Winning as a gambler is never easy. This is true for betting on sports just like any other form of gambling. But you can use a few easy plays when you start betting on sports that keep you in the game as long as possible.
Your goal as an inexperienced sports gambler should be to avoid losing too much money while continuing to learn how to improve your results.
The 6 simple plays for inexperienced gamblers listed in this article help you reach this goal. These plays are going to produce results that are close to breaking even, which is better than most sports gamblers do.
1 – Bet the Under
You decide if the final score is going to total more or less than the line and place a bet. For example, if the line is 212 and you think the combined total score is going to be 205, you bet the under. If you think the core is going to be 217 you bet the over.
The public tends to bet over more often than under, so the sportsbooks tend to push the total up a little higher than it should be in some games. This is why betting the under can be a good play.
In the long run, you’re likely to win half of your over-under bets just because of the way sports gambling works. But with just a little bit of research you can learn how to find the games that are most likely to go under, and place wagers just on these games.
2 – The Oldest Trick – Home Dogs
The first sports betting strategy that I heard about was betting on home teams that weren’t favored to win. When a team isn’t favored to win you get points o a point spread wager. When you get points your team doesn’t need to win the game for you to win money. Your team just needs to lose by fewer points than you get on the line.
At 1 time this strategy returned an overall profit on NFL games, but the sportsbooks have corrected this strategy so you can’t just bet on all the home dogs. But many of these teams still offer a good opportunity to win.
You’re going to win close to half of your point spread wagers in the long run. If you can just identify 1 or 2 games a week that give you a better chance to win you can start making a small profit.
Look at every home team on the schedule that’s getting points. Then evaluate both teams and try to determine how often the home team should win the game. Home teams play better than road teams, but don’t forget that there’s a reason why the home team isn’t favored.
3 – Run Line and Puck Line Strategy
This strategy is a lot like the strategy you learned about in the last section. In the NHL sportsbooks offer something called a puck line, and in MLB they offer a run line.
Puck lines have 1 team that gets goals and 1 team that gives goals, usually set at + 1.5 and – 1.5. In baseball, the run line works the same way, with a team getting 1.5 runs and the other team giving 1.5 runs.
So the team that gets 1.5 goals or runs often wins the bet. When you find a team playing at home that’s getting 1.5 goals or runs you have an even better chance to win your wager.
When you get 1.5 goals or runs you win when your team wins the contest outright or loses by 1. This gives you a couple of different ways to win, and when you add the fact that home teams perform well these bets can be profitable.
Just like the home underdog strategy, you can’t bet all of these situations, but you can learn how to identify the contests that have the most value.
4 – The Big Moneyline Favorite
If a team has a negative number listed beside them you have to bet that much to win $100. If a team has a plus number listed beside them, this is how much you win if you bet $100.
Look at the moneylines for the games on the schedule and identify the teams that have the biggest minus numbers listed. These are the teams that are heavy favorites. And these are the teams that are most likely to win the contest.
This is 1 of the most likely bets to win on any given day. Of course, when a big upset happens it costs you a lot of money. If you bet $2,200 on a team that has a -2,200 moneyline, you’re usually going to win $100. But every once in a while there’s going to be an upset and you’re going to lose $2,200.
5 – Betting the NBA Second Half
This is 1 of my favorite sports gambling plays, and I’ve been using it for years. While this can work in other sports leagues, the NBA seems to be where it works the best.
In many NBA contests, 1 team builds a big halftime lead. But in the second half, the game gets much closer. Many sportsbooks offer lines for in-game betting, including a new point spread at the half of these NBA games.
When you make a point spread bet at the half of an NBA contest, always take the points. In other words, take the team that gets points in the second half. And it’s even better if the home team is trailing at the half.
Look at which star players are playing and how they performed in the first half, and also look at the updated injury reports. Some teams also have a better track record of coming back in games.
6 – A Simple but Dangerous Strategy
If you have enough money, and nerves made of steel, I can give you a strategy that almost guarantees you win. But it’s an extremely dangerous strategy.
- You start by placing a small bet on any team. If you win the bet you place another small bet on a team. You keep making small bets until you lose.
- When you lose, you place a larger bet on the next team or game. You make this bet large enough to cover your loss from the first bet and leave you a profit when you win.
- When you lose a second bet in a row you have to make an even larger bet on the next game.
- You continue doing this until you win a game, and then you start over again with small bets.
You’re eventually going to win a bet because you’re going to win roughly half your over-under bets and half your point spread bets overall.
This makes this as close to a guaranteed strategy for sports betting as you can find. But it also requires placing some large bets when you lose a few bets in a row. If you don’t have a large bankroll you’re quickly going to run out of money.
Conclusion
The action of betting on sports is easy, but it sure is hard to win. When you’re an inexperienced sports gambler it’s almost impossible to win. But there are a few plays that you can make that help you avoid losing too much.
Use the 6 easy plays for new sports gamblers listed in this article to come close to breaking even when you bet on sports. This way you can keep learning how to win without breaking your bank.
None of these plays alone are going to return long-term profits, but they do have a better chance to win than most inexperienced sports gamblers have.
