Sports Betting 101
This guide is for anyone who is new to sports betting and wants to learn the basics of sports betting.
First off if you know nothing about sports betting, do not bet until you read this sports betting guide. If you start betting right now, you will lose everything! The first thing you must learn is that knowing a lot about sports does not equate to being a good sports bettor.
When you place a bet on the game, there is always juice or vig(vigorous). So if you want to bet $10 on a game you have to lay $11 to win $10. This is what is called a standard 10 cent line(-110). Most bookies who operate in neighborhoods will offer this line. This used to be the standard before the Internet. Now with offshore sportsbooks you can find juice as low as 4 cents (-104).
Against the Spread Betting
On every game there is a favorite and an underdog. You can bet them on the spread or the moneyline. Let's say the Longhorns and the Hawkeyes are playing in a college football game. Here is what the spread would look like.
- Longhorns -7 (-105)
- Hawkeyes +7 (-105)
So for the Longhorns to win your bet, they must win by 8 or more. If they win by 1-6, then you lose the bet. If they win by 7, then you push, and your bet plus your juice is refunded.
If you bet on the Hawkeyes, they must either win or lose by less than 7. If they lose by 7 you push, and if they lose by 8 or more, then you lose your bet plus the juice.
Moneyline Betting
Moneyline betting means placing a bet on a game with no spread involved. To compensate for their being no spread, there is a different amount of juice for each team. So, for the example above, if you wanted to bet the Longhorns against Iowa and the spread was 7, the moneyline would be around -230 or so. This means you have to bet $23 to win $10 or 2.3 : 1 odds. The Hawkeyes in this situation would be around a +195 to +200 underdog. So if you bet $10 on them, you would win $19. So to recap, the team you are betting on in money line betting, does not have to beat a spread. They just need to win the game straight up.
Over/Under or Total Betting
Betting on the total of games can be a very good chance at exploiting weak lines. The over/under is the amount of points that both teams will score combined. Take for example a college football game, in most college football games the over/under will be between 40-70. You can bet under the total or over the total. If we stick with the same example that we have been using, the odds would look like this.
- Longhorns -7 (-105) Over 54
- Hawkeyes +7 (-105) Under 54
If you bet the over 54, the two teams combined must score more than 54 points to win the bet. If they score 54, you push and will have your bet plus juice refunded. If you bet the under 54, the two teams combined must score under 54 for the bet to win. For all over/under bets, overtime counts and is factored into the total amount of points.
Using this info will help you get started in sports betting. For more information we suggest you read up on some of our other informative articles.
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