terpceonove1972.netlify.com

Sports Betting Odds and Lines Explained
by Doc's Sports - 2/28/2012

Are you new to the online gaming world? There’s a big event that might draw your betting interest nearly every month of the year. Perhaps you are looking to put down some action on the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals. Perhaps one of the Grand Slam events for golf or tennis. Or any of numerous horse races. Or the Olympics! Maybe you just want to be well-versed in sports betting 101 to understand what your significant other, friends or family are talking about while watching sports. Here is everything you need to know with sports betting odds and lines explained.

The simplest and most common type of gambling is on the point spread – that’s the amount one team is favored to beat the other club. Now, one thing to be aware of is that oddsmakers aren’t necessarily predicting the outcome of an event but are putting up a line that will draw the most action from bettors, preferably on both sides.

A point spread is used in the NFL and college football, the NBA and college basketball among the major American sports. If you see a line at a site that has the Chicago Bears -7.5 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers that means the Bears are favored to win by 7.5 points over the underdog Steelers.

How Does Puck Line Betting Work

NHL PUCK LINES EXPLAINED: The puck line functions like the point spread in sports like football or basketball. The puck line in hockey is 1.5. That means that if you bet on the favorite (-1.5) you are betting on that team to win the hockey game by two goals or more. You’ll also see these referred to as puck line bets. The idea of puck line betting is to “level the playing field” between two teams that are not perfectly evenly matched. Since no two teams are the same, there will always be small differences that make one team more likely to win than the other.

Of course, there is no such thing as a half point in football or basketball. However, the sportsbooks use half points at times to ensure there is no ‘push’ – which means a tie and neither the sportsbook nor the bettor wins (all money is returned). So if you were to bet on that Bears-Steelers example, Pittsburgh essentially starts the game with a 7.5-point lead. If you wanted to win money on the Bears, Chicago would have to win by no less than eight points. If you wanted to win money on Pittsburgh, the Steelers would simply have to not lose by more than 7.5 points. So a 21-14 final score in favor of Chicago would be a win for Steelers bettors but not for Bears bettors. Any Pittsburgh victory obviously would be a win for anyone who bet the Steelers. There is also a point spread called a ‘pick’em’ – which means there is no favorite or underdog. All you have to do is pick the winner regardless of score.

There is also what is called a total. This is posted for every major American team sport. In football and basketball, the total is the combined amount of points the teams score in a game. You would either bet ‘under’ or ‘over’ that total. If the combined final score lands right on the number, then it’s a tie and all money is returned. In baseball, the total is usually between 6-10 runs scored combined by both teams in a game. In hockey, the total is usually between 5-6 total goals scored combined between two teams.

Often the over and under are both the same in terms of one or the other being a favorite. But there are times when either the over or under is favored over the other. This is when a moneyline comes into play. A moneyline is based on units of $100. It can also be used as a different way to bet on a winner or loser. In that Bears-Steelers example, Chicago could be listed at -150 on the moneyline and Pittsburgh at +200. That means you would have to bet $150 to win $100 on Chicago. But for that same $100, you would win $200 on the Steelers (in both cases minus what the book’s fee, or vigorish, is for accepting the bet).

Football and basketball often have both pointspreads and moneylines. You have the choice of betting either one or both. Betting on the moneylines to determine a winner are used prominently in hockey and baseball because usually these are low-scoring games where the winning team only wins by a run or goal – thus you won’t see pointspreads in those sports. But there are options in hockey and baseball to use either the puck line or run line. The Detroit Red Wings might be -1.5 goals against the Montreal Canadiens on the puck line – so Montreal starts the game from a betting perspective with a 1.5-goal lead. In baseball’s run line, the option is usually 1.5 runs to separate the teams.

Finally, fractional odds also are used in some American sports. Golf and horse racing are two prime examples. These odds are the net total that will be paid out to the bettor, should they win, relative to what they bet. It’s again best to think in terms of $100 units. So if a horse is the 3/1 favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, for example, or a golfer 3/1 to win the Masters, from a moneyline conversion perspective that would be +300. Thus, you would win $300 for every $100 wagered on the horse/golfer. If the horse/golfer is the 1/2 favorite, that means it’s -200 on the moneyline. Thus, you would have to bet $200 to win $100.

Doc’s Sports is offering $60 worth of member’s picks absolutely free – no obligation, no sales people – you don’t even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit any way you please for any handicapper and any sport on Doc’s Sports Advisory Board list of expert sports handicappers. Click here for more details and take advantage of this free $60 picks credit today.

Like runline betting in baseball, puckline is a form of spread betting for hockey. When you bet the puckline, you are placing a wager that one team will win with the addition or subtraction of a certain amount of goals to their final score (usually + or – 1.5).

A Case Study – Pucklines

So the New York Rangers are facing off against their rivals from Philly – the Flyers. Of course, you want to place a bet, but what options do you have?

You could bet the moneyline. Here, you can bet on the favorite (Rangers), which would require a $122 bet to win a $100 profit (-122 odds). Or you could take the underdog (Flyers), and risk $100 for the chance to win $111 (+111 odds).

A moneyline bet is the most straightforward wager you can make, and, unlike in most other sports, it’s also the most popular in hockey. With a moneyline bet, you are simply betting on who you think will win the game.

With a puckline bet, you no longer care who wins the game (at least not really). Instead, you care about the spread. Betting the puckline can be a great way to shake things up and give you an alternate set of odds.

As we can see in the example above, the Rangers are the moneyline favorite at -122. But, when we look at the puckline odds, the Rangers become a large underdog at +240. This means that if you wagered $100 on the Rangers to win the puckline, you would have a potential profit of $240.

The puckline odds also flip for the Flyers. They start as the moneyline underdog at +111. When you bet the puckline, though, the Flyers become a huge favorite at -280. This means you would need to risk $280 for a potential profit of $100.

The odds flip when betting the puckline because you are no longer betting on the simple, in-game winner. We can see that the Puckline is -1.5 for the Rangers and +1.5 for the Flyers.

This means that to win a puckline bet on the Rangers, they would have to win the game by 2 or more goals. This is because the puckline subtracts 1.5 goals from their final score.

Likewise, if you bet the puckline on the Flyers, you are hoping that they will either win outright or lose by less than 2 goals. Here, the puckline is adding 2 goals to their final score.

Let’s assume this is the outcome of the game:

In this case, had you bet the Puckline on the Rangers, you would have lost the bet, despite the Rangers winning the game. They didn’t cover the spread. If the Rangers had scored one more goal, however, you would have won big.

Had you bet the puckline on the Flyers, the result would be the opposite. Even though the Flyers lost, you, fortunately, won! The flyers’ 2 goals get upgraded to 3.5 thanks to the puckline.

When To Bet The Puckline

Because hockey games tend to be low scoring, betting puckline on the underdog can be a wise decision. Unless you expect a blowout, you wouldn’t often assume that the underdog would lose by 2 or more goals.

When betting the puckline on the favorite, things are a bit different. I mean how often would we expect the Rangers (as a slight favorite) to beat the Flyers by 2 or more goals? Probably not often.

On the other hand, if we switch up the odds, a puckline bet on the favorite can be quite attractive:

In this case, betting the moneyline on the Rangers gives you -240 odds. If you agreed with the sentiment and thought the Rangers were going to win big, the puckline would offer you a way to get better odds. Now you could get -105 instead of -240.

We also get pretty good odds on the Flyers here. -115 odds and they don’t even have to win. All they need to do is not get crushed.

Puck Line Betting Explained

Is The Puckline Worth It?

Puck Line Betting Explained Chart

All in all, the puckline is a nice way to get a different set of odds. While betting the puckline on the favorite may seem enticing, don’t get sucked in by the big payout. In hockey, the moneyline will often be the way to bet. Though, on games with a big favorite, a puckline bet on either team can be a great option.