as -2.5 then Vegas may be setting a trap for us. In that case we leave it alone.
Hope this helps.
Betting against the spread goes beyond the simple wins and losses of a sporting event. Betting on the favorite with the spread requires your team to win the game by a certain point margin. Betting on an underdog with the spread allows your team to lose the game, as long as it’s not by more than the given number of points.
When looking at the odds board, the favorite will be displayed with a minus sign in front of the spread. That is the number of points that team has to win the game by in order to cover the spread. You won’t always see a number for the other team, the underdog, because it’s understood that they are receiving the same number of points. The underdog can lose the game, as long as it’s not by more than the points they are being given.
The point spread is the great equalizer. Who would want to bet on a football game between the best team in the league and the worst? The outcome gets a lot more interesting when you give the bad team a 20-point head start. It creates a level playing field between the teams. Every football and basketball game will have a point spread associated with it, with the rare exception of a pick’em game between two evenly-matched teams where there is no favorite or underdog.
Hockey and baseball also have point spreads, but they work a little different. In hockey (the puckline) and baseball (the runline), the favorite is always -1.5 on the spread with the underdog at +1.5. Betting on the favorite requires your hockey or baseball team to win its game by two or more goals or runs. Conversely, betting on the underdog at +1.5 means that your team can lose by either one run or one goal, and your ticket will still cash.
Contrarian sports betting is a strategy that involves betting against the public or the popular sentiment, with the belief that the public tends to be biased towards favorites and overvalues certain teams or players.
The idea behind contrarian sports betting is that by taking the opposite side of the public opinion, bettors can potentially find value in lines that have been adjusted based on the public’s perception.
Reducing risk for a bet or finding a way to guarantee profit from a bet is called 'hedging' in the sports betting industry.
There are a few steps to go through to place a successful hedge bet, but it is a key advanced sports betting strategy for customers looking to gain a leg on their long-term success.
A hedge bet is essentially when the customer wagers the opposite of their originally placed wager. It sounds counterintuitive off the bat, but this can be a super useful tool for future wagers and can also have an impact in the short term if the line movement is significant after newly developed information.
There is much more that meets the eye when looking at odds for a sporting event on any given day or night. In most cases, lines for games have been up the entire day, sometimes even the night before, collecting money on both sides of the spread, the total points, money lines and any sort of props associated with said game.
For sports like football, there can be an entire week of collecting wagers on a certain game that dictates if they line will move, or if the odds associated with a spread will change.