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.