Sports Betting And Basketball

Its a brand new year and you could say a perfect time to dust off your play book and see if there are any changes you need to make with your sports betting strategies. In this case, how about reviewing what it takes to be successful when placing wagers on basketball games.

In this case, how about reviewing the most basic of basics, with what is most often referred to as a straight bet. A straight bet works like this: you start by telling your sports book, either in person or online, whichever option you are using. You indicate your choice of teams, you decide upon a point spread and the amount you are willing to lay down on this bet.

The payout is most often figured at odds of 10/11 (unless otherwise stated). What this means is that if you place your sports bet of $11, you would win $10 and get back $21 total. You see how it works? But hold on, that is not the whole story.

You see, when betting on a basketball game, the team you wagered on must do what is called “cover the spread”. That means the team must win by a predetermined margin of points. Here, take a look at this example so it makes more sense. Suppose you are looking at your screen (for an online sports betting site) and you see the two teams listed there in front of you.

Note that the point spread will always be to the immediate right side of the favored team. For example, suppose you see teams ‘B’ and ‘L’ listed. Yet to the right of the ‘B’ team, you see a point spread of -3. What this means in practice is you will win your bet if team ‘B’ wins by 4 points.

Alternatively, if you chose to place your sports bet on team ‘L’, you will win if either team ‘L’ wins the game or team ‘L’ loses the game but not by more than 3 points. What happens if team ‘B’ wins by exactly 3 points? Good question! The answer is that this situation is declared a “push” (that is nobody wins and nobody loses) and all the money is refunded.

Finally, make sure you are aware that Point Spreads can and do change almost continually. The point spread at the time you make your wager can be significantly different by the time the game actually starts.

Conclusion: success in making sports bets with basketball means you understand the ins and outs of how bets are made with sports books. Now you are up to speed on the straight bet.

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