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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 targetingPatrick MahomesOver 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 risk-free 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 likeJayson Tatumto 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.

For example, earlier in the year, the Seattle Seahawks were playing well, asGeno Smithwas highly efficient. However, they were underdogs against the Arizona Cardinals, who were among the most disappointing.

This was a good spot to take the Seahawks because we got them at a favorable price despite the fact that they had been the better team 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 disappoint, failing to meet their expectations. For example, at the beginning of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were thought to have an explosive offense. Targeting their Unders would have been quite profitable.

With props, you’ll often find breakout players with lower numbers because the market hasn’t adjusted yet. This was the case with New York Jets’ wideoutGarrett Wilson, who was consistently flying past his yardage prop withMike Whiteat quarterback.

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

What to Bet on Today

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 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.

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.