Betting Football: Effective Handicapping Strategies

Betting does not involve any official handicapping strategy that everyone who chooses to bet on football should embrace. However, gamblers who bet on football should always be open to learning about new strategies for betting effectively. Most gamblers betting tend to examine the betting board and then handicap each game accordingly, based upon perceived value in comparison with the stated odds. But it can also be effective to handicap a betting board before the wagering odds have even been released. In other words, this strategy for betting involves handicapping each game and determining what you believe the correct line should be for the game. Then, and only then, do you actually look at the official gambling odds, which you do in order to compare them with your own.

As you compare the odds you have devised with the official odds you will search for games where your line for the game is significantly different from the official line. If you decide, for instance, that one team should be favored by 2½ points and the official line favors the team by 2 points, then there is little reason for betting football on that particular match up. Basically, the line seems to offer little genuine value so betting on that game would be quite risky. On the other hand, if you decide that a team should be favored by 2½ points and the official line for betting has the team favored by 7 points then this game offers great potential for betting football. In this situation you have predicted that the game will be quite close, but the official wagering line has the favorite favored by a very high number. Consequently, taking the underdog would provide the best value and that is how you should place your wager. If you had not handicapped the game before looking at the official odds you may have been biased by the placement of the odds, thereby overlooking the value in the underdog. But by handicapping the game before glancing at the official odds one is able to find the best value for betting football without being influenced by the official spreads.