It takes years for some gamblers to develop a winning sports betting strategy. And some bettors never figure out a winning strategy. The problem is there’s not a single best sports betting strategy. But you can develop a winning betting strategy for sports. And that’s what this page is about. Here are some tips about building the best sports betting strategy possible.
Handicapping Is Always the Best Betting Strategy
Every successful sports bettor uses handicapping in some form. You can use all kinds of tips, tricks, and hacks to help. But without a solid base of handicapping ability, it’s difficult to win. The problem with handicapping is there’s not a simple system you can use. Every sports gambler has to develop their own winning system.
Building your handicapping system takes a long time and a lot of trial and error. The rest of this page deals with many specific strategies you can use. You should use as many strategies as you can. But continue working on your handicapping skills. Here’s how to start creating your handicapping system.
Collect data and watch games to start. In other words, try to watch as many games as possible. Try watching games as a handicapper and not a fan. You can enjoy the games, but you’re a handicapper now. Collecting data means using statistics. Winning handicappers use statistics to evaluate games and predict scores.
The hard part of using data is determining what’s useful and what’s not useful. It takes some trial and error to learn what stats to use, but you get better with practice. By combining data and watching games, your handicapping skills improve. No matter how many other tricks you use, keep working on your handicapping skills.
Line Shopping Sports Betting Strategies
One of the best sports betting strategies doesn’t have anything to do with the sport you’re betting on. But it’s as important as anything else you do. Finding the best lines for the games you bet on is important. An average sports bettor can improve their results by finding better lines. You don’t have to improve in any other area to see an improvement.
Here’s an example:
You handicap an NFL game between the Browns and Colts. You determine the Browns should win by six. The line at the sportsbook where you usually bet has the Browns listed at – 4. It looks like there’s some value here, so you place a bet on the Browns and give four points. You watch the game and the Browns win 24 to 20. You don’t lose the bet, but it’s a push. But a different sportsbook has the Browns favored by 3.5. If you’d made a bet at the other book, the bet would’ve won.
In this example, a push became a win. And this is why you have to shop betting lines before every bet. Shopping betting lines can turn pushes into wins. It can turn losses into pushes. And sometimes line shopping even turns losses into wins.
How do you shop for lines?
The easiest way is by creating accounts at multiple sportsbooks. Find out which sportsbooks are available where you live, and sign up for accounts at as many as you can. By using multiple sportsbooks you always get the best lines. And throughout a season, getting better lines adds a lot of profit to your bottom line.
Middle Betting Strategy
Here’s a betting strategy that you can use when you find the right opportunity. It’s a long-term strategy, but it does make a profit. The main problem with this betting strategy is it doesn’t happen often. But when it does happen, you need to take advantage of it.
When you’re shopping for betting lines, sometimes sportsbooks don’t agree on the lines. Usually, the difference is small. But sometimes the difference is big enough to create a middle.
Here’s an example:
One sportsbook has the Browns favored over the Colts by 4.5, and another book has the Browns favored by 3.5. Notice what happens if you bet on both sides of this game and the Browns win by four. You win both sides of the bet.
How often do the Browns win by four in this example? It doesn’t happen often, but it only needs to happen one out of every 20 times for a net profit. When you shop for lines, look for middle opportunities.
Best Football Wagering Strategies
Whether you bet on NFL or NCAA football games, the same strategies usually work. As you get better at handicapping, you’re going to learn the subtle differences.
Here are two football betting strategies.
The first strategy is focusing on home teams that are underdogs. You still have to handicap the games, but many home underdogs in football have value.
The second strategy is focusing on small conference NCAA football teams. Sportsbooks set lines for these games, but they’re not experts on small conferences. You can become an expert on a small college football conference and find value in games every week.
Best Basketball Betting Strategies
In the US, you can bet on NBA and NCAA basketball games. And there are specific strategies you can use for both.
When you handicap NBA games, don’t overlook live betting opportunities. Handicapping NBA games is a skill like any other sport. But you can often get a good feel for how each team is going to perform in the second half by watching the first half. Betting at halftime in the NBA games you’re watching is one of the fastest ways to learn how to find value.
The same strategy covered in the previous section about NCAA football also applies to NCAA basketball. You can spend time learning more about a small basketball conference than the sportsbooks. You can even build a network of people close to most of the teams in a small conference.
With a network of people close to small conference teams, you can get inside information that you can turn into a profit. And the lines can vary a great deal from book to book on small conference basketball games.
Best Baseball Wagering Strategies
Baseball is unique in US sports betting because of the run lines. NHL games use a similar line called the puck line, but most bettors ignore the NHL. A run line is like a point spread and moneyline combined. But one team almost always gets 1.5 runs and one team gets 1.5 runs.
At first, the run line is confusing. But it doesn’t take long to learn how it works. And if you’re a good handicapper, run lines can be profitable. The first thing to look for is home teams getting 1.5 runs. In most games, the road team gets 1.5 runs, but it’s not uncommon for a home team to get runs.
The MLB home team has the advantage of batting last, and many games are decided by one run. You still have to handicap the game to make sure the bet offers value. But when you find a home team getting runs it’s a good game to consider.
Here’s an insider strategy for baseball betting.
Home teams rarely get swept in a series of at least three games. It does happen, but it’s rare. If you track results closely, watch for home teams that lose the first game or first two games of a series. The home team in this situation almost always has value.
Using Multiple Promotion Offers
You learned that shopping for lines is important. And you know the best way to shop for lines is to have accounts in many different online sportsbooks. But there’s another advantage to signing up with many different online sportsbooks.
When you sign up for an online sportsbook, the book usually gives you a promotion of some sort. You can receive promotions from multiple sportsbooks. And you can use these promotions to help you make more money.
Here’s a list of safe online sportsbooks serving the US market. Read the reviews and check out the promotions available. Then sign up for several books and take advantage of the promotions.
Promotion offers are usually deposit bonuses, but some sportsbooks also offer loss rebate wagers.
The No Vig Strategy
Line shopping is a way anyone can improve their sports betting results. And you don’t have to be a great handicapper to use line shopping to your advantage. Another way to improve your results without improving your handicapping is paying lower vig. Vig is why most sports gamblers lose money. If you can make some bets with lower vig, it improves your overall return.
Here’s an example:
If you bet $220 to win $200 on 20 games and win 11 of them, you win $220.
If you bet $210 to win $200 on 20 games and win 11 of them, you win $310.
The only difference between the two examples is the first line is at 110/100 and the second is at 105/100. You need to take advantage of any opportunity to bet with reduced vig. The normal vig is 110/100, but some sportsbooks offer specials from time to time. If the line is the same, always bet where the vig is lower.