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How To Read Betting Odds

By JAR

When you are planning to make a bet, one factor you must consider are the odds. The importance of understand the odds is significant when you are expecting to have maximum chance of winning. Some players make mistakes in the interpretation of the odds, and end up making serious mistakes and losing lots of money. The dynamic odds change it's important to consider too, so, if you are speed in assesing the odds, will be easy for you to place a bet before the odds change.

Betting odds have numerical representations, and some people ask why? well, it is a practical way for bookmarkers to control a lot of information in a limited amount of space, besides, it's easier for bettors to understand it at this form.

There are different types of odds, each one is represented according different classifications, but the standard classification is: fractional/ decimal/ moneyline. The differences between odds are determinate by the type of sport. Some players take some time to analyze the odds structure of their favorite sport, and after that, they discover interesting ways to use this information. With a few practice, you should be able to interpret the odds for your own advantage and place winning bets.

I can give you an example; it will help you to see, how betting odds should be read it:

Bet Number Team Point Line Total Money Line

101 ABC +200

102 DEF -5 10 -150

The previous betting board shows you the different types of wagers that you can lay in relation with the ABC Team.

Point Line refers to the Point Spread bets. We can see in the example DEF is show it like the choosen to win over ABC by 5 points. The common way of representing this, is making a mention of the point line next to the favorite team with the points preceded by a ( - ) sign. Analyzing this, in this example above, there are two bets that can be placed. DEF have the posibility to win by 6 or more points or ABC can win ( or lose ) by 4 or less points.

Total bets are considered wagers against the total number of points scored in the game which is based the example. In this situation, the bettor has the possibility to bet over or under the total number of points set by the bookmarker.

The objective of money line bets is to choose a winner. A way to explain it better, based on the example before is:

If you place a $100 wager, you will receive $200. In case that you want to earn $100 on team DEF, you will need to place a bigger bet ($150). The reason is that the DEF has been marked favorite by the odd setters. When odds are low in this team, the bookmarker will try to make bettors pay more for a bet. The money Line betting you can play for your advantage, and can develop some strategies to improve your bets, including bets on the underdog or the topdog.