Expert Bet

For most of the 20th Century, online sports books did not exist. If you were interested in betting on a sporting event, you needed to find a bookmaker. While live bookmakers are still around, most sports players agree that online sports books are the way to go, for a number of reasons.

Online Sports Book vs. Live Bookmaker: Diversity

Most online sports books offer poker and casino games as well. This gives you the opportunity to get a nice casino bonus, and then transfer the profit to your sports betting account.

Online Sports Book vs. Live Bookmaker: Legal Issues

In many states, betting with a live bookmaker is illegal. While the legality of online sports betting may vary from state-to-state and country-to-country, since the online sports book is headquartered in a legal betting location, bettors who use the online service are usually not exposed to legal problems. You should consult your local gambling ordinances to be sure.

Online Sports Book vs. Live Bookmaker: Safety Issues

When you bet with an online sports betting service, you have a measure of protection. A watchdog agency or other licensing board verifies most reputable sports books. You can be fairly confident that your transactions will go safely and smoothly. What you get when dealing with a live bookmaker is anybody’s guess. He may refuse to pay, change the rules or harass you about untimely payment.

Online Sports Book vs. Live Bookmaker: Convenience

Of course, in some states there are sanctioned live bookmakers you can go to that are safe and legal. However, you may still have to wait in a line, struggle to find the exact line you are looking for and you’ll have to make a trip back to the sports book if you want to collect. Online, simply peruse the online charts for the line you want, make your bet instantly and watch as the money is added to your online account when you win.

Some players seem to find the most ingenious ways to lose money. One of the most popular bad-bets involves teasers. A “square” teaser is where someone teases two teams in the same game. Consider the game Detroit (+2.5) at Cleveland (-2.5). If you tease both teams by six points, you have “Detroit +8.5 and Cleveland +3.5″. The problem is that these two plays are anti-correlated. If you believe that Detroit +8.5 will cover, Cleveland +3.5 is much less likely to cover. Where most two-team teasers will win at a rate close to 50%, by teasing two teams in the same game a player will reduce their hit rate down closer to 40%.What you’ll also find is that newer players will often sign-up at a book just for a bonus. They play for a while and then move onto another high juice recreational book to chase another bonus. But how much of these bonuses does a player really keep and how does the rollover work? If you post up $1,000 for a 10% deposit bonus worth $100, you will be credited with $1,100. The sports book will then expect you to “rollover” that deposit plus the amount of bonus a set number of times. If a book has a “3x rollover” requirement, you are expected to make $3,300 in bets (your deposit of $1,000 plus the $100 bonus, multiplied by 3) before you can earn your bonus. Until you do that, the bonus is “unearned” and withdrawing money typically forfeits that bonus. A traditional sports book can offer a bonus because they expect to win a lot of it back. If you made $50 bets on NFL sides until you met your rollover requirement (risking $55 to win $50), you would expect to win 33 wagers and lose another 33 wagers. You would be down the $5 vigorish on each of these 33 bets or $165 (33 * $5). Even after earning your $100 bonus you’re still down $65! New customers at Pinnacle Sports also receive a 10% sign-up bonus but if you made those same bets at Pinnacle, our reduced juice means you are only risking $52 to win $50. Making the same 66 bets, you would still be in profit on the bonus and paying just $66 (33 * $2) in juice instead of it costing you $165. Bonus chasing at books doesn’t make sense. While the bonus may help pay for the extra juice, not only are you out of pocket after fulfilling your rollover requirements at a traditional bookmaker, but do you really want the hassle of jumping from one book to the next? By playing at a reduced juice book like Pinnacle Sports you’ll receive a sign-up bonus that is actually worth something and our reduced juice lines offer up to 60% better value on NFL sides than other books, regardless of your rollover.   ( by Simon Noble from Pinnacle Sports Book )

If a player consistently beats our closing price at Pinnacle Sports, he is likely to be a long-term winner – period. Interestingly, we have found that this test is more reflective of a player’s future winning potential than their historical win/loss record with the company. For example, if our closing price on the Eagles was -3@-104 (1.96) and a customer played -3@+105 (2.05) earlier in the week - that was a sharp bet. When a player can anticipate the line movement and does this consistently over a series of 100 bets or more, that player is conclusively sharp and will be up substantially in the long run.What’s the quickest way to identify a player that needs to adjust their style of betting? One who pays a bad price? If other online sports books offer the Eagles at -3@-120 (1.83) and a player wagers there instead when a better price was available elsewhere such as -3@-104 (1.96) at Pinnacle Sports, he is almost certainly not sharp. Even if he has been winning thus far, that player will probably lose over time.How can you use this information to your advantage? By adopting the process known as “comparison shopping”. Not only is it second nature to sharp players, but it is one of the easiest ways for any player to increase their potential winnings by playing at the best available price. This is done by having accounts at multiple sports books so that you no longer remain a captive to the 20-cent line of a single book.The objective when comparison shopping is to shrink the margins on both sides of any given match-up to around six cents or better wherever possible. This is when you are in a position where you can lay -104 (1.96) on the favorite at one sports book or take back +100 (2.00) (even money) at another book on the underdog for example.Once convinced of the benefits of applying comparison shopping to your own personal betting, it’s worth conducting some Internet research to find a selection of sports books to use. Ideally in addition to your existing bookmaker, you should be looking to hold accounts at one or two reduced juice bookmakers such as Pinnacle Sports together with a couple of recreational books, where you’ll find inflated favorite prices and most likely attractive odds on the underdog. If you are having difficulties comparing the prices between books that offer different lines simply request a free user name/password and log into www.PinnacleSports.com. You can then check the buy/sell feature which is available on the member’s section of the site. This will allow you to determine the difference in price between playing the Colts at -14@-110 (1.91) or -15@+100 (2.00) at different books and allows you to equalize the lines.

Still not convinced about comparative shopping? If you don’t have an account yet at Pinnacle Sports, try taking the “Pinnacle Challenge”. Whenever you place a bet for the week ahead, check the odds on that wager at www.PinnacleSports.com compared to the price you played at. Don’t be surprised at how much money you may be missing out on by not having an account at Pinnacle Sports.

Source: PinnacleSports