Betting on the NBA can be a great way to have your first experiences into the betting world. The NBA supplies some high level games with great coverage, wide betting markets, fast turn around for news and some great betting tips. Before you dive head first and bet on your favourite team, there are a few things you need to know to make the best of your betting experience.
Odds
Fortunately, most betting platforms supply an easy way to change the odds format to which ever you may best understand, pick the odds that work best for you. As NBA is bet on mainly in the USA, let’s look at American or moneyline odds to better understand how they work. Moneyline odds are presented on a $100 focus, they revolve around either betting $100 or winning $100 depending on which team you are betting.
- Favourites – The favourite team will be represented with a negative symbol (-). The number along with the negative symbol will represent how much you need to wager in order to win $100.
- Underdogs – The underdog team will be represented with a positive symbol (+). The number along with the positive symbol will represent how much you stand to win if you were to wager $100.
The odds do not mean that you need to wager a certain amount, they just represent a ratio of wager to potential winnings. If you are having a hard time working out the exact odds in moneyline, don’t stress. There are a host of odds calculators available online and completely for free.
Implied Probability
Understanding odds is the first step to finding the value in your bet, the next step is implied probability. Implied probability is the chances of one team winning that are implied by the odds. Many factors can sway the implied probability, the main contributing factor is how the bettors see the outcome of the game.
To calculate implied probability, the sum is as follows:
- For positive: 100 / (odds + 100) * 100 = implied probability
- For negative: odds / (odds + 100) * 100 = implied probability
For example, if the odds are -500 for the favourites, we can work out: 500 / (500 + 100) * 100 = 83.3%. The 83.3% here, is the odds the sportsbook gives the favourites for winning.
Implied probability with sportsbooks is hardly ever static, it is constantly changed to reflect conditions of the game and any potential sway of bettors, this is where value betting comes into play
Value Betting
Value betting is not betting on the team you that are sure to win, but betting on a fantastic value proposition when your calculated probability is different to that supplied by the sportsbook. One of the most frequent cases of this is a sway caused by the betting majority.
The majority of people treat betting as a leisure activity, betting on their favourite teams even when a win is not guaranteed. If you really want a win, then claiming Lucky Creek no deposit bonus codes is a much better idea. When two teams with different sized fan bases clash, even if being similar in skill, the betting implied probability will always fall to the team with the bigger fan base (more bets). In this kind of situation, the value proposition in betting on the underdog is usually very favourable.