Click Here for 2009 Super Bowl 43 information including Super Bowl Betting Odds, Super Bowl Picks, and Super Bowl Squares

Betting successfully on the Super Bowl is no easy task. There are so many unique factors at play that it's hard to know what is going to happen. It often comes down to just flipping a coin. And speaking of flipping a coin, if you are a real degenerate then you can bet on that, too. The Super Bowl coin toss is not a great bet - the odds are 50/50, yet the price is -105. Despite that, tens of thousands of people will be betting on the Super Bowl coin toss on Feb. 1.

Get a 20% Sign up Bonus at Bookmaker
Use bookmaker bonus code – "doc20"
Click Here

I can't suggest that betting on the coin toss is a sound investment, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. It's the first chance for you to get bragging rights over your buddies on the big day, and no day of the year is more about bragging rights than the Super Bowl. It only makes sense, then, that you would want to have the best edge you can. Or, at least, you want to believe you have an edge right before the coin is tossed.

The coin itself will again be coming from Highland Mint in Melbourne, Florida. It's two-tone with both gold and silver, so don't forget to factor that into your handicapping. The toss itself will be an all-star affair. John Elway won the Super Bowl 10 years ago, Roger Craig 20 years back, and Lynn Swann is 30 years removed. All three are coming back to mark their anniversaries by making the toss. No word on who will actually make the toss, but you probably don't need to lose too much sleep about that.

You can actually bet on the coin toss in at least three different ways - heads or tails, which team will win, and which team will win the opening kickoff. Each one is typically priced at -105.

For the first time ever this year, teams will have the ability to defer the decision if they win the coin toss in the Super Bowl. In previous Super Bowls, teams could not defer their decision until the second half, and that meant that all 42 toss winners chose to receive the opening kick. The change in the rules this year adds another layer of intrigue to the toss - you not only have to decide who will win the toss, but what they will do when they win it. It's not as hard as it seems, though - given the chance to defer, it's quite likely that they will.

Here's a truly bizarre stat - the NFC team has won the last 11 straight coin tosses. That seems unlikely, but it has happened. Now all you have to do is figure out if the streak will continue, or if the AFC is due. If you are having trouble deciding then maybe you should flip a coin.

The Giants broke an ugly trend last year when they became the first team since Tampa Bay five years earlier to win both the coin toss and the game. The loser of the coin toss has won nine of the last 12 Super Bowls, so you might want to cheer against your team in this case. Or maybe that means that the winner of the flip should choose to kick it away, because the first possession doesn't seem to give the edge that it should logically. On a longer-term view, though, the coin toss doesn't seem to matter. The winners of the toss have won 20 of the 42 games, so it's essentially not a determining factor at all. It's streaky, though - the winners of the toss were 17-13 in the first 30 games, before going 3-9 since.

After reading this NFL piece head over to our Bet Football Conference winners page. If you plan on betting NFL you'll also want to read our NFL Season Win Total Predictions page. Our NFL Preseason Betting Tips page is also a valuable tool for your NFL research. For more NFL articles and free picks visit our homepage and view the "Doc's Daily Medicine" section.

The Cardinals have never been in a Super Bowl, so they obviously have never called a Super Bowl coin toss. They'll be inexperienced, but they are still much better at it than the Steelers. Pittsburgh has won just one coin toss in six tries, and that was way back in their first try. They are 4-1 when they have lost the toss, though, so maybe they should be cheering for the Cardinals. Pittsburgh is the designated road team this year, as the AFC always is in odd numbered years, so it will be down to them to call the toss.