In order to become an excellent sports bettor, you must understand how the odds work, how the books are made, and follow the current trends and changes through the whole season. Many experienced bettors choose to observe different books and websites and compare the odds and calculations.
But, it’s a lot more than comparing the values and deciding which one do you like more. By doing that, you can come to better tips and be more accurate with them, no matter if you are getting a regular ticket, or bet online. This process is literally decoding what the bookmakers are trying to tell you. You can read here in order to find the best odds and quotes, and bet online since this kind of betting is gaining a lot of popularity recently.
The most popular sports to bet on is soccer, or football, as it’s known in Europe, where most of the popular teams are based. Soccer is also popular in Argentina and Brazil too. The “fight” which football is the right one is not relevant in this case, but we will surely use it as an example when explaining the science behind the odds and how to analyze the data you have, in order to be more accurate when betting on some game.
Understanding the odds
You need to understand how the odds work, so you can analyze the data successfully. You have to know that the smaller quotes refer to bigger chances to win. But, there is no challenge in that.
Bookmakers are trying to make things more exciting than guessing the winner in the game. So, you can bet on the right result too, on the half-time winner, the number of goals in the whole match, and so on.
There are three basic types of betting odds – the American type, UK type (known as fractional), and of course, the decimal or European odds.
American odds, as you suppose, are most popular in the USA. The odds are showing them how much money they will win if they invest $100. Sometimes, they can be negative, which means you will get less than $100 for your bets. Americans usually bet on NFL, MLB, or MLS. Most of the time, they aren’t interested in European football, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t enthusiasts who will bet on it.
Fractional or UK codes are also known as traditional odds. The bigger they are, the bigger prize they bring, but the chances to win are small. If the odd is 1/5, that means you will get $1 for every $5 bet. That also means you are getting your $5 back, and you win $1, which is equal to $6. On the other hand, if the odds are 5/1, and you bet $10, you will win $50, or $40 and get your $10 back too.
There can also be odds like 11/8, 20/1, or something like that, and we read them as “eleven for eight”, or “twenty for one”, showing how much you will get when you bet the amount after the slash character.
The decimal odds are mostly used by bookmakers all around the world. When you multiply the quote with the amount of money you are planning to bet, you will get the exact amount you will get if you win. In general, they are equal to the fractional odds, but they are written differently. At the same time, the lower the quote is, the bigger are the calculated chances to make an accurate tip.
Comparing the odds
Comparing the odds means that you are maybe not that loyal to your favorite bookie, and you want to make sure everything is fine within the others betting. But, you have to be aware that the odds can change until the game starts, or during the match, depending on the conditions, events, and other things that may affect the predicted result. Also, sometimes the odds and quotes should be adjusted, due to tiny mistakes. But the good thing is that if you bet on the initial rate, you will still get the estimated amount of money, no matter how the odds changed later.
Analyzing the available data
There are many things that can affect the accuracy of the predictions. You have to follow sports matches every day, so you can be more precise. For example, some teams perform better at home, while others can be pretty good as guests. There are combinations of teams that usually end the match with a tied result.
Some players hate playing in the evenings, or in difficult weather conditions, like rain or extreme heat. You won’t do anything if you analyze and compare this season’s performance. You need to go a few years in the past and see the overall performance, the active players in the team, and the number of won matches through time.
If you try to explore this matter deeper, you will be surprised how some things that seem usual can affect the game and change the odds in someone’s favor.
Don’t fall for scams
There are people known as professionals in getting the right tips. But, if someone approach and ask for money to tell you the exact tip, you have to politely decline the offer, because today the fixed matches are pretty rare, and it’s completely wrong to fall for those stories.
That doesn’t mean they will stop doing that, but you are responsible for your own activities, and if you want to bet successfully, you will need to focus on the trusted bookmakers and use the odds they provided to try to write the winning ticket.
Conclusion
There are different types of odds, that are pretty similar if you understand them. Learn the basics of responsible betting, choose the odds that are suitable to your beliefs and preferences, and adapt your personal strategy that will work on your way of betting.
Everything else is just lying to yourself that you can over smart the system and win big, even though there aren’t conditions for that.
