Many sports fans enjoy sports betting because it is entertaining, it adds to the excitement of watching sports, and there’s always the possibility that you might win and make some extra money. The popularity of sports betting has risen in recent years, as the anti-gambling stigma has begun to dissipate and the industry has become more mainstream.
If you’re a beginner, however, you shouldn’t rush into placing bets just yet. Even though sports betting seems easy at first, it’s better to take the time to understand how it works, so you know what you’re doing. The good news is that anyone can learn the fundamentals and have fun doing it if they have the correct information.
If you’re new to sports betting, you’ve come to the right place. This article will provide you with some beginner-friendly tips that will improve your betting skills.
1. Start with Small Bets
Learning how to beat the sportsbooks takes a while. Yes, some people pick up on winning strategies faster, but even they have a learning curve. When starting out, keep in mind that you only have a certain amount of money you can afford to lose, so don’t bet too much per game.
Set aside a certain amount of money each month or week for sports betting, and don’t go over it. Since you’re just now learning how to bet, keep your bets small – just a few dollars per bet.
You’ll still feel the excitement as you’re watching a game and trying to predict the outcome, but you won’t have to worry about running into money problems if you lose.
Plus, if you keep your bets small and use a platform like Betcris, you can place more bets before you run out of money, allowing you to build experience and develop winning strategies.
2. Specialize
Most beginners start by betting on their favorite teams during major sporting events like the Super Bowl or the NCAA basketball tournament. This does make the games more exciting, but it’s not a good strategy if you actually want to make money from betting.
The best strategy for winning is to focus on one particular area and learn everything you can about it. This means that instead of betting on the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA games, you focus exclusively on the NFL. Even better, you could specialize in an even narrower area, such as AFC East games. This will allow you to gain enough knowledge in that small area that you can pick winners.
3. Don’t Bet on Your Favorite Team
If you’re a sports fan, chances are your first wager was on your favorite team. Many sports bettors continue betting on their favorite team because if they win, they will also make some extra money, giving them two reasons to celebrate.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but again, if you want to actually make money from sports betting and you’re not just trying to have fun, you need to look at games and teams objectively.
The trouble with betting on sports involving your favorite team is that it’s difficult to remain objective. You, of course, want your favorite team to win, so there’s a good chance you might overestimate their odds.
4. Learn the Basics
You need to learn how to walk before you run, so spend some time learning the basics of sports betting before diving in too deep.
Favorites and Underdogs
When betting lines are given, sports bettors should be able to determine which team is the favorite – the one that is expected to win, and which is the underdog – the one that is expected to lose. To distinguish favorites from underdogs, favorites will be listed with a minus sign next to their odds, while the underdogs are listed with a plus sign.
In rare instances, a game’s line will read “PK.” This is also known as a “pick” or “pick ’em” because it indicates that the oddsmakers believe the game will be evenly balanced, with no favorite or underdog.
Spreads
An oddsmaker uses a spread to “level the playing field,” allowing both the favorites and the underdogs to attract bettors. In many sporting events, one team is far more likely to win than the other.
To compensate for this and motivate people to bet on the underdog, it’s granted an arbitrary number of points to overcome its point disparity and hypothetically beat the favorite.
Moneylines
A moneyline bet is the most basic of all betting options. All you have to do is choose the winning side. Moneylines are always available for any sporting event, whether it’s a match between two teams or a competition between two individuals. If you choose the team or individual that won, you also win your moneyline bet.
Over/Unders
Over/unders or totals are lines that oddsmakers establish to represent what the final score of a game is likely to be. A bettor who chooses the over believes the combined scores of the two teams will be higher than the expected total. A bet on the under, on the other hand, indicates that the bettor believes the combined scores of the two teams will be lower than the expected total.
The “Vig” or “Juice”
When it comes to sports betting, understanding the terms “vig” and “juice” is critical because they directly affect your wins. You might see a number like -110 next to the line on a standard against the spread or over/under bet. This is the vig, which indicates that a bettor who bets $110 on the line will gain $100 if his bet wins. If the vig is +110, a $100 bet will gain $110 if the bet was successful.
Moneyline bets have vigs or juice as well, but the amounts are often substantially different. A football team that is favored by a touchdown, for example, will generally be -300 to -400 on the moneyline. Since the team has to win the game and not cover the spread, the juice is steeper in these circumstances.
