Have you ever heard a word that VALUE BETTING and value odds? Value betting is important knowledge to increase your profit from online sports betting.
If you have never heard it, learn about the Value-Betting here, and find the most valuable odds online.
About bookmakers “odds”
Bookmakers make the “odds” or “prices” for thousands and thousands of bets, lines and markets for many different sports for teams and individual players to win, draw or lose a match, event or a win a special achievement.
Because of this, they will sometimes offer odds that are higher than the other bookmakers – they do this because they want to attract more customers and get more people to bet on that market, event, team or player.
Sometimes the bookmakers make simple mistakes on a special event, game or match and will offer very good odds for a quite probable result.
We often forget that the “Odds makers” (the people who make the odds) are humans and will make mistakes sometimes.
Bookmakers and odds makers also use statistics to help choose the odds they offer.
They will also change the odds depending on how much money that they have taken for a particular result and they may want to “cover” their outlay.
Bookmakers also bet with other bookmakers!
This helps bookmakers increase profits for themselves, cover potential losses and can push rival bookmakers to lower their odds making them less attractive to customers.
So what is a value bet?
Because bookmakers are doing all of these things with their odds they sometimes offer odds which offer very good “value”.
Something we call a value bet. A value bet is when the odds offered on the result are VERY attractive and offer VALUE – that is – the result may not happen but if it does it will pay out more than it really should.
For example
Manchester United vs Fulham
Let’s look at the (imaginary) odds for this (imaginary) FA CUP fixture:
Manchester United to Win 1/3
Draw 7/2
Fulham to Win 6/1
In this example the “value” bet is for Fulham to win at 6/1.
This is a simple example of a value bet. It offers “value” because:
・There are only 3 possible results for a football match – a win, a draw and a loss.
・That means that the real possible outcome for Fulham to win is a 1 in 3 chance.
・The odds offered here show a 1 in 6 chance of the result being a Fulham win.
・The bookmakers are basically offering twice the odds on a 1 in 3 chance.
Other things can also add to a “value” bet:
Imagine Manchester United must play Barcelona in a Champions League Quarter Final match on the Wednesday after the Sunday FA Cup game, because of this, maybe:
・Manchester United will not play their strongest team for this match because they will want to “rest” some players.
・Maybe they have two star players suspended and another injured.
・Maybe Fulham are top of their division and their striker is top goal scorer in the league.
When considering these other factors the odds of 6/1 to win become even more attractive.
If you also look at the correct score market you might like 14/1 on 1-0 to Fulham, because if Fulham do win it is most likely to be 0-1 isn’t it?
Where can I find “Value” bets?
Value bets can be found anywhere in any markets. However, of course, you need to look out for them.
It also helps if you have some good knowledge about the sport, event, team or individual that you are betting on.
Value bets are also identified by knowing who or what NOT to gamble on too!
The following are markets where you can find “Value” often.
Football(Soccer)
Top goal scorer each way bets
To reach a Cup final (any country) – have a look at finalists from the last ten years!
To Win the FA Cup - (pick from top 6 Premier League teams)
To Win Championship / League 1 / League 2 - These always provide value especially each way
To Win European Championships – Denmark, Greece, Portugal for example
To win away football games – especially by a correct score of 1-0
Corners Markets - Plenty of value bets here - see also our Corner Betting guide for more information
Cricket
To win Cricket World Cup in any format
Top batsman in Cricket tests
To be top batsman and top wicket taker doubles (parlays)
F1
To win the race each way – The two best drivers often have very short odds leaving a lot of value for 2nd and 3rd place finishes for the rest – the number of crashes and problems cars have often means outsiders always have a chance.
The weather the safety car and mistakes in the pit-lane also determines race finishing positions.
Ice Hockey
Ice hockey games offer great value – especially if you can find good doubles (parlays), there are also fantastic value bets in the correct score markets – remember a score of 1-0 is just as likely as a score of 4-3 – unlike in football betting.
Horse Racing
This is where you can find real value however you must learn the sport, the tracks, the conditions, the stables, the jockeys etc.
However in Antepost betting you can find great value up to a year before a race.
Where a horse maybe 20/1 or 33/1 just three months before a race and is 7/1 at the start of the race. The earlier you place your bet the more value you will get.
Rugby
There is plenty to be found in handicap betting markets in rugby.
Final Word
To find the good value, it is important for you that researching well about a sport that you want to bet.
And of course, you have to open some betting accounts to compare the odds. Once you know what is the value betting, and how to find a value odds, you will be able to find good value in every market and every time.
It means your profit will increasing more and more. Good luck!
