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The Birmingham Mail this week features an article on 10 great betting tips that should give every gambler an edge.
Some of these are obvious to us such as Knowing Your Sport Inside and Out and The Favorite Doesn’t Always Win.
What many gamblers overlook is the tremendous edge they have in shopping around.
Never Stick With Just One Book – At any given time there could be five different lines being offered at five different books. The odds will vary even more when it comes to futures markets.
The Birmingham Mail offers an excellent example for the European market.
Check the offers available for specific bets. The first goalscorer market is one of the most popular bets in football and as a result, bookies all have their own spin on it.
Betfred will double the odds if your player scores twice and treble the odds if he scores a third time.
Ladbrokes, on the other hand, will double the odds if he scores within 25 minutes and you will probably find that most other bookies have their own version to try and get you through their doors instead of someone else's.
Another goodie: Consider the Less Obvious Markets.
This is true in North America even if the markets offered tend to be a bit thinner than their European counterparts. Especially consider those games under the radar in College Football and College Basketball.
Games that fall in the middle of the pack may also feature an assortment of prop bets that oddsmakers are less likely to mull over as compared to say Alabama vs. Ohio State in College Football.
As for the European markets, the Birmingham Mail offers this example:
It is arguably a way for the bookies just to provide you with more ways to lose but you can find the good prices if you look hard enough.
For example, you might not feel safe putting Leicester City to beat Man City in your accumulator.
They're higher than them in the league but does that mean they're a stronger team? That's for the football pages to discuss.
But just a minimal amount of research shows that Jamie Vardy is the league's top scorer. So betting on him to score anytime is as safe as bets come. And at 7/5, it's not bad value either.
In the same sense, it Pays to Follow Less Popular Sports.
Again, the oddsmakers, in theory at least, won’t be placing as much effort in creating and monitoring lines for, say, there are events in North America going up against the NFL or College Football and likewise events going up against major soccer clashes in the UK and throughout Europe.
Then there is Pick Your Moment whereby the Mail points out that bookies will compete with one another more aggressively ahead of a big event with enticing odds and promotions.
For some events, like horse racing, Gambling911.com suggests waiting for the final day to place your bigger bets (while taking advantage of early bird specials at other books with smaller wagers)
The upcoming Kentucky Derby has for the past few years provided one of the best arguments for waiting until the final minute as horse behavior the day of the race (which becomes more evident during live broadcast at times) could be an indication as to how an entrant might perform.
More importantly perhaps are the weather conditions, which tend to be highly unpredictable in the Louisville area this time of year. Some horses run better in the slop than do others.
Then there are these:
The Fewer the Selections the Better, Don’t Settle for Odds-On Prices, Make Sure You Understand the Markets and Never Bet With Your Heart.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
