>> THE BASICS OF SPORTS BETTING & SPORTSBOOKS

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>> Betting Baseball

Baseball may be America's favorite pastime, but with the booming popularity of football and basketball, it has slipped in recent years in terms of the amount of money wagered in sports books throughout Nevada and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, it has always enjoyed its share of popularity as a betting option. In fact, many, among those who wager on sports for a living, swear that it is the BEST sport to bet on. Baseball odds are quoted in terms of a money line, and bettors must decide who will win the game, period. A typical baseball quote is given in sports books like this:

		
A			B				C                            

Red Sox +155	 ROSE		9½ ov -120			+1½  -130
Yankees -165	 CONE		9½ un   EV			-1½  +110

The road team (as with any sport) is always listed first, on top, in column A, and the home team is underneath, or second. The money line odds are listed next. In this example, the favored Yankees at -165 are 10 cents higher than the Red Sox +155. This difference is called a "dime line". It is to the bettors' advantage to bet baseball at sports books that deal a dime line. As with money lines in football or basketball, the minus is how much you have to wager to win 100 and the plus is how much you would win for 100 wagered. Listed next are each teams' pitchers. The pitching match up has a dramatic influence on the determination of the odds for that game. In column B, the over/under or total runs, is listed. In this example, you could bet that the total runs scored in the game by both teams would be either over or under 9½ runs. Another wagering option offered in baseball is the runline which is shown in column C. In runline wagering you can either give or take 1½ runs and receive an adjusted money line price.

>> Handicapping Baseball

As we mentioned above, the single most important factor in picking a winner in baseball is the pitcher. A good pitcher can make it very difficult for even the best team to score against him. If you're a baseball fan, you probably won't have to do much brushing up on your statistics to find the best pitchers (but you'll have to do a lot of homework to keep up with the linemakers!).

To handicap baseball, you must handicap the pitchers. Study pitchers' earned run averages (ERA) and win-loss records. You want to find those who don't give up too many runs, so their ERAs should be low and their win-loss percentages high. See how the pitcher you're thinking about betting on has been doing lately. Are his statistics reflective of how he is pitching recently? If your favorite pitcher isn't doing well lately, find out why before betting on him again. Check the stats to see how he's done against individual teams, both this season and lifetime and then consider the roster changes that have been made since then.

Check the team stats, also. Check the daily baseball standings in your local newspaper. Focus on the team's winning percentage, record for the past 10 games, and the number of games won or lost in succession. (It's quite popular to bet on streaks in baseball) Know as much as you can about the teams you're betting on. Because the oddsmakers usually know more about each team, and each pitcher, than you do, good handicapping can't guarantee you a win. What it can do is help you be an informed bettor, and increase your likelihood of finding opportunities that the linemaker or betting public might have missed.

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