Article Outline: Sports handicapping has become as popular as sports. Betting on the local football or basketball game is a fairly common practice. Here’s a closer look and brief outline about what professional sports handicapping really is and how it works.
Sports handicapping is not restricted to any particular sport although it takes place more commonly in popular sports like NFL football, major league baseball, and even college basketball games. Most of these championships take place at a certain time of the year and this is when the bookies from all over the country hold center stage. Millions of dollars are made and millions more are lost. This is the truth of sports handicapping.
Sport Handicapping in College Football:
Let us look at College football for example. College football handicapping is considered to be one of the toughest in sports handicapping, as you would have to keep up with the action within the complete day. Today football handicapping, especially on College football teams, is being looked at as one of the most popular form of sports handicapping. In College football handicapping, the popular bet or the most common is always the straight bet, which is laid on a particular/single team. Before you place the bet, you need to identify and do a detailed study of the key factors that will determine the result. The key factors include point spread, an injury to an important player in the team, the coach and his relationship with the team, the strategies employed by a coach more often etc.
You will have to make your pick of a college football team, which might be the hot favorites or the underdogs. In sports gambling, you will most likely have to lay juice or points when you make a bet. Let us look at a college football wagering example: If Colorado is playing Nebraska and they are a 6 ½ point favorite then Nebraska will have to win by a minimum of 7 points for you to win your bet. Of all the other sports, college football games draw maximum crowds and on any given day or night, even the best of teams can lose to the underdogs. That’s the unpredictability of any sport. So what is the best way to handle sports handicapping effectively?
The Secret of Sport handicapping:
Let me share the secret of sports handicapping with you…whether it is football handicapping or another sport, you need to look at the following aspects very carefully:
How profitable is the situation: This is the first and foremost thing to look at. Football handicapping or basketball handicapping will require you to be in control of the situation, to understand where each team stands and what the odds against them are. If you look at the statistics carefully then you might find that there is a team that has an advantage over all the others in almost all categories or situations. Hence betting on that team might be relatively safe. Know this will help you with handicapping your next sporting event.
Attention to handicapping details: Different sports have different requirements and details. If you are considering football handicapping for instance then you would need to focus on the different betting lines and the football spreads. In the NCAA football lines, if you bet money line on an underdog then you will be rewarded nicely. So using the college football line as a part of football sports handicapping, you can get a payback of $170 if you bet $100. Your risk will be for $100, which is less than $170 as opposed to the situation where you bet on a hot favorite.
Sport Handicapping Statistics: It is important to be always updated with the latest and right statistics because even the smallest point difference can lead to the biggest win or loss in sports handicapping.
Situational Sports Handicapping: It is important to always be aware of any given situation between two sports teams. The sports event underdog may have more motivation to win a particular game then the favorite voted to win which could leave to the inevitable upset.
Additionally to these guidelines, while handicapping any sporting event you should follow your knowledge of the game and what your intuition or common sense says. A sports handicapper should be pretty clear and confident over the option of his bet. If you are an individual making a bet for the first time, don’t wager big. It can lead to unexpected snags. Remember, it takes time to learn and develop sports handicapping skills.