It means your team is a favorite to win the match – and you don’t necessarily need to be right!
When you place a football bet, the bookmaker will give you the odds of winning or losing based on your chosen team’s performance in the upcoming game.
However, if you’re not sure what those odds mean, how can you possibly know if you’re winning or losing?
We’re going to take a look at the different ways you can interpret and use the odds in order to make the most out of them.
The Overall Favorite, The Underdog, And The Choker Image
One of the first things you’ll likely want to do is try and determine if your chosen team is an overall favorite or an underdog to win the match. This has nothing to do with your personal opinion about the quality of the team – the bookmaker’s opinions and the performance of the respective teams over the past few games are what matters here!
If you’re not sure what the favorite and the underdog status are in football betting, continue to the next point.
Betting On The Number Of Goals In Each Game
Those unfamiliar with betting may wonder if they can make any money off of football betting. The answer is yes, you can make some serious cash – as long as you know how to go about it the right way. One of the simplest but also most effective betting tactics you can use is betting on the number of goals that will be scored in the upcoming game.
This is done by placing a bet on the total number of goals that will be scored in the match. For example, if you believe that the over/under is going to be 4.5 goals, you’ll need to place a $100 bet ($5 for each goal).
By placing a bet on the number of goals in each game, you’re making a “smoke-free wager” as it’s known in the industry. This means that no matter what happens, you’ll win or lose the bet based on the number of goals that are scored by both teams combined. This reduces the risk of losing money dramatically (as there’s no chance of gaining if your chosen team loses by a large margin).
Another way to look at it is that you’re literally betting on the total amount of football action – i.e. goal-scores, and not just the outcome of the game. This is a subtle but important difference, as the goals themselves are essentially the same as the outcome of the game (i.e. you’ll either win or lose based on the final score).
Using Your Favorite Team’s Past And Present Performance To Predict Its Future
One of the best ways to understand the strength of a particular team is by looking at its past performance in previous games. Just because a team loses a game or matches a certain number of times doesn’t mean it’s a bad team – it simply means you should never bet against them. This is especially relevant if you consider the fact that it’s very difficult to determine which team is going to beat another based on who they are and what they’ve accomplished throughout their respective careers. For this reason, it’s often better to look at a team’s previous results than to focus on what they’re doing currently.
For example, let’s say you’ve chosen Arsenal as your favorite football team. You’ll note that over the last few years, they’ve only been an overall favorite in a handful of matches but have rarely been underdogs (in fact, they’ve been underdogs just twice, both at home – once to Bayern Munich and then to Manchester United).
With that being said, it’s still a bit early in the season and they’ve only played a few matches so far. Based on their previous results, it’s best not to make any rash conclusions about their abilities this year – they could still outperform or underperform expectations greatly. If you’re feeling adventurous though, you could make a short-term (involving the next few matches only) wager that they’ll be an underdog in every game this year.
As you can see, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to betting on football. You’ll need to find what works best for you, your bank account, and the bookmaker’s odds – which may vary by country and can be found at different betting exchanges. Using the different methods mentioned above and doing your research will put you in the right position to make the most out of any football betting opportunity.