3 General Sports Betting Tips Even the Pros Will Benefit From

Whether you are new to sports betting, a long-time sports betting loser or a professional handicapper, I have some advice you will greatly benefit from. In sports betting, there is no margin for error. The difference between winning big and breaking even or losing isn’t much in terms of percentage of wins and losses. The top sports bettors only win about 60% of the games against the spread. Winning 52% of your games against the spread is a loss.

So, as you can see, there isn’t much difference between a losing player and a big-time sports bettor. Therefore, you must find a way to move the needle to the right of 52%. How do you do this? The following is some advice that must be followed if you want to profit on your sports betting ventures…

Waiting until the last minute often pays off

I don’t mean this literally. You shouldn’t wait until the very last minute to place a bet because you could get stuck in a line or your Internet connection could screw you over. What I mean is it’s best to wait until the general public is done wagering. There are often more favorable odds betting against the public.  With that said, sometimes the general public is right. So use your best judgment. If you find a line you like early on before the public gets to the game, bet it. If you think the general public will bet on the same team as you, it’s best to get in on the action first.

The best handicappers find edges others don’t

Successful handicappers are outside-the-box thinkers. What I mean by that is they look at more than just overall records and standard statistics. There’s more to handicapping a game. Factors such as home field advantage, weather, injuries and match-ups are the most important. Some handicappers believe revenge or intangibles/emotions matter, but they really don’t mean much. Games are won and lost based on match-ups. How a team matches up with another team is all that really matters.

Determining match-up edges is based on factors I already mentioned (home field, weather, injuries, etc) and strengths and weaknesses a team has. For example, if one team runs the ball well and the other struggles to stop the run, that’s a distinct edge for the rushing offense. When handicapping the game, you would probably give at least a few points to the team with the strong rushing offense based on that factor. Then you have to factor in other match-ups, the weather, etc. to determine a point spread.

Only bet on games you have an edge

You can’t win every game. In fact, you’re going to lose 40% or more of your games. But if you want to win in the long run, you must only bet on games you feel you have an edge over the house. That means your confidence level needs to be above 53% or it won’t be a profitable wager against the spread. So if you don’t think your team will cover more than 53% of the time in this situation, it’s a bad bet.

The house profits because 90% of sports bettors don’t have an edge. They base wagers on things such as media hype, standard records and statistics, etc. That doesn’t win in the long run. You need to place wagers that are in your favor, not make random guesses.