Winning, losing or being tied isn’t everything when it comes to betting!

You probably know from the days of the “betting bus” that you can bet on correct results, but also on goal scorers or even the first or last goal scorer in a game. The age of live betting has expanded such props even further and you can now bet on pretty much anything during a match: number of corner kicks, which team will have more throw-ins, will there be a yellow or red card for a particular player, which team sees yellows more often , which team sees red first, who kicks off, which coach decides to make a change first. The possibilities are almost unlimited, also thanks to the many bookmakers in the world of sports betting. Those who like it are certainly at an advantage due to the abundance of bets – I’m personally not a fan of such bets, but lately I’ve discovered interesting types of bets that can be placed BEFORE a game and are often very valuable.

HANDICAP BETTING

Handicap bets are no longer a “special” type of bet. Pretty much everyone who has ever dealt with sports betting has played one. For those who don’t know what that term means: Handicap bets are bets in which one of the two teams goes into the game with a (fictitious) goal advantage. Assuming you are playing Barcelona – Valencia Handicap 0:1 Tip 1, this means that Barcelona would need to win by two goals for you to win your bet. If Barcelona wins the game 2-0, you win your bet (2-1 bet result). If Barcelona only wins 1-0, you would have had to bet X on a 0-1 handicap to win. For your bet, the game actually ended 1:1….

So where can you play handicap betting? Handicap win bets are mostly played when you expect a team to win by two or more goals. Suppose you are only given odds of 1.40 for a normal home win for team XY, but believe that the team is strong enough to beat the opponent by two or more goals, then take a look at the odds for the handicap win. But the same applies to handicap bets: analyze every game carefully, no matter how clear it looks. Every team behaves differently at different scores. Study the club schedules. Is it possible that the favorite you handicap outright bet on when the score is 2-0 is resting important players, taking it down a notch and maybe conceding a stupid goal? Yes, that can always happen!

You get even higher odds if you bet on a Handicap X. To do this, the team with the “handicap” (i.e. the team with the fictitious goal conceded from minute 1) must win the game by one goal. If you succeed, you will get odds between 3 and 4. You can risk such a bet if you think that one of the two teams has an advantage and you think that team will win – but not by a large margin . However, the odds for such bets are high for a reason, because it is not so easy to predict such an event. This can be illustrated using the goal bet. 4:3 or 5:4 victories are known to be the exception in football. But even predicting a 1:0, 2:1 or 3:2 correctly will not be possible in the majority of games. Still, the Handicap X is an interesting bet to always keep in mind – or rather, keep an eye on the odds. But as explained in the first part of the tutorial, before you place a handicap bet, you should consider whether you would have quoted the odds differently yourself.

WHAT IS “DNB”?

“DNB” stands for Draw No Bet. Here you are not given three odds for win, draw or loss, but only two: win or lose. The odds on these events are of course lower than 3-way bets, but in return you don’t lose your money in the event of a tie, you get your stake back. Especially in games where you have a favorite but there is an imminent danger of a tie, it is sometimes better to forego the slightly higher odds and not lose money in the event of a tie.

A similar bet is the “Double Chance”. It works almost exactly the same, with the difference that there are three options: 1X, 2X or 12. So if you bet 1X, it means that you win on a home win or a draw and lose your money on an away win. For bet 12, home win or away win, you absolutely need a win to win your bet. In the event of a tie, you lose your bet.

WHAT DOES B2S MEAN?

B2S stands for “both to score” – you can only bet on YES or NO, so there are only two possible outcomes. If you bet YES, you win your bet if both teams score at least one goal. If you guess NO, you win if the game ends “to a clean sheet” or even a goalless score.

OVER/UNDER BETS

With the “Over” and “Under” bets you can bet on how many goals will be scored in a match. For example, if you bet on “over 2.5”, you win your bet if the third goal is scored. If only two goals are scored, you lose. Of course, the whole thing also works the other way around: you win an “under 2.5” bet if only two goals are scored – if the third goal is scored, you lose. And these bets can be played in all possible constellations: under 1.5, over 3.5, under 3.5, over 6.5… and so on!

Before placing over/under bets, it is advisable to look at the last direct duels between the opponents. Are the goals scored in the direct duels of the teams rather many or few? How do these stats compare to other games between teams? And then it’s back to analyzing! The strongest attacking team will not score many goals if the best forward and the assist king are missing. The worst defense is unlikely to score many goals if the opposition’s offense isn’t shooting well or a key player is missing.

With over/under bets, I like to risk a bit more myself. Let’s say I get odds of 1.50 on an Over 2.5: If I bet €10 on it I would get €15 back if the result is right. The €5 net win I would win on an over 2.5 I like to bet on an over 3.5 for which I am getting odds of 2.40. If exactly three goals are scored, I fold at face value: €15 bet, €15 return, clear round. But if a fourth goal is scored (and as we all know, anything is possible in football), I get €27 back for a €15 stake. This may not always be the wisest solution, but it makes sense for certain games. It also always depends on how much is at stake in a game. Do teams end up throwing everything forward when they need another goal? Do teams usually take the risk of a counterattack? You should always keep in mind with this variant that you also have a higher risk than if you only play a single over/under bet. You always have to decide for yourself whether the respective bet is worth the risk for you.

These were some basic “special bets” that you should know when deciding to place a bet. There are of course many others, for example the famous “Asian Handicap” which was a bit of a puzzle even for me as a beginner, but is in fact a very simple matter. More on that in the next part of the tutorial!