Live In Game Betting Strategy
If you're a seasoned veteran when it comes to betting on sports then you will know all too well what I'm about to talk about in the next paragraph. If by chance you are new to the sports betting industry, welcome and I hope you find your journey full of entertainment and profit.
A few years ago, live sports betting was still a relatively new feature. Since that time, the popularity of this betting format has skyrocketed. GBGC calculated that already in 2014 global gross win from in-play betting was around $6.8 billion, an increase of almost 84% from just four years ago.
Back in the old days, when bookies were taking bets via phone calls and updating their odds on chalk boards and the only way to get some good information was by reading the local newspaper, the entire premise of sports betting was the 'pre-game' bet on the outright winner, the point spread or the total. There was no such thing as 'in-game' betting because people didn't have the capacity to set lines in real time and avoid losing a fortune.
Thanks to today's technology, sportsbooks still rely on linemakers but also on super computers that can figure out the probability of almost everything that could occur in any given game and then spit out a betting line for the consumers to wager upon.
- Contrary to common belief, there’s no perfect live betting strategy you can follow. In fact, anyone could discover a winning strategy that fits their style of play and bankroll. The key parameters of setting a live betting strategy are only two: Time and odds. Playing time is considered as the defining factor of live betting.
- The theory behind this strategy is that the public will keep on betting the over in a game where lots of points are being scored. This will keep pushing the totals line up, and there will come a point when it’s so high that there’s value in backing the under.
When it comes to pre-game wagers, there is only so much studying, trends and factors that a bettor can entertain before placing his bet. Once the game starts, the factors change and so could any edge you thought you found. I've been in the game long enough to declare a bet a losing play minutes into a game for a number of different reasons. I wasn't always right, but on several occasions the ability to place a live in-game wager helped limit the damage to the bankroll.
Live Wagering Options
Since you can bet on almost any sport imaginable, there are countless opportunities to play the in-game betting game. To save time, I've listed a bunch of the more popular in-game betting options available to bettors broken down by sport.
Live Wagering Football Options: money line, point spread, total, team to score next point, result of upcoming drive, what will next points be (FG, TD or Safety), what will the next play be (run, completed pass, or incomplete pass).
Live Wagering Basketball Options: money line, point spread, total, 2nd/3rd/4th quarter lines and team totals.
Live Wagering Baseball Options: money line, spread, total, inning total, team to score next run, hit or no hit (each inning).
Live Wagering Hockey Options: money line, total, team to score next goal, period total (over/under), team totals (game and period), exact number of goals.
Live Wagering Soccer Options: money line, point spread, total, team to score next goal, total corners.
Live Wagering Tennis Options: money line, total sets, total games (individual or combined), next game winner, next point winner, next set winner, exact set score.
Even by covering those six major sports, I've barely scratched the surface of the trillion in-game wagering options available. But now that you have more of an understanding of the kinds of lines that are offered once the game gets underway, I can explain to you the different types of in-game bettors I've come across over my time in the industry.
Different Types of Live Wagering Bettors
The 'Game is Already Over' Bettor - This kind of bettor is the kind of person who places a pre-match bet and then takes to social media or betting forums and claims his pick is the lock of the century. About halfway through the first period/quarter, this type of bettor will hit the live wagering hard and jump on the other team in order to do damage control and save his bankroll from going up in flames. Usually saving the bankroll is the main priority, but there are certain instances when jumping ship could prove profitable. Let's say you absolutely love this basketball matchup and you've been waiting a while to bet it. You do all your research and place your wager pre-game with the utmost confidence. Then game time rolls around and your team is ice cold from the floor and looks completely lethargic. You know you're on the wrong side, so instead of watching your ticket burn, you are willing to accept defeat and attempt to break even, possibly turn a small profit. This is the worst possible version of the live-wagering bettor.
The 'Feel' Bettor - This kind of bettor lives for in-game wagering. They watch every single minute of every game they are interested in and make wagers according to what they see/feel. This method takes up a lot of time, and you must maintain 100 percent focus at all times. The best example I can give you is the in-game soccer bettor. Since soccer is a game of few goals, in-game bettors love to pounce on goal lines (at least, I do). In soccer, totals usually start at 2 or 2.5 depending on the team. Depending on the situation and where they are in the table, teams may come out in a defensive formation to play for a draw or an offensive formation to try and get the win. By watching the game and using your own eyes as a guide, you should be able to tell if there are going to be goals scored after half an hour of playing time. I'm not saying this bettor is going to be right every single time, but being able to feel the game out and watch how it's playing out will help you nail a live-wager or two.
The 'Middle' Bettor
This is definitely the trickiest method to employ when you are thinking about live wagering. The 'Middle' bettor will place a pre-match wager on the point spread and then attempt to middle that bet when the game gets underway. Obviously, as points are scored the spread changes, so this type of live wagering requires precise timing and the wherewithal to know when to place a bet on the in-game point spread. For example, this bettor will bet the Cowboys at (-10) pre-game only see them jump ahead by seven-points early in the first. The spread is very likely to climb possible to (-16.5) or (-17). Bettors who feel that's way too many points will jump on the other team at +17 and hope the Cowboys win by 11-16 points in order to win both bets.
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Betting on football involves making predictions. We pick a game, assess the two teams and try our best to predict how it’s going to turn out. There’s a lot more to football betting than just that of course, but that’s the general idea. We ultimately have to rely on our ability to determine what’s going to happen in the future. Or, more accurately, what’s LIKELY to happen in the future.
Unfortunately, doing this consistently is NOT easy, simply because football is not a predictable sport. Expect the unexpected, because games often turn out completely different than one might expect. This is a big part of what makes football so exciting to watch, but it sure doesn’t help us when it comes to betting on the sport.
Even the most knowledgeable football experts in the world can’t correctly call what’s going to happen in every single game of football. So what chance is there for the rest of us? It doesn’t matter how much research we do, or how many stats we analyze, we’re still going to get it wrong some of the time.
Live In Game Betting Strategy Odds
Does this mean you should give up on football betting entirely? Of course not! You can just bet for fun if you want, and not worry too much about whether you win or lose. Lots of people bet this way, and really enjoy themselves. But there’s another option too. By putting in the necessary time and effort, learning as much about football as you possibly can, and exploring every avenue that can help you make accurate predictions, you can honestly have a real shot at making some money.
Best Betting Strategy
If you go with the second option, there’s one particular avenue you should definitely explore further: live football betting. This is one of the very best ways to bet on football in our opinion, not least because it can greatly improve your chances of making accurate predictions on a regular basis. There are other advantages to live football betting too, which we discuss below.
There are also some helpful tips betting on football in-play in this article, and some effective strategies that we recommend trying. Please note that if you’re not familiar with this form of betting at all, please refer to our article on in-play sports betting for more information on how it all works.