What Is A Side Bet In Sports Betting
When it comes to pretty much any topic in life you will likely be on one side or the other. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Mustard on hotdogs, yes or no? Should a hot dog be considered a sandwich? And the list of yes or no questions goes on and on. However, these kinds of questions can be debated about until the cows come home and there really are no right or wrong answers. In sports betting, being on a particular side is usually black or white. You’re either on the right side and you win your bet, or you’re on the wrong side and lose it.
What Does Sides Mean?
When you hear someone using the term “side” or “sides” they are referring to the two teams playing against each other in a particular game or event. The simplest example I can give you is if you are looking at an NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. If someone says they are playing a “side” in this game, it means they have a bet on one of these two teams to win the game. In terms of standard types of betting, people will refer to betting sides or betting totals – which we all know is a play on the “over/under” on a game.
Fox Bet Sports Betting
A proposition bet in sports betting are more commonly known as a “prop bet.”. This kind of betting is very popular overseas. It is now one of the fastest-growing segments of the sports betting industry in the United States. The growth of prop betting at online sportsbooks is evolving and constantly changing as new legal betting states open.
How to Bet Sides
Since sides is a way to refer to betting one team over the other, there are multiple options when it comes to betting sides. For example, betting the point spread is the most common way to bet a “side” in football and basketball. However, the point spread is a wager on not only who will win the game, but how much a team will win or lose by.If you wanted to pick a “side” to win the game outright, you would take them on the money line. The problem with just picking a “side” in a point spread sport, is that you would receive a smaller payout for a favorite than you would for picking an underdog.
The money line wager is the most common wager in baseball and hockey, but is also used in sports like tennis, boxing and MMA. There are also options in hockey and baseball called the puck line and run line which is essentially the same bet as a point spread, but with a fixed line of -1.5.
Strategy for Betting Sides
Sure, betting “sides” and trying to determine which side is going to win sounds easy, but it is far from. The biggest mistake square bettors make when handicapping sides is that they always think the better team is going to win. If you’ve ever watched a sport for a couple of days, you will know that is not always the case.
Side Betting A teaser bet is a bit of a parlay bet, which allows players to reduce their risk. A teaser bet offers the opportunity to bet on point spreads or game totals, and then “tease” or adjust the line to give them a better chance of winning. Of course, their chances to win come at a cost? Which is reduced odds. The betting odds then change in the build-up to the game as various people place sports bets. Bookmakers need to balance their risk, so if one team proves popular among, you can expect the odds on.
The problem squares come across is when they bet a side on the money line and have to lay the price with the favorite. That price is often time not justifiable with the actually probability the team has to win the game outright. Because of this, you must be sure that there is value in the line before making any bet on any side in any sport.
- Hedging a bet is an advanced strategy used by sports bettors to either reduce the risk of a wager or to guarantee a profit of some kind from a wager. Similar to middling a wager, hedging is a strategy that involves placing wagers on the opposite side of your original bet.
- Betting a middle (also known as “middling”) is a sports betting strategy that makes the most out of a change in point spreads, odds, and totals. Middling isn’t a term that many who are new sports betting are familiar with. The opportunity to middle a game is when a point spread or total moves in a game.
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In life, when someone hedges a situation they are limiting their exposure to the downside. In day to day life, someone can hedge many things.
When someone hedges in sports betting they are limiting their exposure to a potential financial loss. Hedging a bet is an advanced strategy used by sports bettors to either reduce the risk of a wager or to guarantee a profit of some kind from a wager.
Similar to middling a wager, hedging is a strategy that involves placing wagers on the opposite side of your original bet. As futures bettting has become more popular, so has hedging. New sports bettors might have heard about the sports betting risk management strategy in mainstream media.
If nothing else, hedging a bet has become a popular discussion point for any occasion when a sports bettor has a futures wager pending that could result in a large win. Hedging a bet is a way to guarantee at least some kind of win.
While there’s mainstream media coverage about hedging a wager, there isn’t much mainstream information on how to hedge a bet.
What is hedging a bet?
Hedging a bet is a strategy in which a bettor will place a second wager against the original bet when they’re unsure that the outcome of a wager will be a win.
Even if a bettor thinks they might win, they could decide to hedge a bet just to be safe and guarantee they walk away as a winner. The win won’t be as large but the additional wager is a way to create some kind of insurance if the original wager loses.
Hedging is a useful strategy even though betting on all sports isn’t the same. Futures wagers are long term bets that use a moneyline. Some individual games use a point spread while betting on other sports may involve a moneyline.
A bettor can hedge against any of these types of wagers. This strategy allows the bettor to walk away as a winner or less of a loser if they choose.
How to hedge a bet
Sports Betting Explained
Hedging a bet isn’t difficult. However, the concept isn’t at the forefront of everyone’s mind when placing a wager. Hedging a bet is protecting some kind profit that was — and still may be — possible from an original wager.
Hedging a bet is done by placing a second wager against the original wager that will guarantee that the bettor sees some kind of profit at the end of the event. A bettor can hedge a future bet or hedge individual games. Here’s an example of hedging a futures bet:
Original wager: $100 futures bet on the New York Jets to win the Super Bowl at 60-1.
- Potential win: $6,000 + original $100 wager.
- Hedge: $1,000 wager on Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl at 2-1 when they face the Jets in the Big Game.
- Best result: Jets win the Super Bowl and bettor wins $6,000. The $1,000 hedge on the Rams for safety is a loss. The total win is $5,000 instead of $6,000.
- Hedge win result: Rams win and the bettor wins $2,000. After everything, the $1,000 hedge minus $100 original wager gives a final win of $900.
- Worst result: No hedge and Rams win. $100 wager and the potential $6,000 win is completely lost.
This example shows that a hedge on a futures bet is still a profitable wager. The hedge protects the bettor from losing the entire potential profit from the wager.
Hedging a bet means the original bet isn’t as profitable as it could be. However, winning something is better than losing everything. That’s the purpose of hedging a wager.
This example also shows that everything risked (the original $100 wager and $6,000 potential win) is lost without hedging.
Some bettors don’t mind losing the $100 wager and potential profit. There are other bettors that prefer to walk away with some kind of profit after waiting an entire season.
Other times to hedge a bet
Hedging a futures bet used to be the only time this strategy was discussed. Sports betting trends in the US are changing and so is how bettors use this strategy.
In Play wagering makes it easier to hedge against an existing pre-game wager that looks shaky. In the past, bettors had to wait until the middle of a game to place a halftime wager.
What Is A Side Bet In Sports Betting Against
Parlay betting continues to become more popular every year. Bettors are now using the hedging strategy to ensure a win. A bettor will place a hedge on the final game of a multi-leg parlay to ensure some kind of positive result from a wager.
Depending on the amount of the original wager, a bettor might choose to hedge a little so they can mitigate a loss. Losing is never fun but losing less is better than losing everything risked.
Hedging a bet is a useful tool for any sports bettor. Gambling on sports does not have to be about winning or losing a wager. There are multiple strategies to use where a bettor can guarantee some kind of profit on certain wagers.
ALSO READ: Sports Betting Lesson: When It’s Smart To Hedge Your Bet