Sports betting lines may look like nothing more than a list of game matchups, team names and numbers, at least to the average person. But to the winner, the few that actually make money against the sportsbetting lines, those sports betting odds are a language all of their own, with their own unique meanings and hidden values that the sophisticated and expert gambler can profit from.
Sportsbetting can be much more successful if you think like an oddsmaker. The more that a gambler learns to think like an oddsmaker, rather than a gambler, the better read and understanding he will have of the sports betting.
The job of the oddsmakers is to set up sportsbetting lines that are the most advantageous for the house. Therefore, just like a smart poker player, the oddsmakers get to know the gambling public, what makes them tick, what motivates them, and what appeals to them. The oddsmakers learn what triggers public dollars towards the sports betting lines. The oddsmakers will then use all of that knowledge about the gambling public to set up sportsbetting odds reflective of the public’s taste and demands.
While the general job of the sports betting oddsmakers is to set up betting lines that are equally attractive to both sides or totals of a matchup, there are times when the oddsmakers will push beyond that and set up what are known as “trap” sportsbetting lines. Trap lines are sports betting lines that are made in order to suck in a disproportionate amount of gambling action and dollars on the wrong side of a wager. The oddsmakers are best able to set trap sportsbetting odds based on their expertise of the gambling public.
The oddsmakers, for example, know that the gambling public will react strongly to last week’s results, injuries, media spin and take, and the various star power and reputations of the various teams posted on the sportsbetting odds boards. Once the oddsmakers have a read on the betting public, that fact will be reflected in the price on the sports betting lines. If you want to win money you must learn to think like an oddsmaker as you view the sportsbetting lines.