What You Should Know About Prop Bets
The sports betting world has changed dramatically over the years with so many new and exciting ways to bet on different games. One type of wager that has become a lot more popular in recent seasons is the prop bet. Sometimes it’s a lot more fun to bet on how an individual player will perform than bet on the outcome of an entire game. When you play prop bets, you are pretty much locked in on the performance of an individual for better or worse. Here is a look at the optimal strategy to making prop bets.
What Are Prop Bets?
A prop bet is a bet that involves everything that doesn’t include the point spread, total or money line. Whether it’s betting on individual players, multiple players, teams or even things that have nothing to do with the actual games, there are plenty of different prop bets that are available for big events. For example, in the Super Bowl you can bet on everything from how many receiving yards a star wide receiver will have to how many touchdown passes a quarterback will throw. You can also bet on how long it will take the anthem singer from start to finish as well as what color of Gatorade will be poured on the winning coach at the end of the game. Prop bets don’t keep you from betting on the game outcomes. They just allow you to add to the excitement with individual bets.
How To Bet Props
The best strategy for betting props is to do your own research ahead of time, make your predictions and then compare them against the sportsbook numbers in order to figure out where the best value is.
For example, if you think that Tom Brady will throw three touchdown passes in the Super Bowl and the sportsbooks have set the line at 2.5 touchdowns, you can take the over. However, if you feel like Brady will struggle you can take the under 2.5 touchdown passes. The point is that before you even see the lines, you know what you are looking for and can determine value based off your expectations. That is the best approach to betting props.
How Sportsbooks Set The Lines
It’s important to keep in mind that the sportsbooks are following along just as closely as any member of the public. If the oddsmakers know that the public is leaning towards betting on a player like Stephen Curry to go off with a big game, then they might raise the total on his prop bet a little higher than it should be to try to bait the general public in to betting the Over anyways. At the same time, if there is a player prop that is somewhat flying under the radar then there could be good value betting on it. Just keep in mind that the sportsbooks know just as much or more than you do in most instances. Take that with a grain of salt. Be selective, do your shopping for the best lines and don’t get caught reaching on lines that are designed to take advantage of public betting bias.
