The Art Of Betting On Sports
Sports betting is the art of predicting the result of a certain sports match and placing a wager on how the game will end. Most major betting companies cater to every sport including major ones like football, American football, basketball, volleyball, boxing, mixed martial arts, and tennis. Hedging a bet is an advanced strategy used by sports bettors to either reduce the risk of a wager or to guarantee a profit of some kind from a wager. Similar to middling a wager, hedging is a strategy that involves placing wagers on the opposite side of your original bet. As futures bettting has become more popular, so has hedging. Bovada covers all the major sports. They offering straight bets, teasers, if bets parlays, futures, and props on just about any sport. This makes Bovada one of the best Online sports betting sites. BetOnline is great for sports gambling online in many ways, but especially with baseball. Live/In-Game Betting Strategies One of the coolest new ways to bet on sports is live betting. Sometimes referred to as in-play betting, in-game betting, and holy moly you’re crazy betting, the format of wagering has come about with the growth of online sportsbooks.
Every few months the subject of sportsbook limits seems to pop up on Twitter and much debate usually follows. Having been in Las Vegas for the better part of 20 years, both as a bettor and a bookmaker, I feel I’m as qualified as anyone to offer my take on the matter.
Well-defined limits are a necessary part of the relationship between a bettor and a sportsbook. Limits should be established up front, before the first bet is ever placed.
How Most Sportsbooks Set Limits
I’d like to get this out of the way early on: management at any sportsbook has the right to offer any limits they deem appropriate in any way they see fit—no matter how small or large. This is a business choice. That said, there’s an ethical issue in play as to the degree that a sportsbook utilizes winning bettors’ information to sharpen their line, allowing the sportsbook to make more money and feel comfortable accepting larger bets on a given market.
I experienced this issue frequently and firsthand when I bet sports as my sole source of income from 2010–2018. NASCAR Race Winner was one of the markets I chose to handicap and place bets on. As I went around town checking odds and placing wagers, I understood that the limit I would get betting at these various establishments was a direct reflection of the following:
- How sportsbook management perceived my skill
- The sportsbook’s anticipated handle on the event
- The attitude of the person approving my requested bet amount
The Balance Between Sportsbook and Bettor
Make no mistake about it: placing bets in Las Vegas and getting down your desired amount of money is an art form in and of itself. Depending on the sportsbook, you may be able to get down 3x the bet amount if you know a certain supervisor is more likely to approve big bets because he has more “gamble in him.” This, however, can lead to a lot of frustration from the bettor.
One of the most under-appreciated skills as a bettor is bet sizing, in terms of asking for an amount that is likely to be approved. Request too little and you miss out on possible profit. Request too much and you might panic the sportsbook manager into giving you a much smaller bet.
This isn’t how it should work—it shouldn’t be a psychological guessing game with the sportsbook of how much you think they will approve. It’s hard enough to pick winners without having to waste time reading minds.
Most issues arise from bettors when they feel as if they are being taken advantage of or being treated unfairly by sportsbooks looking to exploit them. And keep in mind I’m referring mostly to placing bets over the counter, as most sportsbooks tend to be even more hesitant to allow large wagers via apps for fear of multiple same wagers being placed simultaneously.
In my experience, I believe most Las Vegas sportsbooks are okay at this. But there are some books that I’ve seen decline to give what I perceived to be a fair bet. These are typically the corporate sportsbooks who operate multiple books and no doubt have larger bet volumes.
I recall hitting a boiling point one time when I went to place a $500 wager on Jimmie Johnson to win a NASCAR race at 7/1 odds and was told I could have $300. Granted, it was their right to offer me this, but I still assessed this to be an unfair bet amount. Bettor frustrations such as this come when sportsbooks don’t have clearly established limits and seem to be winging it, or establishing different limits on a whim.
Setting Limits at Circa Sports
I certainly have no issue with different players having different limits, but I firmly believe that it’s vital—and an ethical responsibility—that a sportsbook has standard minimum limits that they are prepared to honor.
This is how we do business at Circa Sports. We believe in offering the same standard limits to all players, regardless of skill. We put out our standard limit sheet and offer those limits both over the counter and on our app. Futures are a bit different as we tend to take larger bets more situationally, but we still operate with a general risk threshold that we adhere to for all of our customers.
Our limits will always serve as a reflection of our volume levels. The more liquidity in a given market, the larger limits we will be able to take. For example, we recently increased our limits on NFL sides on game day from $20K to $50k with the opening of our new Circa property, because we anticipated increased business which puts us in a position to take larger bets.
Setting Limits isn’t Personal
Our goal is to write bets, and my belief is that the more money we are able to take on a given event, the more accurate a representation of the true odds our line will be. This connects back to my belief that bets should not be taken personally. For too long, the sportsbooks and the bettors have had a kind of us-versus-them mentality when in reality both can coexist successfully.
I’m reminded of a scene from the movie Rounders when protagonist Mike McDermott says the professional players aren’t necessarily playing together but they’re not playing against each other either. That may not be a perfect example, because as the director of a sportsbook I’m trying to beat the professional players, but at the same time I realize that I probably won’t beat them in the long run. So instead I treat our relationship as symbiotic, utilizing their superior information to try and fine-tune my number as best as possible to maximize my profits.
Wagering on a sporting event with a bookmaker is a financial transaction; a price is offered by one party and the other party accepts. Whether the book wins or the bettor wins, there shouldn’t be hard feelings. Rather, there should be a drive by each individual to get better so they’re on the winning side of the wager the next time.
At Circa Sports, we don’t take things personally. We’re here to facilitate your bets, and we decide limits based on numbers and probabilities—not based on what kind of mood we woke up in that day. Having been on both sides, I believe it’s completely reasonable to demand this of your bookmaker, and I urge bettors to support sportsbooks that run a fair book and take on all comers.
Thanks for playing at Circa Sports.
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Hello there and welcome to our betting school. We explain every detail of the sports betting business to you - from the very beginning to becoming a professional bettor. And don't worry: You don't have to be in detention. Our betting school helps you to gain a lot of experience within a short time.
We think all of you know it: You start your betting business or want to learn more about special betting topics but you have to browse through various sites to get the information you want. We wanted to stop that time consuming work to give you more time for the learning process itself. Everybody should have the opportunity to learn all the betting skills out there to become successful or better. This is the reason why we established our betting school.
No matter how long you're already betting. Our aim is to help everybody so we share all of our valuable tips with you. Learn which bookmaker is the best, which strategy suits your betting style, how to place your bets and much more. Our betting school covers every aspect of betting so browsing through various sites stops here. We split the whole learning process in different semesters so you can work your way through our lessons step by step. Every semester ends in an exciting quiz so you can see for yourself how much you learned and if you can go to the next semester.
Semester 1: The basics of sports betting - Start your great betting career
What is a bet? How can you place bets? And why do people bet their money? This chapter is for the newcomers to the booming industry of sports betting. You will learn the most important elements of betting. We teach you facts about odds, different bet types, how to calculate stakes and winnings and some lessons about the betting psychology.
You don't have to pay a course fee - it's free for you. But our first semester is only available for subscribers to our newsletter. You can download a free eBook with the betting basics as soon as subscribed for FREE here:
The Art Of Betting On Sports Online
Semester 2: Find the best bookmakers and helpful betting tools
Our second semester will teach you how to choose the best bookmaker. Which bookie suits your betting style and which bonus is really worth it? Additionally we will present very helpful betting tools that should make your betting experience a lot easier. How safe is online betting and what else should you know for your own successful betting business? These questions and more are the topics of our second semester.
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Semester 3: Perfect preparation for your first winning bet
Congratulations, your first winning bet comes closer and closer. In our third semester we will show you worthy betting types and which you should avoid. Which mistakes can you make and how does good analysis work? After working through these topics you are able to place your first bets and you have a feeling how the whole betting process works.
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Semester 4: Create your own professional betting system
Now it's time to develop your first betting strategy. We will take you by your hand when becoming a better bettor. Learn strategies and techniques that have a higher probability to work in the long run and practise a strategy that brings you higher chances of winning. It's time for calling you a 'sports betting expert'.
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Semester 5: Betting is all about money
Betting should be fun and excitement. But the main aim of betting is to win money. In our fifth and last semester we will teach you what to consider when placing your hard earned cash. Which methods for depositing and withdrawing money can you use and what will bookmakers do to take your money? We want you to win money in this exciting business so don't miss our last semester of our betting school.
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Bonus: Our great sports betting glossary
Every bettor has been a newcomer. And as a newcomer we have to learn everything about betting. As the betting business is a huge business around the world there is a huge number of terms you have to learn. So we decided to create a betting glossary with more than 130 terms for you so there will be answers to every question you have. Just walk your way through these terms and see what they mean.
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School lessons have never been so easy and entertaining
Everybody can gain the skills to become a successful sports bettor. In five chapters plus our betting glossary we teach you all the important things you have to know about sports betting. Starting from the very beginning and finishing the lessons as a pro - we want you to reach exactly that. You can choose for yourself how you use our school lessons. Work your way through each semester or choose your preferred topics. We gave every topic a related title so you know exactly what you can expect.
Test your skills in an entertaining quiz after each semester so you can see for yourself if you learned all the lessons and how well you do.
Betting On Sports Games
Finally we wish you best of luck when reading through our betting school pages and we hope you enjoy learning from our lessons. Take your betting activity to the next level and make a regular income in this exciting business.
The Art Of Betting On Sports
YOU can do it too!