Changes

In order The things people bet on are called betting markets. Understanding how the market works and how each sportsbook handles them is necessary to achieve generating long term success bettors must understand profit. This section will provide a brief introduction to betting markets, the concepts of square and sharp lines, and how to evaluate how their sportsbook sets their each prospective betting site views the market. === How marketsoriginate === Contrary to popular belief betting lines and odds to not originate in Las Vegas. Offshore betting sites that take a large amount of wagers such as [[BetCRIS]] are the first to release [[opening line]]s. These concepts might be challenging for novice sports lines are released with low initial [[limit]]s and adjusted based on early action. In general the majority of players who bet into early markets are sharper bettors but who have identified an advantage. When a betting market is young it must not be overlookedis at it's lowest expected efficiency. This section deals means that the line available at the sportsbook is believed to have the largest deviation from a fair line (a theoretical line set with intermediate concepts such as how perfect information). Identifying these advantages and betting markets work and accordingly is the difference between square and sharp key to profitable sports betting. Opening linesare adjusted based on this early action. As they become more efficient limits are slowly raised.

==== Square and Sharp sportsbooks ====Assessing a sportsbook's betting markets might seem challenging for novice bettors. Before placing a bet players must understand how their betting site sets their odds relative to the rest of the industry. This section deals with more intermediate concepts including

The last criteria to evaluate is whether a betting site offers A [[squaresportsbook]] or [[sharp]] oddsadjusts the current market lines based on the betting habits of their respective customer base. These betting sites cater to beginner and recreational sports bettors. It helps Because the majority of recreational bettors are more likely to first understand how oddsmakers set be drawn to the same side of certain betting lines. Although simplified, markets (such as a sportsbook desires popular favorite) square bookmakers shade the line to make it less favorable to have an equal amount of money staked bet on both sides of a given market. This guarantees profit as a result of puts customers who wager on that side anyways at an increased disadvantage relative to the bookmaker's commission (known as [[vig]])widely available market.

Let's look at an An example match to illustrate of this conceptcan be seen below. Although not absolute favorites and overs are generally the preferred side of recreational bettors. Heading into the 2019-2020 college football National Championship game the LSU Tigers high powered offense seems unstoppable. A sharp betting site is offering LSU [[moneylineagainst the spread]] bet is a wager on which team will win the match. The Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots both have the same odds of winning at -110. For those not familiar with 5 (-109), -215 [[American oddsmoneyline]]odds, this means a $110 risk would yield $100 profit for and a [[total return of $210 if that team were to win]] set at 66.5.

|[[File:PatriotsClemson.png|25px]]|New England PatriotsClemson Tigers| PK +5 (-110)| Over 4966.5 (-110107)| -110+180

|[[File:RavensLSU.png|25px]]|Baltimore RavensLSU Tigers| PK -5 (-110109)| Under 4966.5 (-110113)| -110215

Imagine Sharp betting sites expect to take lots of action on these big games and wishes to offer lines that are as efficient as possible. They do not want knowledgeable sports bettors placing large wagers on sides that a have positive expected value. Square betting sites feature have lower betting sitelimits and can afford to adjust their lines away from the current market. Wagering on LSU's customers wagered a combined $22[[spread]], moneyline,000 on this gameor the [[over]] is relatively less favorable. LSU's spread is now -6 (-115) and moneyline market-225. The ideal scenario for a bookmaker would be total has also been raised to have a total of $11,000 bet on the Patriots and $11,000 on the Ravens67. In this scenario regardless of which team wins they will pay $10,000 to the winners and collect $11,000 from the losers for a net return of $1,0005.

With this in mind one can see how oddsmakers must anticipate how their customers will perceive the lines they set. It is often not optimal for a sportsbook to set a line based strictly on the expected outcome determined by statistics. Bettors often believe certain teams are stronger or weaker than they actually are. In the previous example match assume that the math indicated that on average the Ravens would beat the Patriots by 3.5 points. At the time of writing this guide the Patriots are a team many people frequently bet on. Releasing a spread of 3.5 based strictly on the expected outcome would likely result in a distinct imbalance in money staked. Instead the spread is adjusted to 0.0 (PK) and both teams are given equal betting odds on the moneyline in order to attract net action to the other side.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: auto;"|- style="background-color:#eaecf0;"|colspan="2"|'''Team'''|'''Spread'''While this has been simplified it provides enough foundation to define the concepts of |'''Total'''square|'' and 'Moneyline'sharp''|-|[[File:Clemson. These terms can be used to describe individual lines or entire betting sitespng|25px]]|Clemson Tigers| +6 (-105)| Over 67. It's important to note that different sportsbooks offer different lines for the same match, adjusted for their respective customer base5 (-105)| +185|-|[[File:LSU.png|25px]]|LSU Tigers| -6 (-115)| Under 67.5 (-115)| -225|}

A [[Savvy readers might have observed the advantage of betting against the line adjustments done by square]] line is one that has a large deviation from sportsbooks. More favorable lines are now available with Clemson +6 (-105), Clemson ML (+185), and the expected outcomeunder 67.5 (-115). Oddsmakers adjust the line While this is true, square betting sites have been known to make limit the side they expect a majority accounts of players who strictly take advantage of their customers' action to be placed on less favourablethe line shading. This is done to attract more bets to includes the other side in an attempt to achieve practice of dealing [[dual lines]]; offering a balance sharper set of actionodds for customers deemed to ''know what they are doing''.

Consequently, If you decide to register an account with a [[sharp]] square betting site understand how to take advantage of their line is one that has a smaller deviation from the expected outcomeadjustments. Betting lines are close Be prepared to have your account limited and move on to what statistics would indicate is the average outcome of the game (if it were to be played many times over a large sample size)next one.

It is common for betting sites ==== Which to exclusively deal sharp or square lines. This is dependent on their respective customer bases' betting habits. Square sportsbooks cater to recreational and novice gamblers. Inexperienced sportsbettors are generally more inclined to bet on the square side of a given market. To take advantage of this oddsmakers shift the line to make it less favorable to bet on. This works to attract more bets to the other side in order to achieve a balance. And if it were to fail, and a majority of bets are still placed on the square side of the game, those bettors would be at an increased disadvantage for having a worse line relative to those available at competing sportsbooks. Those paying close attention might ask themselves why experienced bettors with large bankrolls don't take advantage of square adjustments by betting on the other side. These square sportsbooks generally prevent knowledgable bettors from doing this by restricting access, offering low betting limits, and issuing [[dual line]]s.pick ====

Sharp While betting sites generally have against a square sportsbook's line shading is a more diverse customer basesimple way to generate market advantage bettors will find themselves getting cut off frequently. Novice, intermediate, and experienced sportsbettors allow the site Players who are serious about using sports betting to generate long term profit will eventually need to issue lines that are closer learn how to beat the expected outcomemarket. Even if a large portion This comes in the form of novice and intermediate bettors take the ''square'' side, experienced bettors would balance it out by placing larger wagers betting on early lines at sharper high limit betting sites in an attempt to beat the other sideclosing line.