March Madness betting line odds give you so many different options to choose from. Sometimes gamblers at sportsbooks forget that a 1st half betting option even exists when looking at March Madness betting. Betting the 1st half in basketball can be something that all bettors should consider at times.
March betting line handicapping should begin with the basics. Usually the first half line is going to be figured by the oddsmakers by dividing the full March Madness betting line in half. For example, you might have a team favored by 4 points with a total of 154. Usually you can divide that number in half for the side but you might need to make a little adjustment on the total. The second half tends to be higher scoring in March Madness betting. In this example a 1st half March Madness betting line might have the favored team at -2 with a total of 75. The full game total is 154 so the first half total is lower. Usually the side is divided evenly which is why the favorite is -2 for the first half March betting line.
Why would you want to bet a March betting line in the first half? The first advantage to betting the 1st half at sportsbooks is that you don’t have to worry about blowing a big lead and not covering the March betting line. Let’s say you liked North Carolina against Winthrop and the line was -20 in March Madness betting. The first half March Madness betting line might only be -10. That is a lot easier to cover than the 20 might be late in the game.
The only main problem that can frustrate bettors when they play the first half March betting line is when the bet loses and then the full game bet wins. What you can do though if you lose the 1st half bet versus the March betting line is come right back and then bet the team for the 2nd half. You could even martingale and go double in the 2nd half in March Madness betting. This gives you two chances to win on the same side.
Whenever we are looking at the first half March Madness betting line we want to do a few things to make sure we have the best chance at winning. First, we want to handicap the full game normally. Second, we want to bet the second half if our first half bet loses, and third, we may want to also consider betting the game in addition to our first half wager.