What Does Sides Mean In Sports Betting and Wagering?
When it comes to pretty much any topic in life you will likely be on one side or the other. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Mustard on hotdogs, yes or no? Should a hot dog be considered a sandwich? And the list of yes or no questions goes on and on. However, these kinds of questions can be debated about until the cows come home and there really are no right or wrong answers. In sports betting, being on a particular side is usually black or white. You’re either on the right side and you win your bet, or you’re on the wrong side and lose it.
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What Does Sides Mean?
When you hear someone using the term “side” or “sides” they are referring to the two teams playing against each other in a particular game or event. The simplest example I can give you is if you are looking at an NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. If someone says they are playing a “side” in this game, it means they have a bet on one of these two teams to win the game. In terms of standard types of betting, people will refer to betting sides or betting totals – which we all know is a play on the “over/under” on a game.
How to Bet Sides
Since sides is a way to refer to betting one team over the other, there are multiple options when it comes to betting sides. For example, betting the point spread is the most common way to bet a “side” in football and basketball. However, the point spread is a wager on not only who will win the game, but how much a team will win or lose by.If you wanted to pick a “side” to win the game outright, you would take them on the money line. The problem with just picking a “side” in a point spread sport, is that you would receive a smaller payout for a favorite than you would for picking an underdog.
The money line wager is the most common wager in baseball and hockey, but is also used in sports like tennis, boxing and MMA. There are also options in hockey and baseball called the puck line and run line which is essentially the same bet as a point spread, but with a fixed line of -1.5.
Strategy for Betting Sides
Sure, betting “sides” and trying to determine which side is going to win sounds easy, but it is far from. The biggest mistake square bettors make when handicapping sides is that they always think the better team is going to win. If you’ve ever watched a sport for a couple of days, you will know that is not always the case.
The problem squares come across is when they bet a side on the money line and have to lay the price with the favorite. That price is often time not justifiable with the actually probability the team has to win the game outright. Because of this, you must be sure that there is value in the line before making any bet on any side in any sport.
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