Sports Betting General Question

[junkmail3]

Just a general question. I'm not looking to wager money on sports, but thought it'd be fun in the forum/play money things. Just to test my luck/abilities.

I think this will answer my question:

If there is a line:
Eagles vs. Steelers +2.5,

What does this mean, what bets can I place on this? What would an over/under bet be on this vs. a spread, etc?

I did a search, but didn't come up with anything.

Thanks.

[Lottery Larry]

You can bet on the Eagles and give up 2.5 points (must win by a field goal or more, or you lose)

You can bet on the Steelers and can lose the game but win the bet if you keep it under a field go.

Over/under is a different piece of information. 44 is the current o/u on this game. You can bet that the total points scored between the two teams is under 44- if the total is 44 or more, you lose- or over 44.
(in this game I'd bet the under BTW)

There are parlays, where you get increased odds by grouping several games together into one bet. You might get 100:1 to pick 8 teams to win. If you lose or tie any one of the 8 games, you lose your bet.

And so on and so on

[junkmail3]

Seeing that you're from Philly, the Eagles example must have drawn you in to answer my question. Ha.

Thanks though. That clears things up for me ... I think.

Four examples:
I pick Eagles -2.5. Eagles 30 Pittsburg 20. I win.
I pick Eagles -2.5. Eagles 30 Pittsburg 28. I lose.
I pick Settlers +2.5. Eagles 30 Pittsburg 20. I lose.
I pick Settlers +2.5. Eagles 30 Pittsburg 28. I win.

Is that right? I get the over/under parlay easy now. This one, I need to check.

(I do agree I would pick the under for the Eagles/Steelers game)

[housenuts]

lol, you got all those right, but it's the steelers, not the settlers. you got it right in your original post so i figure you know what you're talking about just had a little brain fart.

[siriusradio]

no he clearly has no idea wut he's talking bout

[Ed Miller]

There are parlays, where you get increased odds by grouping several games together into one bet. You might get 100:1 to pick 8 teams to win. If you lose or tie any one of the 8 games, you lose your bet.

Ties generally lose only on parlay CARDS. If you play parlays off the board, a tie is a push just like normal, and your parlay reverts to an n-1 team parlay.

[Leo99]

The funny thing about sports betting is the spread is set to get half the bets on the steelers and half the bets on the eagles. The sports books are real good at that. When you bet, you bet $110 to win $100. I'm in a football pool at work. People spend hours picking the best pick. I've seen the papers with the experts picking the best pick of the week. They get it right about 50% of the time. I pick the city I'd rather visit or the uniform I like better. I'm picking about 60% for the year. Read Sklansky's Getting the Best of It. He has some good basic reading about sports betting. The only way you can get a big enough advantage to overcome the house is if they've made a mistake on the line.

[siriusradio]

"The funny thing about sports betting is the spread is set to get half the bets on the steelers and half the bets on the eagles." Is this true? I believe the spread is to make it a 50-50 shot on the game, not to get 50-50 on the bets. Clearly cities with a lot of people such as new york will bet there home team... this means there will be more money on new york, but do the linemakers adjust the tru line because they know a lot of money will be on NY? No.

Secondly.. the line is released a few days before the game. Theres many variables after the line is released. Did the quarterbacks wife leave him? What will the weather be like? If they have a nice o/u of 60-70 on a college fb game and the weather that day is a foot of snow on the ground.. im going UNDER and I WILL have an edge. The line wasnt wrong.. just using and educated pick, which can be done on plenty of games. Sklansky should stick to poker where belongs. The only way you can overcome the rake in poker is if the opponent makes mistakes. In sports betting the opponent is the linesmaker.

[RunDownHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly cities with a lot of people such as new york will bet there home team... this means there will be more money on new york, but do the linemakers adjust the tru line because they know a lot of money will be on NY? No.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. They do. You are very misinformed. If the books aren't taking a stand on the game, they'll split the action. If the books are taking a stand, then they'll set the line to attract uneven action, but for a completely different reason than what you are suggesting.

A wonderful example of this is Notre Dame football in recent years. People all over the nation love to sink money into them, even when they are clearly awful. Often the books will split the action. Occasionally they will try to draw more ND bets in, but that's not because they ignore the extra money coming in. Just the opposite, in fact.

[ QUOTE ]
Secondly.. the line is released a few days before the game. Theres many variables after the line is released.

[/ QUOTE ]
...and the line shifts to reflect those. You even alluded to lines changing in your first paragraph, so I don't understand how you can come off so clueless here. Is it just that you're inarticulate? Trust me, the weather for the event, breaking news on the status of a player, what Joey P. is touting as the "LOCK OF THE YEAR!!" - that's you, by the way - are all things that are factored into the line and its various movements.

[RunDownHouse]

Oh, and to the original poster:

When I first started out I used a little "trick" to help me sort it out.

If the line is Cows -3 @ Sheep, then subtract three from the Cows' final score. If its still higher than the Sheep's, then they cover. Vice versa for Sheep +3.