Sportsbook lines are available on a number of different sports. Pointspread betting, also known as side or line betting, is the most popular way to bet the most popular sport; football. It is also the most common way to best basketball at a sportsbook.
Sportsbook lines on football are easy to understand. For example, if you look on the board and see a line that says Michigan -7, Illinois +7 you would then have the option of taking Illinois, who would win, the bet if they won the game straight up or lost by less than seven or you could take Michigan, who would have to win the game by more than seven points to cover the spread. If Michigan won by exactly seven points then the game is a “push” or a tie on the pointspread and all bets at the sportsbook are refunded.
In addition to the Internet pointspread, gamblers should also take into account what is known as “vig” or “juice,” which is that ten-percent that a gambler must put up above what he is trying to win in stake money. For example, if a gambler wanted Michigan -7 for $500 he would have to wager $550. The “vig” is the sportsbook “fee” for covering the bets, which they collect from all lost wagers.
One thing to keep in mind when you bet lines is that the pointspreads are set on how the Internet sportsbook oddsmakers think the public will react to the lines and teams involved. This means that the Internet sportsbook line is not based on pure merit but on public perception, and the attempt by the oddsmakers to make a line that is attractive enough to attract equal action on both sides and totals.
Does a sportsbook mind lopsided action in which one team is getting way more money bet on it than the other? Not always. The Internet sportsbook, in fact, will sometimes set traps in order to suck the public into betting on the wrong side of a game. Trap sportsbook lines are on games in which you see something on the board that puzzles you as being too good to be true, which it likely is. The best way to not be manipulated when betting pointspreads is to learn how to think like a oddsmaker rather than a gambler. This is not as difficult as you might think. When everyone is one the same side of a game or thinks that a team can’t lose that is the time to take the other side at the sportsbook.