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What Does it mean? Doc's Sports How-To Sports Betting Library

Be sure to read our Sports Betting Terms Explained.

tug of war


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

I'm sure all you all know what a tie is in sports - when two teams or individuals finish a game with the same number of points, and there is no winner. Mercifully, it is pretty tough for ties to happen in most sports. In basketball and baseball they just keep playing until there is a winner. Hockey uses a shootout to end ties in the regular season, and plays until it's over in the playoffs. Football can have ties - at least in the NFL - but new overtime rules make it tougher all the time for one to actually happen. Only soccer consistently delivers ties - a contributing reason why it isn't as popular here as other sports.

robin bird


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

You can create a round robin in basketball by selecting anywhere from three to eight teams that you want to include in this wager. Once the teams are all selected, the bettor can choose to create combinations of parlays between two to six teams. The calculation for the number of bets you will place depends on the total number of teams you initially select for this round robin. Really, the round robin is just a shortcut offered by sportsbooks - you can make bets in bulk instead of having to make each bet separately.

parlay card


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

A progressive parlay operates much like a standard pointspread parlay, but with a twist - they are harder to lose. In a progressive parlay bettors choose between four and 12 teams. Like a standard parlay, bettors win and get a sizable return if they select all of the games correctly. Where these bets differ is that bettors also get a payout - albeit a much smaller one - if only most of their picks are correct. Typically, in 4-, 5- or 6-team progressive parlays you get paid with one wrong, while you can make two mistakes in 7-,8- or 9-team parlays and three with 10, 11 or 12 teams.

plus sign


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

At the start of each betting week or day the sportsbooks list the games they are taking action on - the rundown. Sometimes games that are being played aren't listed, and there are lines available - you can't bet on them. If there is enough public demand for action on that game, though, the books may choose to list odds for the game and start taking bets on it. That is an added game.

i love my bookie


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

When you hear someone use the term "bookmaker" they are referring to a more formal way of saying bookie. Throughout the years, we've come to believe that "bookmakers" represent illegal gambling and have a shady way of doing business. This isn't always the case. If you changed the word bookmaker (the common UK word) with the word "sportsbook" (common North American word), then it all of a sudden becomes a legitimate gambling avenue. Simply put, a bookmaker takes bets on sports and guarantees a return should your bet be successful.

beard


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

In real life a beard covers something up, perhaps hides something. And it often looks pretty stylish, too, if I may say so myself. The same is true in sports betting - minus the stylish part. A beard refers to a person who places a bet for someone else in order to conceal the identity of the real bettor.

Sportsbook Screen


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

If I could choose two super powers to have, one of them would definitely be a photographic memory. Think about it, whatever information you see, you can retain and use it at a later date and sound like an expert on the topic. A photographic memory would also be ideal in the sports betting industry. Not only could you remember lines and odds from previous games, but you could memorize your bets without needing to refer to your "wagering ticket" every five minutes - especially if you have a lot of bets going on at one time.

pie chart


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

The Albert Einstein definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. While that may be true in real life, in sports betting, if you can find an occurrence that repeats itself on a yearly, maybe even weekly basis, you stand to make a lot of money. Such occurrences in sports are called "trends" and they can be used to determine the best possible approach when thinking about future betting situations.

bookie


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

"Action" also has a special meaning for baseball bets. It means the wager counts no matter if there is a change in starting pitchers, because you are simply betting on the team. If a pitching change occurs after you place the bet and before the game starts, the bet still counts and the bettor will receive the new odds to reflect the change in pitchers. This has to be specified as an "action" bet at the time you place the wager.

Wilson Football.


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

The term "ATS" is an acronym for against the spread. ATS is one of the most commonly used non-words in sports betting. If you are betting ATS then you are making a bet involving a pointspread - as opposed to a moneyline bet, a totals bet, a proposition bet, or another type of exotic bet. You can bet ATS in football or basketball, and that is the most common way to bet. ATS betting is not typically available on baseball or hockey. You can also use ATS in regards to your record in bets against the spread.

calculator


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

Arbitrage is a concept that comes from the financial world. It means to look for price differences in two or more markets such that making deals in both markets at the same time guarantees a profit regardless of what happens next. Arbitrage in the sports betting world is a very powerful concept - the only way that you can be sure of making a profit while betting on sports. Arbitrage bets will also be known as arbs, or as surewins or surebets.

bookie


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

Generally speaking, when betting on sports, we are all at the mercy of the sportsbooks. Whatever lines or prices they put out, we must abide by them and decide if they are worth betting or not. Fortunately for bettors, there is a way around this and it comes in the form of "alternative lines." This option allows us to find a line we would like to bet and bet it. Easy, right? The setback to this is that the lines we choose typically come with very high odds, thus draining the bet of any real value.

crystal ball


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

In the sports betting industry, anyone can claim they are the "best" handicapper in the world. Unfortunately, majority of people making these claims casual bettors that work a 9-5 job and have no time to dedicate to handicapping games. They spend more time ripping up tickets more than they do cashing them. If you fall into that category, I recommend seeking the help of a professional bettor AKA "tout."

nfl pointspreads


by Doc's Sports - 10/10/2014

The term "against the spread", commonly referred to as ATS, is one of the more commonly used sports betting terms. To bet against the spread is simply to bet on a pointspread. Most commonly, you will talk of your record against the spread, which means the number of games you have bet in which the team you bet on covered the spread compared to the games in which the team did not cover.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

The underdog in sports betting is the team or individual that the odds suggest is less likely to win the game. Puppy and dog are two other slang words that refer to the underdog. You can have an underdog in any betting situation with at least two teams involved where you are somehow concerned with which teams wins, or how much teams win by - pointspread, moneyline, some exotics and so on.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

When teams play multiple games against another team consecutively, it is called a series. With knowledge fresh in your mind, it shouldn't be a shock that a series bet is a bet on which team will win a series. Series betting, which is a form of futures betting, is typically done in the form of a moneyline.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

The easiest way to understand vigorish is with a simple example. The standard price for a pointspread bet is -110, which means that you have to bet $110 to make a profit of $100. Let's say that $110 is bet on each team, and the favorite wins. The bet on the underdog is a loser. The bet on the favorite wins. The sportsbooks uses $100 from the losing underdog bet to pay the favorite bettor his profit. There is $10 left over. That profit for the sportsbook is called the vigorish.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

An underdog in sports betting is the team or individual deemed less likely - first by the linemakers and then by the betting public - to win the game. You can tell which team is the underdog either by looking at the pointspread or the moneyline - just look for the +. In the pointspread an underdog might be something like +3.5, which means that a bet on them wins if they win the game or lose by three or fewer games.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

One popular and common way to bet on sports is totals betting. The linemaker will set a total for a game - the number of points they expect will be scored by both teams combined in the game. Bettors then have two options. They can bet that the two teams will combine to score more points than the total - that they will go over. Or, they can bet the under - that the teams will combine to score fewer points than the total. You can bet the under in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, or pretty much any other sport with two teams and points of some sort.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

Much like in baseball where the traditionalists complain that the new wave of players are taking over and disrespecting the game, sports betting is slowly becoming geared to the younger generation of players. The demand for quick results and instant gratification have taken the sportsbooks by storm and sportsbook have replied by offering up more and more obscure bets. However, one of the simplest forms of betting has remained the same and that is betting the "total" for a particular game or event.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

The betting term "puppy" is slang to describe an underdog. A puppy can also be called a dog. Any of the phrases describes the team or individual that the odds suggest is likely to lose the game. For the purposes of sports betting the underdog is typically referred to in situations in which there are two teams involved, and you are somehow betting on who wins or how much they win by - the pointspread, moneyline, some exotics, and so on. The opposite of the puppy is the favorite.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

A lot can be learned from watching where smart money is being bet. When a team is getting a lot of attention from sharps then there is often a reason to take a closer look at it yourself. Some people will blindly bet teams that have heavy smart-money action, but that's going too far. Still, smart money can help guide you towards team worth investigating closer, or perhaps guide you away from teams you were considering a bet on but were lukewarm about.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

An underdog could be expressed, for example, as +7.5. That means that if the team wins the game, or loses by seven or fewer points, then those who bet on that team won. If they lose by eight or more points then the favorite has covered the spread, and those who bet on the underdog lose their money. You are said to take the points because the number of points in the pointspread become your advantage.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

If someone makes a "straight bet" it means a wager on just one team or individual. You can make a straight bet in the form of a side bet - either as a pointspread or moneyline bet - or as a bet on the total. The alternative to a straight bet would be the wide range of exotic bets you can choose from - everything from multi-team bets like parlays or teasers to the range of prop bets and futures bets you can choose from.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

The juice is the primary way that sportsbooks make money - the commission they take on bets. It is also commonly referred to as vigorish, or just vig. We'll use an example to see how the juice works. The standard price for a pointspread or total bet is -110. That means that you have to bet $110 to make a profit of $100 on both sides. Let's say that $1,100 is bet on each team, and the underdog covers the spread.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

It doesn't matter if you are a novice bettor just learning the ropes or a professional bettor that's seen everything in their 25 years in the business, at one time or another (more like several times in your life time) you will have to throw away a ticket in which a team failed to cover the point spread by a half point. It is one of the more frustrating losses in the industry, right next to the classic ninth-inning bullpen collapse in baseball. Some would say losing a bet by the hook is the bettors fault, not the actual players or coaches in the game, but I will get to that later in the article.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

The sports betting term "straight up" refers to a wager when the bettor only needs a team or individual to win a game or event outright without any regards to the pointspread. The most obvious example of a straight up bet is the moneyline. The rules there are simple - if you bet on a team and they win the game then you are a winner. If they lose then so do you.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/2/2014

If you hear the term combination bet in sports betting then you should immediately head to the pub and have a pint and some fish and chips because you are very likely in the United Kingdom. You can have as many pints as you want, too, because this isn't a tough concept to understand. A straight bet is a bet on the outcome of a single game.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/2/2014

The world of online sportsbooks is very competitive. To attract new customers, books will often offer incentives, or bonuses, for people to sign up. They could, for example, offer to match your first deposit up to $500 - if you deposit $500 they will give you $500 more. Someone who signs up for books primarily to receive the bonus, and who sign up at a lot of books chasing these bonuses, is called a bonus whore.

picture of a calculator.


by Doc's Sports - 10/2/2014

If someone calls you a degenerate gambler then they are not complimenting you. If you are a degenerate gambler then you need to step away from the betting window. A degenerate is someone who bets for the rush of the action above all else, and who isn't capable of making good, mathematically sound bets that have a long-term expectation of profit. In simpler terms, they are compulsive gamblers who are destined to go broke.

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