Betting for beginners

Part 1:  Pros and Cons

If you enjoy betting on sports, you might daydream about a life as a professional gambler, a “sharp.”  Would professional gambling suit you, though?  It’s always smart to ask yourself what you want from life and what kind of disposition you have before you really jump into seriously learning a trade like betting.  Why?  Because it’s a lot more work than you might realise.

Pros of becoming a professional gambler:

The betting line is a concept we discuss a lot when we talk about sports betting.  It is one of the most basic concepts you need to be familiar with; being able to “shop the lines” for the best betting opportunities is as much the key to success as knowing who is likely to win or lose on the field.  But who actually sets the betting lines that are offered to you by online betting sites?

If you are not familiar yet with betting on totals, it is definitely a concept worth acquainting yourself with.  As a sports bettor, you do not necessarily have to predict the winner of a game in order to win a bet.  You can bet on totals instead, also referred to as “betting on over/unders.” 

Recently we did a series on common types of sports wagers, including accumulators and teasers.  These types of bets are more complex than single bets, because they combine straight bets and/or totals into a group.

As a sports gambler, one of the best pieces of advice you will get is to pay close attention to the news headlines.  The public will do this, but so will the sharps, and if you pay more attention than the public, you will probably pick up on things the public misses.  The public is easily swayed by sports headlines, but only for really prominent games.  They will typically miss the other events that take place over the course of a season, which is one reason they often bet incorrectly.  What should you be paying attention to?&

Betting on NFL games?  When you are taking a look at the point spreads, there are two key numbers you should be aware of: 3 and 7.  Why?  A statistician named Andy Iskoe researched NFL games over a 17-year time period to find out the point difference in the final scores.  Iskoe was a really smart guy, and discovered that 15% of all NFL games concluded with a difference of 3 points.  The next most significant number was 7—that was the points difference in about half as many of the games.  Following that were

If you have an account at an online betting site, you know that many websites offer dozens or even hundreds of different types of events for you to wager on.  This is a big selling point for a lot of these sites.  It is exciting to think that there is an abundance of opportunity out there waiting for you.  But how many different types of games and matches should you realistic try wagering on?  Should you wager on just one sport, or should you diversify and bet on as many as possible?

Lots of people like to talk about “hedging their bets,” but how familiar are you with hedging and how it actually works?  Hedging is a strategy where you bet on both sides of a game or a match.  Some people incorporate hedging strategies before things start going south, while others may only fall back on hedging if they believe they are about to lose a bet they have already placed.  Used properly, hedging can reduce or even eliminate your risk on a bet.  Done incorrectly, it can cost you money.

In sports betting, we talk a lot about finding out where the “smart money” is.  The smart money is the money bet by the “sharps,” who we contrast with the betting public.  Sharps are professional bettors, gamblers who can make money again and again when they wager on games.  They are able to make money betting reliably enough that they can do it for a living.  What exactly makes a sharp “sharp,” though?  What do they know that you don’t?  Why are you still a member of the

When you are just getting into sports betting, one of your first impulses will probably be to bet on your own favorite sports team.  You may feel drawn to do this through a sense of loyalty; betting on your own team is a sentimental gesture of support.  It can be extra exciting when your team wins and you win too!  Betting emotionally can be dangerous, however, because objectivity tends to get thrown out the window.  Are there any advantages to betting on your own team, though?  Is it always a bad idea, or are there times when it