Sportsbooks Basic Strategy

Most people recognize that unlike other forms of gambling, sport’s betting can be done with strategy. It’s immediately obvious when you sit down to place a bet; bettors have to make important decisions with every bet, and the choices you make often make the difference between winning and losing.

Sportsbook strategy can be broken down into major components; basic strategy and betting systems. Basic strategy comprises all of the information a bettor can use in order to increase chances of winning. In other words, basic strategy methods would tell you the mathematically best bet possible in every situation you might encounter during the sporting season.

Every good sportsbook strategy starts with the full understanding of basic strategy. Without the foundation, other, more advanced strategies – namely, betting systems – will fail, as bettors will simply make too many basic mistakes to overcome. On the other hand, learning just the basic strategy will allow you to go to any sportsbook with excellent odds, sometimes good enough that you’ll show a profit with the help of bonuses and other promotion programs. With that in mind, it’s always better to focus on learning basic strategy first, until you feel completely comfortable with it.

SPORTSBOOKS BASIC STRATEGY

A full basic strategy is quite complex, since there are countless situations you could face during a sports season that must be accounted for. There are several factors the bettor must take into account with each bet:

• The information that can be found and used handicapping;
• The odds;
• The payout;
• Whether you will bet on Favorite/Underdog.

The information that can be used is particularly important, because even small changes in the information being used can noticeably change the outcome. For instance, the right bets on team with a key player that can play are not the right bets on a team that has an injured key player. The stats, individual and team, and other factors can also affect basic betting strategy.

With this in mind, it is hard to use one piece of information to make a betting strategy that will work in any situation, especially in the scope of this article. Full basic strategy methods are available online at my sportsbooks (which don’t mind you using basic strategy to bet), as well as many great sportsbook and gambling websites.

SIMPLIFIED SPORTSBOOKS STRATEGY

It is fairly easy to suggest a simplified strategy that can help you get started at just about every typical online sportsbook. The most simplified sportsbook betting strategy is to handicap the sports matches. You won’t get a 100% accurate prediction, but you won’t be giving much up; using this strategy will minimize the risk of a losing bet, making it an optimal bet. Handicapping is a popular method of calculating and predicting a winning bet. It uses the information that can be found anywhere online, especially at the sportsbooks, on any sports team.

Statistics

Individual player and team stats are vital. These numbers will show you trends and possible outcomes. It will tell you which team/player is performing better.

Injuries

Pay attention to which players are injured, as a missing player could mean defeat for a team.

Hype

Just because a team or bet is popular, dictated by the odds, doesn’t mean it is the winning bet. Ignore the hype, or better yet, use it to your advantage.

Turnovers

One statistic that needs to be taken into account as it could sway your decision one way or the other. A team that losses possession more often has fewer chances of scoring.

Weather

The weather can play a big part in how a game is played, with high wind speeds, cold, rain, and any other element can affect performance.

News Reports

You can always learn a lot about a player by watching the news, and that can help.

Watch the Games

No one knows more about a sport or team than you do, so watch every sports match to have personal experience to add into the mix.

Friends

Friends that spend a lot of time watching and analyzing sports can have some real useful inside information.

There you go! Eight simple pieces of information that you need to take into account when handicapping, a basic sportsbook betting strategy. This is a perfect strategy for anyone looking to quickly learn how to bet at sportsbooks very well, without taking the time to memorize complex strategy or systems. In addition, the simplicity of the strategy means you’re not likely to make mistakes when betting because you will have the optimal information.

BETTING SYSTEMS

Many bettors are not content with simply increasing their odds of winning. Instead, they want to have the most accurate predictions possible! In sports betting, this is possible thanks to betting systems.

Betting systems work by using trends and specific information that occur during the sports season. Because numbers never lie, it is often the case that certain trends don’t actually resemble a random pattern. There may, for instance, be a case where a team has won 4 games in a row at Home against weak defensive teams. This tells us that the team does a very good job at playing at Home and against weak defensive teams, which is great for the bettor.

In general, trends are great for a bettor, while random information is the worst for a bettor. Betting systems take advantage of this fact by wagering more money when they know that the bet has higher odds of winning. They also make other adjustments, such as a point differential system that takes into account a team’s own scoring capabilities against their opponents. However, it is critical to have a complete understanding of basic strategy before moving on to betting systems, since systems rely on your ability to analyze information as it changes after each sports match. For more information, check out our full article on betting systems!

BAD SPORTSBOOK STRATEGY

A word of caution: it’s often the case where you’ll get bad “predictions” from other bettors online, which contradicts what you’ve read here or seen at other reputable gambling sites. Most of the time, other bettors will be well-intentioned, but will not have proper knowledge of sports betting. Often, these bettors use strategies like always assuming the favorite will win, which – while often pointing the bettor in the right direction – causes the bettor to lose more money than with basic strategy.

Hopefully, if you use basic strategy, you won’t be making any crazy bets, which should keep you safe from losing all of your money. Sports bettors are often superstitious, which could cause them to get angry when a bet loses even when they had a “feeling” it would win. Even if someone you know wins a bet based off of a feeling, don’t let it bother you; be confident that you’ve made bets based on basic strategy, and your results will prove that in the long run.