Football Betting Strategies Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

Half the battle is won in preparation.  Thus, before begin to do your weekly handicapping (you do weekly handicapping, don't you?), have your money in place.   Therefore, I suggest that you fund the sports books that you plan to use during the season.  Lines can change quickely.  Thus, like a Boys Scout - BE PREPARED!

I also recommend that  instead of handicapping during mid-week or Friday for weekend games, you should begin analyzing the games immediately after the weeks’ games are completed. Reviewing college football games Saturday night or Sunday morning and NFL games Sunday evening, gives sports bettors one more money opportunity – betting into overnight lines.

Many sports books typically post overnight lines on all major sports. College and pro football usually go up Sunday night, and are very volatile when the lines are first posted.  These lines don’t have to be extremely sharp because early betting quickly tightens prices against reduced limits.

A well known fact among linesmakers is that the first few bets taken on any overnight line are ALWAYS sharp plays. These bets are made by smaller bettors who have already analyzed the games and don’t mind the lower limits.  The early bettors are often long-term winners, who are among the few that actually get the best of it time and again.  

I can’t stress strongly enough that if your average bet-size is $500 or less, the one thing you can do to win more is bet against overnight lines.  This is especially the case with the smaller markets like college football totals.  If betting into early lines seems a little intimidating, try this experiment: For four weeks, track the opening lines.  When making plays, make a record of whether you would have gotten a better price on the opener, or against the closing line.  Nearly all sports bettors will find that with the exception of significant injury news or changeable weather conditions, the line moves during the week give them a worse price than if they had bet it early.

For those already doing early handicapping and using a moderate sports book selection, there are other ways to be a smarter shopper while still working your day job.

If you’re willing to spend just a little more time bargain-hunting, the best time to do so is when the lines are moving more quickly.  For example, say the line at the 5Dimes Sports Book is shifting against you, try making your play at a recreational book that moves its lines more slowly.  On the other hand, if you like the direction of the line change, wait for the market to stabilize, and take the best price.  The trick is to recognize when these movements occur.  After the normal bouncing around of openers, there are two other factors that routinely cause substantial movement: injury announcements and large bets before game time.

In the final 60 minutes before a game kicks off, there are often dramatic changes in the price.  This is often caused by syndicate play, which waits until close to post when the betting limits are highest everywhere.  If you’re prepared to stare at a live lines screen for the 60 minutes before a set of games goes off  you’ll find many line moves that are big enough to scalp.  Waiting until this time period to place bets allows you to either play at the fast-moving sites like 5Dimes Sports Book or the slower moving recreational books depending on which way lines move.

Injury plays are another way to make a killing, but bettors have to be quick on the trigger.  When a star player is listed as doubtful or out of the next game, there will be a tidal wave of action.  The premier books may either take the game offline, circle the game and set lower limits, or drastically change the price when the news comes out.  Beating the book to the punch gives an almost certain scalping opportunity by playing the other side after the line movements.  Even if you miss the initial surge, a lot of smaller sports books will leave the old prices up.

A few of the sports books that I recommend you play are:

5Dimes

The Greek

BookMaker

Bodog

BetUS

Diamond