Winning Strategies in Betting

Needless to say that to win a sports bet the first and foremost step, and certainly the most difficult one, for that matter, is to be able to predict the outcome of a game. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and companies who work day in and day out, mostly in vain,  trying to figure out the outcome of a sports game, a lottery number, a landing number of a roulette ball, the next card in a blackjack, and so on. In the first place, one must realize that gambling is actually a game on human being's inability to predict the future.  If anyone were able to predict any outcome, there wouldn't be sports betting and gambling at all.

Any sport is undoubtedly a game of skill for the players. But when it comes to predicting the outcome it will stands on the borderline between a game of chance and a game of skill. The skill in this case is actually 'being informed'. So, picking a winner is not an arcane task, nor is it an artifice. It simply requires a little bit of luck and a lot of information. Are there injuries? What is the history of encounter between the two teams? How is each team performing recently - is it on a winning or losing streak? Is it a rivalry match? (if so, watch out for the underdog). Which team is playing at home? Fortunately, all these factors have already been taken care of while setting the point spreads and the odds.

So, if an NFL team has a point spread of -8.5, it simply means that this team, after taking into account all relevant factors, is a strong favorite. The question is whether it will be able to cover this spread. And this is where the luck part plays a major role. During the game several unpredictable situations may occur, such as turn-overs, injuries, missed field goals, etc.; and nobody can predict these.

Our advice: be informed as much as you can, look at the spreads and the odds carefully, and last but not least, follow your feelings.

Once you select your picks, here are a few things that we suggest you follow If you want to know how to win in sports betting as we did.

Combine single bets with parlays: Even if you are betting against the odds on an event, it is advisable to try a small parlay. The payout of a parlay involving against-the-odds bets are enormous.

Here is a bet on the 2004 women's US Open semi finals that serves as a very good example of combining a 2-play parlay with single bets. Two dollars are wagered on each single bet and $6 on the parlay. Even if one of the selections were incorrect, the bettor would still get more than the his wager.

Sell (or buy) points: Many times, when a bet involves point spreads (American football, baseball, and basketball), the final results of a game are way off the initial point spreads. The total points of a game are even more so. Therefore, if you have a feeling that a team will beat another team by more than the set spreads, then sell points in order to maximize your winnings. Examples of this strategy have already been seen in other sections of this site (see Buying / Selling Points), however, we also have the next bet slip which clearly shows how point selling has significantly elevated the individual odds of the selections. Without selling points, the payout of this bet slip would have been $20 x 1.90 x 1.90 x 1.90 = $137.18, instead of $20 x 2.60 x 2.61 x 2.65 = $359.66 (a 262% increase).

3-play and 4-play parlays could win more frequently than bigger parlays: Though the payout may not be really high, if carefully selected, a 3-play and a 4-play parlays could bring a few bucks. Since these are our favorite play types, we could post several winner bet slips, if it were not for space. In any case, we selected two representative winner slips; both with point selling, one aggressive and the other mediocre.

One or two big parlays (more than 6 selections) may bring you a fortune:  If you have made four or five parlays with 3 or 4 selections, then make also at least one big parlay by combining those selections. A 10-play parlay, with a not-too-aggressive point selling could bring you as much as $1000 for each dollar wagered. Wager just $10 and you will hit the jackpot.

More than 4-play parlays should be enforced with sub-parlays:  Play sub-parlays as much as you can afford. But, remember that the more selections you have in a parlay, the greater will the sub-parlay combinations be. For instance, playing the 7-play sub-parlay of a 14-play parlay is too expensive since there are 3432 combinations of 7-play sub-parlays, and even a 10 cent wager will cost you $343.20. See the section on sub-parlays to determine the number of sub-parlay combinations of a given parlay.

Here is a copy of a winner bet slip that has won because of the sub-parlays. Out of the 11 selections, only 10 were correct. But, since bets were placed on the 8-, 9-, and 10-play sub-parlays, a $36 wager resulted in a payout of $8,064.57. If selection 7 were correct, the payout would have been $81,057.80.