1. Sports Betting Basics

Many people find that placing bets on the outcome of a game greatly enhances their enjoyment when watching the game on television or listening to it on the radio. Therefore, most Las Vegas sportsbooks have satellite hook-ups and big-screen TV's broadcasting nearly every college and NFL game across the country every week. Additionally, if a game is not being televised, they post frequent scoring updates on the progress of all games on which they are taking action.

Sportsbooks will only accept bets on those games which have been posted on their board. These games are known as "board games." Generally, all major league baseball, NFL, NBA and NHL games are "on the board," whereas college games are limited to football and basketball match-ups being played by major Division schools. Limited betting is available at some books on golf, tennis, car racing, and other miscellaneous sports.

Wide arrays of betting propositions are available to players. They vary from five dollar parlay cards to the legendary $100,000 bets accepted at some sportsbooks under special arrangements. (The standard maximum bet limit is $5,000 at most books). Sports betting, race wagering, and poker are the only venues of chance open to the gaming public in which the player is not in direct competition with the casinos (the house). In all other casino games (such as craps, keno, slot machines, baccarat, blackjack and roulette), the house has a statistical advantage. In live sports betting, however, players can gain an edge on the house when they can identify games where the posted line does not accurately reflect the true odds for the game's outcome.

2. How to Choose a Sports Book

Choosing the right sportsbook is an essential part of enjoying sports betting. There are now hundreds of offshore sportsbooks and Internet sportsbooks in operation around the globe. Although you should perform your own due diligence in finding a sportsbook that is both reputable customer service oriented, we have taken much of the leg work out by linking only to the best books in the industry. The sportsbook you choose should suit your needs. For example, if you are a small bettor you wouldn't want to wager with a book that caters to big bettors. If you love to wager on hockey, you should not put your money with a book that does not regularly deal with hockey bets. Make no mistake; there are a few scam artists who operate online sportsbooks.

Points to follow when choosing a sportsbook:
1. Are they reputable? This is MOST important. Do they pay regularly and in a timely fashion? Are they well funded and not over extending their cash reserves? There is no worse feeling than not getting paid after you have scored a big win.
2. Where are they located? You want to be sure that the sports book is operating in a legal jurisdiction so you can have some recourse if things do go wrong. Look for books who are members of the Offshore Gaming Association (OSGA) or International Sportsbook Council (ISBC).
3. Where do they get their lines? Don Best and Jim Feist are considered among the most reliable sources for lines. Be sure you shop around to see how each sportsbook's lines compare.
4. How do you rate their customer service? Do they treat clients with respect and resolve disputes in a consistent and fair manner? What do their clients stay on newsgroups?
5. Do they offer incentives? Beware, if an offer is too good to be true, it probably is. However, even the most respected sportsbooks offer some incentives to encourage signups and retention.
We have taken all five of these points into consideration and tested all of the Sports Books in our Best Bet Recommendations. Click here to go to the Sportsbook Directory.

3. About Handicapping

We cannot stress enough that the goal of the spread in each gaming contest is to equalize betting on both sides and it is NOT a prediction of the score differential between two teams. The sportsbook wants to have equal action on both sides so they have no risk regardless of the actual outcome. It is because of this fact that players receive their biggest advantage--their ability to shop. When books begin to receive more money on one side over another they will adjust the line in order to create interest on the other team. If you like that "other" team, it is in your interest to wait until the line moves before placing a bet, thereby receiving the best value. But, if you are backing the team in which most of the money is going to, it is in your interest to wager before the line moves. Because there are so many sportsbooks, some books may not have received as lopsided money as others and thus put a slightly different line on a game. A good shopper will eventually find the best value for his side, and over the long haul a 1/2-point here, and a point there can translate into significantly greater profits.

An infinite variety of activities play into each line. The weather in baseball and football are big factors. Injuries to star or integral players make having the latest information on a team vital. Such considerations as who is the home team and what's the history behind a match up are very important. Historical results which show tradition and revenge situations are very crucial in determining how a game will play out. Equally essential is the upcoming schedules of the teams, their starting participants and who's in the coach's dog house. Many sportsbooks hire experts and consultants to help them with the odds because there are too many of the above factors, along with current power statistics and trends, for a busy casino to follow them all accurately.

4. Handicapping for Beginners

Who will win the game? That's the answer all handicappers are searching for and since the sportsbooks conveniently place numbers on a game in order to equalize betting on both sides, the numbers make your job of selecting the winning team more difficult. With all of the factors available to you as a handicapper and also available to the odds makers and bookmakers the difference between winning and losing comes down to the practical application of that information.

Common sense, hunches, TV games and personal loyalties are nice instruments to keep a player interested, but over the long run they are also the best way to keep you from winning! The best and most successful handicappers are money managers looking for ideal situations which are defined as games with only a high percentage of return. In individual situations dumb luck will play into the outcome of games which no amount of handicapping can overcome, but in the long run a disciplined handicapper will win more of those lucky games than they lose, because they aren't depending on the luck-factor for winners.

Experts will gather as much information that's available through the latest in available statistics, trends, weather, home field and team histories. One well known example of a historical trend is that NFL teams which play on the road three weeks in a row have been strong go-against plays. This trend has been a winning play for a decade.

Computer programs are also being written daily to review, analyze and predict how each team does against the point spread. These programs reflect the opinions of each individual because some handicappers give more value to some factors over others. For instance one handicapper may determine home field to be the most important issue in each game, while another believes that the coach is the most important component in a game. It is important to note that there is no "right" way to pick a game. The emphasis of a handicapper needs to be on disciplining themselves to a system that has produced winners for them and never varying from it.

The information available to a player can be found in daily publications, news services, computer services or specific detailed programs for this purpose. The goal of a handicapper is to study as much information as you can, for as far back as you can, in order to find the necessary trends which fit your handicapping needs. You will find that the more time and work you put into your task the more you will learn and more successful your handicapping will be.

When you bet on a football or basketball game, you'll typically be playing against a "point spread." Team A will be favored by 7 points over Team B for example. You'll either take Team A to win by more than 7, or Team B to lose by less than 7... or to win the game outright. It's important to remember that the point spread DOES NOT represent a prediction on the game from the sportsbook or casino, but rather, a number that it believes will split the money evenly to reduce their risk. You see? When you bet a straight play like this, you have to risk your money in an 11/10 ratio (that extra 10% is called the vigorish, or the "vig" or "juice" in slang). You risk $11 to win $10, or $110 to win $100, or $55 to win 50, etc. Ideally, from the sportsbook perspective, half the bettors will take one team in a game, half will take the other and the sportsbook will make its profit from the losing side.

Imagine that bettors as a group risked $55,000 to win $50,000 on Team A, and $55,000 to win $50,000 on Team B. It doesn't matter who wins... the sportsbook will pocket $5,000 in profit, and use the other $50,000 from the losers to pay off the winners. All of this is important to you, because it means that LIVE SPORTS BETTING IS THE BEST MONEY MAKING PROPOSITION IN ALL OF WAGERING FOR SMART PLAYERS!

Think about it, the laws of probability rule all the other casino games. The odds concerning the next card that comes up in blackjack or poker, where the ball's going to land in roulette, what number is about to be rolled in craps, etc. The casinos know the laws and have adjusted their payoffs accordingly. For the most part, you have to get lucky to win. You can't PURPOSELY beat roulette any more than you can purposely hit the jackpot at a slot machine. BUT, YOU CAN, THROUGH HARD WORK, RESEARCH, AND INTELLIGENCE BEAT SPORTS POINTSPREADS!

Point spreads are based on perceptions of the wagering public. Because the wagering public isn't perfect in its analysis, there are holes that can be exploited each and every day. There are 7-point favorites who should be 10-12 point favorites... there are underdogs who have matchup advantages that will yield a straight up victory... there are good teams about to have an off-day, and bad teams who play over their heads in certain scenarios.

NFL Lines

5. Making Your Wagering Experience Enjoyable

Playing offshore shouldn't be a hassle, nevertheless there are times when it CAN be. And, I'm not talking about having difficulty getting a payout. More often than not, it's the little delays and service annoyances that get under our skin. Lest we not forget the era when there was no such thing as online wagering, or placing a bet at 3 AM in the morning for that matter. How quickly we seem to forget.

Since we gamblers have become so accustomed to the "royal" treatment to the point where such luxuries have now become the norm, rest assured there are ways to avoid common pitfalls.

6. Key Numbers

Before getting into the details, we should probably take a look at the basic concept of "key numbers" as it seems that often times even moderately experienced sports bettors don't understand key numbers… First off, football is unique among the major sports in terms of how points are scored. In baseball, hockey, and soccer, all scores are valued as a single point. These sports also tend to have low scores and the average margin of victory is extremely low so pointspreads aren't used in the same way as they are in football betting and basketball betting. Basketball scores come in increments of 1, 2, or 3, but the high amount of scoring makes for an even distribution of final scores. As a result, basketball is likely the easiest sport to wager on in terms of lines offered. Football betting gets more complicated because the scoring comes in "chunks" of 3 points (field goal) and 7 points (Touchdown and P.A.T.). There are also a small number of other scoring possibilities with safeties providing 2 points, missed extra points making the touchdown worth only 6, and/or the 2 point conversion making 8 a possibility as well. Scoring in football tends to take place on average only about 8 times per game, so unlike basketball; the final scores do group around certain numbers, known as "key numbers". The major key numbers are 3 and 7, but 1, 4, 6, 10, 13, 14 have a high likelihood of being the final margin of victory as well and are often referred to as minor key numbers. If we look at how all these numbers relate to 3 and 7, it's easy to see whey they occur frequently. The following chart shows the frequency of certain final scores for the 2001 NFL season as well as the relationship of the number to a combination of Touchdowns and Field Goals:

3	17.3%	Field Goal
7	9.7%	Touchdown
10	6.9%	Touchdown + Field Goal
4	5.6%	Touchdown - Field Goal
1	4.4%	TD - Two Field Goals, or Missed Extra Point
6	4.4%	Two Field Goals
14	4.4%	Two Touchdowns
13	4%	Touchdown + 2 Field Goals

7. Mathematics of Moneylines

You will find that most games will offer you the option of either pointspread betting, or betting on the game's winner "straight up" which is better known as betting the "moneyline". If you bet on the favorite, you will have to wager more than you stand to win, but if you pick the underdog to win straight up you will get "odds" sometimes as high as 4-1 or 5-1 which will be represented as +400 or +500.

Let's take a look at several scenarios… Which of these bets would you prefer to place?

$300 to win $100 on a heavy favorite with a 75% chance of winning?
$150 to win $100 on a medium favorite with a 60% chance of winning?
$100 to win $200 on an underdog with a 33.33% chance of winning?

That is a trick question… The correct answer is that each scenario is essentially the same with and expected return of zero!

In scenario 1, 75% of the time you win $100, but you lose $300 the other 25%... Therefore, expected return is equal to: (.75 * 100) - (.25 * 300) = 75 - 75 = 0

The same thing holds true for both scenarios 2 & 3, but if you don't want to take my word for it, simply run the plug the numbers in to the formula and see for yourself. It will always come back to the "beating the number" formula that we talked about earlier…. Required Win % = Amount Risked / (Amount Risked + Amount of Win)

8. When to Place your Sports Bets

Every year we hear the exact same concerns regarding inaccessible web sites and busy phone signals one to two hours prior to the big football kickoffs. Any crunch periods will result in peak times. What's the solution? Make all your plays with the most sophisticated and technologically advanced books on the Internet. If you've shopped at all, you'll notice the differences immediately in the different operating systems. According to one un-named sportsbook operator, "We were among the first on the Net and we still have not figured out how to prevent our systems from crashing." Avoid the types of online books that look like the wagering area was built by a novice. With that said, it is safe to assume players need to find their own detour around these telecommunications traffic jams. The obvious comes to mind: PLACE YOUR BETS EARLY. For NFL and college football games, call in your wager no later than Friday. Many books offer incentives such as reduced juice for getting your bets in prior to the weekend. For NBA; NCAA and baseball, get your beds in prior to an hour before tip off or the first pitch, though baseball is not so much a pressure cooker compared to other sporting events. Good times are normally no later than 6 PM EST on week nights. Be mindful of game schedules on a particular day, especially where NCAA is concerned. By placing wagers during "off peak" times, you stand a much better chance of receiving one-on-one personalized attention. During vital crunch times, a phone clerk simply cannot be expected to run down all the day's lines when there are hundreds of other bettors waiting to get some action down. Also avoid betting online NFL Sunday mornings and during peak college football times.

Another method employed is to maintain more than one account. If you should encounter a problem with your favorite book, at least there is more than one option open. This is also valuable advice for any serious line shopper or middler.

Bodog appeals to all interests, skill levels and budgets. Whatever you bet on, there's something for you in the 'Dog House! Click here to Bet.

9. How to Place a Sports Bet

Sports bets are most commonly placed on the outcome of a single event or game. In virtually all contests, there is a favorite and an underdog. In order to make wagering more even, the odds maker draws up an odds line, or the odds, such that you can bet on the probability of a competitor's win.

For example, former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson steps into the boxing ring to square off against "Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone. In this case, Tyson is obviously the favorite and Stallone the underdog.

The odds maker would then post the odds that probably would look something like this:

Stallone = 7 to 1 (noted as 7/1)
Tyson = 1 to 9 (noted as 1/9)

To win $1 on Tyson, you must wager $9. If he wins, you get $10 back, the $9 you bet plus the $1 you won. On the other hand, to win $7 on Stallone, you need only wager $1. If Stallone wins, you get $8 back, the $1 you bet plus the $7 you won.

Stallone +240
Tyson -120

By clicking on either -120 or +240, you are betting on who you think will win the match. To win $1 on Tyson, you must wager $1.20. If he wins, you get $2.20 back, the $1.20 you bet plus the $1 you won. If you bet $1 on Stallone and he wins, you get $3.40 back, the $1 you bet plus the $2.40 you won.

It is an easy process to make a bet in the books and the customer service representatives at each of the "BEST BET RECOMMENDATIONS" are more than willing to assist you should you need any help. The best way to make a wager is to use an online sportsbook.

When a player logs into a sportsbook and studies the betting board, the number to the right of the team is the odds/point spread for that team. The home team is always listed on the bottom unless a neutral site is noted. For example the betting board in at an online sportsbook will list:

Nebraska +11.5
Kansas St. -11.5

The number on the right indicates that Kansas State is an eleven and a half-point favorite over Nebraska. If you click on -11.5 for Kansas State, they must win by more than 11.5 points for you to win your bet. If you click on +11.5 for Nebraska, they may lose by 11 points or win outright for you to win your bet. If +/- X adjustment results in a tie, the wager is push and you will get your money back. Games featuring 1/2 points will never push and will always end as a win or loss. If a player decides to call their bet in on Kansas State they can call the sportsbooks toll-free number and state "I would like $11 to win $10 on Kansas State minus the eleven and a half" and sound like a pro!

To make a parlay bet, simply click on the sport and then odds of the games you want to bet on. Add each of the games to the betting cart by clicking on the "Add To Picks" button. Once you have all your games listed in your betting cart, choose the picks you want in your parlay by clicking the check boxes to the right of the picks. Then, select "Parlay" in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the betting cart. Finally, fill in the amount you want to wager on, and click "Place Bet."

10. Typical Parlay Odds

Number of picks - odds
2 - 2.6 to 1
3 - 6 to 1
4 - 10 to 1
5 - 20 to 1
6 - 40 to 1
7 - 75 to 1
8 - 100 to 1
9 - 150 to 1
10 - 300 to 1
11 - 450 to 1
12 - 600 to 1
13 - 750 to 1
14 - 900 to 1
15 - 1500 to 1

Another great thing about online sportsbooks is that many offer much better than standard parlay odds. It is not uncommon to find 2.8-1 on 2-team parlays, 12-1 on 4-teamers, and 25-1 on 5-teamers. You'll find some of the best parlay odds available in the world at our "BEST BET RECOMMENDATION". Like I said, it pays to shop various books, and use more than one service to maximize your chances at winning!

Best Parlay Odds Anywhere!

11. Requesting Payouts

Have all your information on hand, just in case. Furthermore, during the football season, request a payout on Tuesday as opposed to Monday when everyone else is withdrawing winnings. Direct Bank Transfer, when offered and other similar methods practically eliminate the need for concern with your sportsbook. Credit card deposits/withdrawals often translate into more time and energy than maybe they're worth ....not to mention all that paperwork most offshore wagering facilities now require to ensure proper identification.

12. When To Call a Supervisor

The time NOT to call is within an hour of a game about to go off, or at any time during the weekend during football season. Remember, when dealing with sportsbooks located in Costa Rica, these folks are on Mountain Standard Time, which means two hours behind for those on the East Coast from April through October, and an hour behind the rest of the year. Curacao, Antigua and Margarita Island books are one hour ahead of Eastern Time six months out of the year.

What does this all mean? While 11 AM may seem an appropriate time for a supervisor to have arrived at work, chances are in Costa Rica, this supervisor may still be in bed at this time - which is really 9 AM. Also be mindful of the 12 noon to 2 PM likely lunch break, which is actually somewhere between 2 PM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

13. Proof Of Online Wagers

Print out the wagers and receipt of wagers once they've been processed. This is important for your personal records.

14. Proof of Phone Wagers

Make sure to get a proper readback of wagers placed over the phone to ensure there was no miscommunication on either end.

Rules Are Rules

Read them! You will find pertinent rules prominently displayed on the sportsbook's website. You will avoid much confusion later on by doing so.

NCAA Lines - Free Picks - Sports Betting Basics
Sportsbook Guide - Beating The Number - Sports Betting Glossary
Sports Betting Strategies - NFL Picks
NFL Football Betting Strategies - NFL Football Betting Lines
Football Betting Lines - Current NFL Lines

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