Basketball betting basics

Donate To GopherHole
R

Reserve

Active member
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
1,291
Reaction score
17
Points
38
I do not bet on basketball. I don't have a desire to bet on basketball. I would like to understand it though.

I know the craps table like the back of my hand but sportsbetting has always befuddled me.

Could someone clue me in here?

If the Gophers are -4 and the odds thing shows 110 .. what are you looking for? Betting?

How about the Indiana game where the Gophers were a huge favorite .. like -16 at home?

What would be your play, how do you win, and what's the typical payoff, if you're betting 100.00, which I would assume is a pretty standard amount?

Thanks.
 

Reserve said:
I do not bet on basketball. I don't have a desire to bet on basketball. I would like to understand it though.

I know the craps table like the back of my hand but sportsbetting has always befuddled me.

Could someone clue me in here?

If the Gophers are -4 and the odds thing shows 110 .. what are you looking for? Betting?

How about the Indiana game where the Gophers were a huge favorite .. like -16 at home?

What would be your play, how do you win, and what's the typical payoff, if you're betting 100.00, which I would assume is a pretty standard amount?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The -4 obviously means they are 4 point favorites, I think you got that part of it. If you take the points, your odds are (-110) on both sides. So if you took the +4 its -110, same with the -4. What that means is you'd have to bet 110 to win 100.

When the Gophers were -16, if you took the points it would be the same -110 odds.

Lets take the Gophers/Michigan game because I remember that one like it was yesterday. Michigan was +8.5 on the point spread, and the money line was +320. The money line means that you are taking them straight up, without the points. Usually in college bball they will have a money line up to about 10 points.

For example the line was something like:

Minnesota -8.5 or -350 on the money line
Michigan +8.5 or +320 on the money line

Notice that it will always add up to be - instead of +, meaning if there's even action on either side the casino takes their little 10 percent no matter what. This is why the odds move around, to make sure there's even action on both sides.

In my example, say you take Michigan on the money line at +320. You are saying they are going to win straight up, and the +320 means that if you bet 100, you would win 320 (pays 420 total)

In what I'm looking for: I guess if the team is a slight underdog, I usually just take them on the money line for the better odds.

A typical thing that you'll see in college basketball is that the home team tends to be given 4-5 points. For example, if all things were equal and the Vegas makers thought you were DEAD EVEN with a team on a neutral court, you would probably be about -4 at home, and +4 on the road.

Hope that helped, let me know what I missed.
 

Ok. I actually pretty much understood all of that. So when I look at the odds from the Rivals basketball website what are all of the numbers like .. 146 1/2 .. 131 .. 116 .. 157 .. and so on?

Thank you by the way. :)
 

Those are the over/unders for all of the games. Meaning the combined total points both teams will score in the entire game, including any overtimes. You can either take over the total or under the total. Play the money lines accordingly obviously. Big ten basketball is one of the lower scoring major conferences, most over/unders hover around 128-135
 

Excellent explanation on the gambling

Thank you!
 


The Gophers have been horrible against the number this year btw. Until that last two games, where they covered, they had lost something like 8 in a row against the spread. They've gotten a lot of respect from Vegas this year. But we have covered two in a row so maybe we're on a hot streak there.
 

Covered it pretty well

No talk about parlays? That's where it really gets interesting!!

The only thing I would point out is that the casino's cut (the "vig") isn't exactly 10% if I'm not mistaken. It's a variable number slightly under 10%, but it's close. Somewhere between 9 and 10%.

With the incorporation of the vig, the casino obviously comes out on top. The casino generally hurts when there's a high percentage of favorites that win over an extended period of time, I do know that.

I stay away from college basketball, or even basketball in general. The biggest problem I have is that there's frequently a MICROSCOPIC difference between a team winning by 2 and a team winning by 8-10; basically because of fouling in the last minute or so, FT shooting, etc. The only games I've ever bet are ones that are at one end of the spectrum or the other; If it's a pick 'em or a 1 point spread or so, OR, if the spread is major double digits and it's just way too much.

Best bet is to stick with something simple, like the Over/Under on the length of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
 


IMO, it's alot easier to bet on non-conference games when we play cupcakes. I won something like 6 games in a row taking the Gophers to beat the spread. When we played teams like Northern Illinois and Brown, the spread is something like 18-22. I always took the Gophers to beat them by more, and they did.
 



anybody seen an early line on the Purdue game?

I have a feeling Purdue by 4.5...
 

This says Purdue -2. I'm not a gambler so I have no idea if that site is accurate or not. But if it is, that line is definitely going to get bigger.
 

Yes. Purdue -2 is accurate. Might move a tad, but not much. Over/under at 135.
 





Do they take into account on how we played at purdue last game, or do they judge by strength of schedule, or how a team has been playing. -2 seems like a rip on purdue. They have been one of the hottest teams in the country as of late. I would think more on the lines of -7 to -10. I guess they see some fight in the gophers...plus we are at home.
 

akoch6767 said:
Do they take into account on how we played at purdue last game, or do they judge by strength of schedule, or how a team has been playing. -2 seems like a rip on purdue. They have been one of the hottest teams in the country as of late. I would think more on the lines of -7 to -10. I guess they see some fight in the gophers...plus we are at home.
Click to expand...
I'm sure they take lots of things into account. The fact that the Gophers beat Wisconsin by 15 or whatever at home last week definitely helped.
 

Pretty good thread. I've only made one sports bet in my life and that was on the Twins several years ago when I was in Las Vegas during the playoffs. They were playing the Yankees of course and I lost. Oh well.

Serious question - Is there some sort of underground bookie type of deal in the Twin Cities that people make these types of bets with or is it done online through an offshore casino?
 

Blizzard said:
Pretty good thread. I've only made one sports bet in my life and that was on the Twins several years ago when I was in Las Vegas during the playoffs. They were playing the Yankees of course and I lost. Oh well.

Serious question - Is there some sort of underground bookie type of deal in the Twin Cities that people make these types of bets with or is it done online through an offshore casino?
Click to expand...

No. This sort of activity is only legal in Las Vegas. ;)

Edit - Usually one can find this activity in any work place - I would think school as well.

If you know someone who sells football numbers I would bet that he or she might know someone who knows someone who delves in this sort of activity. Otherwise just start going from bar to bar and ask the bartender - usually the older ones.
 

akoch6767 said:
Do they take into account on how we played at purdue last game, or do they judge by strength of schedule, or how a team has been playing. -2 seems like a rip on purdue. They have been one of the hottest teams in the country as of late. I would think more on the lines of -7 to -10. I guess they see some fight in the gophers...plus we are at home.
Click to expand...

In theory, it's none of that - the point spread isn't based on some handicappers prediction of what will happen in the game... it is some handicappers prediction of what point spread is needed to split the wagering evenly on both teams.

For various reasons, there can be a difference between saying, "I believe this will be a 2 point game" and "I believe the betting on this game would be even if the line was set at 2 points".

The oddsmakers may think the Minnesota fans with deep pockets have fallen hopelessly in love with their team after home victories against their cold-shooting arch rival and a terrible team, and therefore will bet nonsensically in this one. :/
 

Usually one can find this activity in any work place - I would think school as well.

If you know someone who sells football numbers I would bet that he or she might know someone who knows someone who delves in this sort of activity. Otherwise just start going from bar to bar and ask the bartender - usually the older ones.
Click to expand...

Lol. I must lead a sheltered life. If this were the case I would pick my wife to have the little bookies hat on. She runs a football, basketball, baseball, golf, Superbowl, and Road to the Superbowl, pool(s). About the only thing I remember hearing, I don't know, 7-8 years ago, when they arrested the St. Paul guys in the elaborate bookie/betting scheme. Although, I suppose that type of betting must be wide spread as I remember that particular operation ran into the millions.
 

Blizzard said:
Pretty good thread. I've only made one sports bet in my life and that was on the Twins several years ago when I was in Las Vegas during the playoffs. They were playing the Yankees of course and I lost. Oh well.

Serious question - Is there some sort of underground bookie type of deal in the Twin Cities that people make these types of bets with or is it done online through an offshore casino?
Click to expand...

Reminds me of one of my favorite bets. I had a five year long bet with a friend/customer of mine. The bet; 50-1 odds that Twins win the pennant for $10. For some reason he quit the bet after the 1987 season. Those five $100 travelers checks came in real handy.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom