Sports Book Handicapping Tips Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

Sports Handicapping and Sports Betting are two separate things in my opinion.  I know a lot of sports bettors who bet on sporting events, but do not know much about handicapping.  Betting on a game does not make you a handicapper. 

Handicapping involves researching teams, games, match-ups, and other potential variables to give you an edge when betting on sporting events.  Depending on how in-depth you get in your analysis, this can be a long and detailed process.  This is alot of work!  What I am going to show you are various methods to help you handicap better and more efficiently.  Thanks to the internet, there is so much free information and data available that make handicapping much faster and easier then ever before.   

Here are some things that should help you in handicapping:

• Finding trends and analyzing matchups  
  The idea behind finding trends is that given certain circumstances, one team might have an advantage over the other team.  Some teams just do not match up very well against specific teams or circumstances.  Weeding out which ones are worth anything and which ones are garbage will take some practice.   
• Being informed
  With the internet, there is a ton of info out there.  There are blogs and forums for just about every team in every sport.  There are also places like ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, SI, and way to many to list off, that have all kinds of information.  If there is late breaking news, it is out there.  The more you read or the more you listen, the more you will have for your arsenal.  DO YOUR RESEARCH!  Some of it takes time, but if you are serious about this you should want to spend it.  At the VERY LEAST, you should know who is sitting out or possibly out for the game prior to betting on it.   
• Become active at a sports betting forum 
  Read, post, ask questions, debate, these will all help you become more informed and a better capper. 
• Watch as many games as you can
  Maybe this is a personal thing, but one thing that I have noticed over the years is the more that I watch a sport, the better handle I have on the teams.   
• Watching / Monitoring line movement
  Lines are set at some certain time prior to the start of the game.  In some sports this is the night before, and in others like football, it may be a week before the game.  Between this time and the start of the game, the line will move up and down to try and even out the bets.  A line movement of a half a point is fairly normal, while any movement of a point or more is significant.  The more the line moves and the closer to game time this happens, the bigger the impact of the movement.  Any large movement is more then likely an injury to a star player.  By monitoring these lines, you can get a feel for how the betting community thinks about the games.  Also, if you are watching lines you can possibly see a line movement at one sports book and bet it at the original line at another sports book.  Timing is everything. 
• Ask questions
  Sometimes the biggest stumbling block can be just being uncertain about a particular question involved with sports betting. 

Being well informed is what really differentiates a good handicapper from your typical sports bettor.  Hopefully, you will find some new info and sources from this site, and some new ideas to research.