You wake up one day and decide to bet on sports. You put some money on the Lakers – not a bad choice – and then BAM! They beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals, and now you’re looking at a losing bet. You keep betting the same way and eventually you’ll either win or lose a lot of money. What does over mean in betting? Can you simply follow a few rules and avoid overpaying? Keep reading to find out more about this intriguing topic!
Avoid Oversized Bets
The most common mistake that new bettors make is chaining bigger and bigger bets until they lose all their money and then some. Let’s look at an extreme example of this: You’ve got a $100 bill on the game, the score is close, and in the end the winner is determined by a coin flip. Your chances of winning are slim, but you’ve still got a chance, so you keep betting. Before you know it, you’ve wagered a $500 bill on a coin flip, and when the dust settles your $500 is all gone. Hopefully, you learned your lesson and won’t make the same mistake twice. The answer is no! Trying to win big isn’t how you should approach betting. It never is. If you want to win, bet small.
Betning Is A Losing Sport
A good rule of thumb is to never bet on a game you’re not willing to lose. Sure, you might win, but the point is you’ve still got money in the hole. When you bet against the spread, you’re essentially saying that the team you’ve picked is not going to win the game. In other words, you don’t believe in them. That’s the opposite of what you should be doing! If you don’t believe in a team’s ability to win, then why are you playing against them? You might as well be throwing darts at a board!
Avoid Predictions And Opinions
Betting is about having faith in a particular team or player to perform better than the odds would have you believe. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in talking about strategies and picking teams that they forget about what they’re actually betting on. They start saying things like “I really like the Bears this year, they’re going to crush the competition.” While this might be interesting to you as a football fan, it has nothing to do with your $5 bet. The only reason the other person is interested is because they’re hoping you’ll say something that will help them win. In actuality, they’re just wasting their time. If someone is trying to influence you to take a certain side, it might be a good idea to ignore them. In case they’re not a scam, they’ll eventually shut up and go away. Sometimes it takes a little while to realize that someone is trying to sucker you into taking a side in a bet that you shouldn’t have taken any part in in the first place.
Take Advantage Of What You Know
Many people like to handicap sports, especially over the internet where everyone is supposedly an expert. You’ve got access to a massive database of stats and numbers, but if you want to make the most out of it, you need to learn how to think like a statistician. For example, let’s say you bet on the Yankees and the over/under is 12 runs. You might want to think about how many runs New York is actually going to score that day. Not including any possible homeruns or walk-offs, which can inflate the total, you’ve got about 10 runs to go around. Does that mean you should bet $5 on the under? Maybe not. Maybe you should bet the other way since the Yankees are one of the biggest favourites in baseball. The key is to learn how to look at these extreme situations and apply what you know. The number might not be as big or small as you think it is.
Don’t Bet Against The Runline
This one should be pretty self-explanatory. The runline is the line that separates losing bets from winning ones. A team is going to score more runs than the runline, so if the total is 10 or more, then you’re going to win the bet. As soon as the total reaches 10 or more, the other team is going to try and cover the spread as quickly as they can. In other words, they’re going to try and minimize the amount of runs they lose by scoring more runs than the total would imply. While you may be tempted to go for the over/under since it looks like there’s more possibility for profits, you should avoid this game when possible. It’s always best to go for the under. Just stay away from bets where the runline is on the higher end. Otherwise, you might end up in a situation where you’re actually winning money. Just because the runline is there doesn’t mean you have to go against it! You might want to wait until the game is closer to make your wager. This way, if the runs aren’t there, then you didn’t lose anything by waiting.
Check The Score First
Another important rule that you need to learn is to check the score first. Before you make your pick, look at the scores of all the other games on your schedule. If you’ve got an important game coming up in the next day or two, then you might want to skip on this one. The reason is that if the score is close, then there’s a good chance that it could inflate. If you’ve got an important game the next day, then it might be worth the risk to take a peek at the score. Remember, you can’t always trust the papers to give you the full story. Even if the score isn’t that close, there’s still a chance that it could inflate. In case there was a huge rally in the last quarter, you might want to look at the score and decide whether you want to back off or not. In some cases it’s better to wait until the game is over before betting. Let’s say you’ve got an important game the next day and the Yankees are leading 5-1. Should you bet on the under or the over? If you look at the early scores, then you’ll see that the Yanks have been leading all game long. This is important information! Even though the score is 5-1, there’s still a chance that the game could get close. In case the Yankees score a run or two in the last inning, then this would inflate the total. In this case, you might want to wait until the end of the game to make your wager. You don’t want to risk getting your money back if the game ends up being a blowout.
Learn How To Evaluate The Odds
Finally, you need to learn how to properly evaluate the odds. Everyone loves to look at the odds and think that they’re so cool because they’re helping them make money. Well, let’s face it, the odds are just there to help you avoid losing money. The key is in learning how to properly evaluate the odds. If you don’t know how to do this, then it could be hard to know when to hit the brakes and when to keep going. For example, if you’ve got a 10-1 shot at winning $5, then you’ve got a good chance of winning $5, but is it worth the risk? One of the most important things for a beginner to learn is how to look at the odds and think in terms of percentages. In other words, instead of looking at the odds and thinking it’s going to be a 50/50 shot, think about it in terms of 2.5% (or 0.25%) chance of winning. This will help you keep your cool and not get overtrilled by false promises or scams that might try and take advantage of your excitement.
There’s a lot more that you need to learn, but hopefully, these tips will give you a good start. Always look at the score first, avoid oversized bets, take advantage of what you know, and learn how to evaluate the odds. These tips alone may not get you straight to the top, but with a little bit of luck and discipline, you’ll be able to avoid any unpleasant surprises when betting sports.