How to Create a Betting Chart
A sports betting chart can be a useful tool for the serious bettor who is trying to gain an edge on the sports book. A betting chart will alert you to how the gambling line is moving. This is typically a very valuable piece of information for the sports gambler. When the line moves towards the favorite, it generally means that more people are expecting that team to cover the spread. Charting those public moves is a key step in doing your own research for a sporting event.
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Instructions
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Take note of the opening line when it comes out on Sunday nights during the football season. The betting cycle in football lasts one week. As soon as the games are over on Sunday during the football season, the sports books in Las Vegas and the online casinos come out with their betting lines on the following week's games. This is called the opening line.
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Chart how the line moves in the first 24 hours. This can be very significant. The gambling line is devised by oddsmakers who are not trying to tell you who the better team is; instead that line is put together with the idea of dividing the money that is bet on both teams. When the line moves by a point or more in the first 24 hours, it indicates that the public favors one team or the other quite a bit. For example, if the Packers open as four-point favorites over the Bears and 80 percent of the public is betting the Packers, the line could move to 5 or 5 1/2 points within 24 hours.
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Pay attention to all injury and personnel moves made by the team as the week progresses. This could be a key influence on the betting line. For example, a player may have been injured on the previous Sunday and he did not participate in the Wednesday practice session, so the line may move against that team. When charting the action, make note of the key player who did not participate. A player may have missed practice but that does not mean he will miss the game. As the line moves towards the other team, the team with the injured player may prove to be the better team to wager on.
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Check out the line moves late in the week. This is when the so-called "smart money" is bet on the games. Smart money is defined as really big bets from professional gamblers who are respected by the sports book oddsmakers. You can get this information from an online service called SportsInsights.com that details all big-money line moves.
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Compare the final line with your own handicapping of the game. This is how gamblers find value. If the Packers end up as six-point favorites over the Bears, but your research and handicapping tells you the Packers should be no more than two-point favorite, you will get four more points on the Bears than the line indicates. That means that a bet on the Bears would have great value and should be considered a strong play.
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Tips & Warnings
The point spread in gambling is a tool to determine winning and losing in betting. When a team is a five-point favorite over its opponent, it must win the game by six points or more for the individual to get paid for betting on that team. If you bet on the underdog, that team must lost by four points or less (or win the game outright) for you to win your bet. If the favorite wins by five points exactly, it is called a push and the bettors get their money back.
