Best Bets Today | Free Expert Sports Picks & Betting Predictions

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Betting Explained

Sports betting gives you an opportunity to target a game in several different ways.

If you want to focus on choosing the winner, you can go with moneylines. Select the favorite (minus odds, lower payout) or underdog (plus odds, greater payout) to win a given matchup.

You’re able to add the margin of victory by rolling with point spreads. This is where an assigned winning margin is provided for each game. If you take the favorite, they need to win by more than that margin, while underdogs can either lose by fewer than the spread or win outright.

Choosing a winner can be difficult, which is why targeting totals can make sense. Each game has an assigned number — this can pertain to the combined score in a full game, half, quarter, or period. It can either involve both or only one team. All you need to do is pick Over or Under.

There are also opportunities to focus on specific players by targeting the props market. Choose a player to go Over or Under on the given stat, such as points, rebounds, yards, and much more.

If you want to aim for a higher payout, there are futures bets to consider, such as taking a team to win the championship or going with a player to win MVP. These are wagers that are settled at the end of the season.

What makes sports betting great is the variety of options at your disposal.

Our Betting Tips

Sports betting can be difficult at times, but follow these tips help make it easier:

• Join multiple sportsbooks so that you can shop around for the best odds or number.
  • Example 1: Say you like the Knicks at -4, but notice that they’re at -3.5 at another site. You then have that opportunity to get them at a more favorable number.
  • Example 2: You may be targeting Patrick Mahomes Over 285.5 Passing Yards, but you notice that it’s 282.5 at another sportsbook. That extra three yards is huge, so be sure to take advantage.
• Make sure to research your picks, considering several factors, such as:
  • Recent performance
  • Head-to-head matchup
  • Weather impact
  • Player injuries
  • Home/Away splits
  • Pace of play
• Try to read the odds and monitor line movement.
  • Sometimes, a point spread or total may seem too low, but there may be a valid reason that you haven’t considered yet.
  • A line may stay the same even though it’s a popular public bet, which could mean that sharps are on the opposing side.
• Make sure to practice money management.
  • Never risk too many units on a single play.
  • Put more money on straight wagers instead of parlays.
  • Stick to a standard unit size.
• Take advantage of promotions and signup bonuses.
  • Sites may provide you with odds or profit boosts, so try to target these.
  • Join multiple platforms to secure their signup bonuses, such as bonus credit bets or deposit matches.

Our Approach to Betting Predictions

Our approach to betting predictions revolves on finding value. We don’t want to spend too much juice on a single play because that increases our risk.

For example, let’s say that we like the Detroit Lions to win, but they’re -170 favorites on the moneyline. That means we would be risking $170 to win $100.

In this case, it would be a better move to take them on the spread at -3 because that would have -110 odds, where we’d be staking $110 to win $100.

It’s best to target moneylines if they’re either a reasonably priced favorite (-150 or longer) or on underdogs to find value.

When focusing on spreads, we consider key numbers, especially in football, where points are most often scored in multiples of three (field goal) or seven (touchdown plus extra point).

This means that a spread of -3 is much better than -3.5 and the same goes for -7/-7.5, -10/-10.5, and so on. If we’re able to get a favorite or underdog past a key number, we’re making sure to pounce on that.

If we’re targeting totals, we want to consider pace of play. Fast-paced teams go well with the Over, while slow-paced teams align with the Under.

There are also “pace-up spots," where a slower team is facing a faster team. One of those sides may dictate the pace, forcing their opponent to play in a similar style.

With every wager, we need to consider the projected game script, asking ourselves the following questions:

• Does this project as a high-scoring game?
• Is it a potential blowout, where one team is heavily favored?
• What is each team’s play style? (Ex. are they pass-heavy or run-heavy?)

This helps guide us in choosing our player props. For example, imagine I really like Jayson Tatum to score 27 or more points. However, the Celtics are favored by 12, meaning that there could be a potential blowout.

If Boston is blowing out their opponent, that means Tatum may see less playing time, making it more difficult to hit his points prop. This is something that we always consider when targeting props.

The overall approach to our betting predictions involves a combination of each of these factors, as we try to search for value to find an edge.

How We Make Our Best Bets

When we make our best bets, we’re trying to find an edge by exploiting a mispriced line that doesn’t align with our projected game script or a team’s recent performance.

There are times where the betting market hasn’t caught up to surprise teams yet.

At one point this season, the Indianapolis Colts were playing solid football behind a breakout year from Anthony Richardson, yet they were underdogs against the Tennessee Titans, who had been struggling on both sides of the ball.

It was a great spot to back the Colts, as the market hadn’t fully adjusted to their improved form, offering value on a team that had clearly been better at the time.

We can also use this principle for other bet types, such as totals or player props.

For totals, there are always teams that fall short of expectations. In 2025, the Cincinnati Bengals were expected to be one of the league’s highest-scoring offenses, but early struggles—especially with Joe Burrow returning from injury—made targeting the Unders in their games a profitable strategy.

With props, you’ll often find breakout players with lower numbers before the market adjusts. That was the case with Houston Texans’ wideout Tank Dell, who consistently cleared his receiving yard props during his hot stretch with C.J. Stroud under center in the 2025 season.

The bottom line is to use our research to inform our process of searching for value.

What to Bet on Today

Here is the selected game from this weekend’s NFL action.

Odds pulled from , current as of January 23, 2026. Be sure to check for the latest updates before placing your bet.

The best advice for sports betting is to target the opening lines. This means that you want to jump on your favorite wagers immediately once they are posted.

The reason for this is that as we get closer to game time, the market will adjust and make a sharper line, making it more difficult for you to win.

This is especially important with player props, which can fluctuate a lot in the time leading up to the game. For example, I’ve seen props increase or decrease by five or more yards on several occasions.

In terms of which bet types to target, it depends on which number has value. Use your research to help you uncover which lines may be mispriced.

In my experience, I’ve noticed that point spreads and totals are sharper because these are more traditional bet types. You have a better chance at finding an edge in player props, which are relatively new to the betting scene.

Keep this in mind when betting on special events or markets, such as Super Bowl player props.

FanDuel vs DraftKings

In the 2010s, FanDuel and DraftKings were the premier daily fantasy sports platforms. Fast-forward to 2018, when sports betting started to become legal in more and more states, and DraftKings and FanDuel morphed into the biggest sportsbooks on the market.

Both platforms are similar, but there are differences as well.

Starting with the welcome bonus, FanDuel Sportsbook provides players with $200 in bonus bets after they wager $5 and win. At DraftKings Sportsbook, the offer is similar, but slightly better, offering up $300 in bonus bets if you win.

As for additional promotions, FanDuel and DraftKings are also similar, but I’d say DraftKings offers more daily bonuses, such as a Same Game Parlay boost or other kinds of odds boosts, whereas FanDuel has more “static" offers that last a certain period.

Where I think FanDuel succeeds, though, is the Betting 101 Guide. This is a great resource for new players who want to learn about sports betting, including the different bet types and how to approach specific sports.

Moving to betting markets again, there are many similarities. FanDuel and DraftKings both have major markets, such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA, but they also offer niche markets, including Table Tennis, Snooker, and Rugby. However, I noticed that FanDuel offered esports, while DraftKings didn’t, which is emerging as a highly sought-after sports betting market given the growing popularity of certain video game titles.

Now, I want to review the features of each platform.

At FanDuel, there’s a feature called Parlay Hub. This allows you to create parlays by filtering the sport, total odds, and bet type. There’s also Popular Bets, a section that shows just as the title says — the most popular bets at the time you’re on the site.

Over at DraftKings, there’s DK Social, which is a blast. Here, you can form groups with friends or chat with other players to see what they’re betting on. If you’re in a group with friends or others, you can see what they’re wagering on and easily tail their bets.

Both platforms have excellent desktop platforms and mobile apps. The differences are so small that it often comes down to the state you live in and whether it’s offered there.

If you have both, we encourage you to take advantage of the offers in both and use them to odds-shop against one another to find the best odds for the next event you want to wager on.

Underdog vs PrizePicks

To begin this comparison, I will provide an overview of each.

PrizePicks offers new players $50 in lineups instantly after they play $5. There’s a mobile app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for iOS and Android, respectively.

Next, after you log in, here’s the basis for playing: Choose 2 or more players from any sport and simply pick More of Less on the stats.

The current markets that are available include NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Tennis, Boxing, PGA, Esports, EuroGolf, MMA, Table Tennis, and NASCAR. There are ample “bet types" depending on the sport you pick.

After adding players to your play slip, you’ll choose between two modes: Flex Play and Power Play.

Here’s an example of how they work with 4 selections:

• Flex Play: You must hit 1st place or 3 out of 4 in the lineup. 1st place pays 6x. 4 correct pays 2x and 3 correct pays 0.5x.
• Power Play: You must hit 1st place or 4 out of 4 in the lineup. 1st place pays 10x, and 4 correct pays 2.6x.

Power Play offers higher payouts, but it also carries greater risk.

The payment methods at PrizePicks include Visa, MasterCard, Venmo, and more.

There are some additional promotions, too, including a 40% payout boost and a refer-a-friend bonus where you’ll get $10 in bonus funds when you recruit a friend and they complete the necessary steps.

As for Underdog, the platform is a bit different. To start, the welcome bonus is $75 in fantasy bonus entries when you play $5 in fantasy entries. Like PrizePicks, there’s a mobile app for iOS and Android.

OK, now, here’s what the payouts look like with 4 selections as we did above:

• Standard: 9.5x
• Flex: 5.36x

That said, these prices changed while I was writing this. As for PrizePicks, I haven’t seen any changes, so it may be more static than Underdog.

However, Underdog offers more than just that style of daily fantasy sports. There are also best ball drafts where you’ll play against a bunch of players or against just a few with varying prize pools.

There’s another feature I like, too: The News feed. This will show you live updates for all players across all sports.

So, while Underdog may not have the better “picks" platform compared to PrizePicks, there’s much more to Underdog than just that platform, though.

If you’re looking for picks exclusively, give PrizePicks a try. If you want to try a mix of both, visit Underdog.

How to Place a Bet

Here’s how you can place a bet:

• Find your preferred wager.
• Click it to add it to your betslip.
  • We have a terrific betslip builder tool at The Game Day, making it a more convenient process for you. You can build your slip and go directly to place your wager at your sportsbook. We also find the best line for you here.
• Determine how much money you want to place on your wager.
• Click “Place Bet" when you are ready.
• If you want to build a parlay, go back to the betting markets and add another pick to your slip. Your odds will be updated to reflect the addition.
• Remember, before signing up, check out the latest sportsbook promotions and then place your bet.