Football For Beginners!
-
2 August 2006
Many of our articles are for intermediate to advanced players but with the pro football betting season just around the corner, we wanted to offer a little help to those
new customers who are starting out making their first bets. Hopefully this article, along with our will help you get off to a winning start!
Pro football betting is without doubt our biggest market and in order to join in the fun you will need to know a little about placing basic
bets in the markets available to you.
Betting has become a serious investment for many full time handicappers but for now you should simply be learning the basics.
There are many different markets to bet on football. The most popular being the points spread ("spread") or handicap market.
When you look at a point-spread you will see a 'number' that the oddsmaker has applied to the underdog and to the favorite. This number will be a positive ("+") number for the underdog and a negative ("-")
for the favorite. If the teams are already evenly matched then there is no need for a spread and the game will be a "pick 'em" game i.e a 0 handicap.
The best place to find the point spread and daily lines is at a
sportsbook - where lines are posted daily.
You then need to decide if you want to make a bet on the spread or another type of bet.
The following is a brief overview of football bets:
'Straight bet': this is where you bet on either the point spread or the "total" (total points). In order to win a straight bet the team bet on must cover the spread. If you bet in the totals market, then you are betting on the "total" number of points scored by both teams added together, this includes over-time. You
are betting either under or over the total posted by the oddsmaker e.g. "42"
If you bet a team with a +7 handicap you will win even if that team loses e.g. 14-10 because the handicap / spread effectively makes the score 14-17.
You simply add or subtract the handicap from the points of the relevant team at the end of the game. If the scores end up as a draw then the game is a 'push' and your
stake is returned.
Money line: This is a straight-up bet on one team or another without any spread or handicap. The winning team wins the bet - which is not always the case with handicap betting.
There are also the exotic bets which are usually quite detailed and self explanatory:
"how many touchdowns will there be in the first quarter of the game." or
"how many field goals will be scored."
You get plenty of these in
Super Bowl, the playoffs and other big live games.
Quarters and halfs betting are also popular and self explanatory in that your are gauging who will 'win' (score more points) in each relevant period.
Parlays and Teasers get their fair share of the action too - this is where you put together combinations of teams for a potential big payout. These are essentially accumulator bets where your odds multiply.
Futures are great fun, with big payouts but not as popular because you tie up your cash for often many months - because a future bet involves
betting on e.g the outcome of SuperBowl ("Who will win SuperBowl").
VIP Sports Group wishes you all the best for the coming football betting season!
Back to Sports / Betting Articles
Sites:
Sportsbook |
Horse Betting |
Casino |
Texas Holdem Poker
Sports Odds:
NFL |
NBA |
MLB |
NHL |
NCAAF |
NCAAB |
Soccer |
Golf
Futures:
Super Bowl |
NBA Championship |
World Series |
Stanley Cup
Horse Racing:
Daily Racing |
Derby Odds
Events:
Super Bowl
Articles (blog):
Sports Articles
