Sports Betting Tips: Hedging and Scalping Your Bets

Online betting has grown in the last 10 years and as a result many different forms of wagers have been developed. For betting enthusiasts looking for a new wagering method look no farther than at hedging and scalping.

In essence scalping bets is to wager on both sides of a game and play different odds from a number of different sportsbooks. Hedging is to buy back your wager on an event such as during a series. For instance, you initially bet on the Toronto Maple Leafs to win a best of five series against the Washington Capitals at +105. After winning game one, the money lines switch to -220 for the Leafs and +180 for the Capitals. Now if you were to hedge and scalp your bet, you would want to buy the underdog wager for the Capitals at +180.

By buying the Capitals at +180, you stand to win money by the end of the day if the Capitals end up winning the series. However, rather than hedging the series, you should stay with your original bet for the Leafs at -220 because if they win the series you would win over 200 dollars after buying at -115.

On the contrary, hedging your bets makes perfect sense when it comes to betting on the Super Bowl. For instance the Detroit Lions are +5000 underdogs to win the Super Bowl in 2011 after only accumulating two wins in the last three years. But if you were to wager $100 on the +5000 odds, you would be better off to hedge that wager in order to assure yourself a minimum of a $1000 in a win. By scalping various sportsbooks for odds on the game this can allow you to win the $1000.

Sports Betting Tips: Half Time Middling

With the continued growth of sports betting online, the upward trend has altered the way bettors wager on games. Online betting now allows bettors to gamble on their terms rather than a casino or bookies. Today we look at one of the newer concepts to sports betting as fans are now able to bet during halftime in both football and basketball.

Halftime betting as the name suggests, provides the bettor the opportunity to alter or place their bets after the first half of a game. If the team you bet on prior to the start of the game is getting blown out, you have the ability to switch your bet to the other team with the same buy line you initially wagered on.

To further the excitement of half time betting, many sportsbooks have designed totals for the each half. So in the first half you can wager on the teams for combining for a total score over or under and in the second half the O/U can be completely different.

One of the trickier forms of half time bets to master is when you bet on middles. For example, UCLA and USC play a few weeks ago and going into the game USC is a favorite at – 3. At halftime USC is up 20-0, however the sportsbooks release a halftime line of the Bruins at a – 3. As a result, fans believing the Bruins will mount a comeback alter their bet from a Trojans win at a minimum of three to the Bruins coming back and winning by at least three.

By wagering on the middle the fans tried to scalp both sides, but the outcome was a USC victory at 24-21 resulting in the second half wager being a bust. Instead what they should have done is avoid middles all together and focused on each bet separately.

Buying Sports Betting Systems

Within the sports betting world, there are many fans who become informed on each sport and they are known as handicappers. Conversely for the majority of new online betting enthusiast, they attempt to find and buy gambling systems that claim to have the best odds. This is a mistake however as every game is so different that one “gambling system” cannot possibly work every time. Today we look at the flaws to buying a sports gambling system.

Firstly, any gambling system that claims to have a higher winning percentage then about 55 percent is a complete hoax. This is false because as a sports bettor you automatically have a 50/50 chance of winning or losing your wager. However, the more experienced bettors are able to accumulate a win loss of 55-45 as they know which are the safest wagers to make. For fans new to online gambling, many sites feed off this, by drawing you in with a shady claim such as “We have the best record at 42 and one for winning”. Think about it, if the site has such a high winning record why do they need your money for their system? Here are three more reasons not to buy into a sports system, but rather to develop your own strategy.

Secondly there is a common factor in all the systems. If you are going to go the route of looking for a new gambling system to help you win your bets, ask yourself one question, why do they all have the double up factor? In the majority of paid for gambling systems, they require you to double or triple up to make back your losses if you lose the first game you bet upon. Although this has a high payout, it also has a high risk factor, as you now have twice as much to lose. The safest thing to do is set aside money in your budget you are willing to part with and bet on each game with the same wager.

Sports Betting Tips: Betting Must Win Games

Annually fans can always expect two or three teams in every major sport to battle over the final two playoff spots in their specific conference. For bettors who enjoy betting on must win games, this is your favorite time of the year. During the final 10 or so games of the regular season, online betting pickups as fans tend to back the teams that need to win instead of the spoilers. As a result, bookies set the lines quite low as everyone attempts to get a piece of the action. Here are two concepts to still look forward too when betting on must win games.

1.      Opposing Team Resting Stars – Some teams in the must win scenario tend to receive a more cushy schedule in that the teams they face have already clinched a seat in the playoffs or home field advantage. As a result in football especially fans should check the reports on each team earlier in the week and the coach’s decisions in regards to top players. Nine times out of 10 a team such as the Indianapolis Colts will have clinched their division and home field advantage by week 14. Meaning to say if a team they are facing is in a must win situation, you are better off betting on the must win team because the stars such as Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne will not be in the lineup.

2.      Same Opponent in Playoffs as In Regular Season Finale – For the New York Jets this was the case in week 17 of the 2009-2010 season when they played the Cincinnati Bengals. With a win in week 17 they would face the Bengals in round one and as a result they played extra hard to win the game and then after qualifying for the playoffs they went on to defeat the Bengals in round one.

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