- What Is Over And Under In Football Betting Sites
- What Is Over And Under In Football Betting Odds
- What Is Over 3.5 In Football Betting
Football over/unders are one of the simplest type of football bets you can make. A sportsbook takes a particular game and predicts what the total score of both teams will be. Then you, as a bettor, can now bet whether that score will be over or under the predicted number. If it is higher than the posted number, then ‘over’ wins. If it is lower than that predicted number, then ‘under’ wins.
Common Totals
Some of the most common total scores you will see in football are 37 and 41. In fact, these are the most common scores in the last 10 years in the National Football League (NFL). In a game where the total is 37, you will likely see a score of 20-17 or 27-10. In a game where the total is 41, you will likely see a score of 21-20. Of course, total scores could differ considerably from 37 and 41. Compared to baseball and soccer, football has a lot more points scored in a game and the totals could differ considerably. Thus, you can see a total score as high as 55 or as low as 24, although those totals are not very common.
That ‘certain number’ is the NFL over under or total. Much like the point spread, oddsmakers set the total and invite you bet over or under. For example, if the Giants vs Cowboys game has an over under value of 45.5 and the final score is 30-17, then OVER bettors win (because 30+17 = 47 which is greater than 45.5). Here is a quick guide to over under betting in different sports. Over Under in Baseball When you’re betting on totals in baseball, you’ll likely see numbers anywhere from 6.5-12 for the most part. Betting preview for the Jan. 3, Week 17 NFL game between the Washington and Eagles. For each over or under 2.5 goals prediction, you can find regularly updated odds from multiple bookmakers in the form of returns per stake. Just click/press on the links here to make your bets. For info about all the other football bets and categories predictions available here please see the free predictions & football betting tips page.
* Please see illustration below to help understand over/under bets, text explanation follows.
Calculating Over/Under Bets
Let us say Baltimore Ravens are playing against Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. Our recommended online sportsbook predicts that the total score of the two teams will be 37 points in this game. The odds will look like this:
37.5 total score
Over (-125)
Under (+105)
In this case, if you are betting that the total score will be over 37, then you will need to bet $125 in order to win $100. The (-) sign shows that this is a likely outcome –a favorite outcome on this type of game or specific match-, so you have to pay more to win less. If you are betting that the total score will be 37 points or less, then you would only need to bet $100 to win $105. The (+) sign shows that this is a less likely outcome –the underdog in this situation-, so you actually get better odds here and have to pay less to win more.
A “Push” and a Concept Of ‘0.5’
The ‘0.5’ element is used so that you can have a possibility of betting that the score will be exactly 37 or lower. So, if ‘0.5’ is not used and the score ends up being 37 points, then a “push” happens – which is when nobody wins and a sportsbook has to return the bets. Sometimes though, you will see over/under bets without the half-point element.
Tips and Strategies to Help You Win
Generally speaking in football betting, totals are one the easiest markets to beat. This is because much like football prop wagers a lot additional factors are involved. You see almost every handicapper starts with a simple system that “uses points” for and “points allowed” weighed against league averages for both teams to come up with a number and then starts making adjustments. The adjustments are however heavily researched and also subjective. For example if you’re seeing the Patriots should beat the Rams by 13.5 points this might be a game where the total needs be inflated, if you also notices the Patriots rarely let up once having a lead, and tend to play a lot of prevent defense at the end of the game.
Other adjustments that can be made relate to weather; an important factor is wind. Strong wind can make it harder for players to run and score touchdowns. It will not make a job of defenders much harder though as they typically do not have to run as much, but it will for the quarterback’s throw If anything. Thus, strong winds might help to lower the total scores of the teams. On the other hand, snow and rain will not affect the score as much. It might slow down offensive players, but it will also affect defensive players. Both types of players can slip and make mistakes in those weather conditions. Thus, it will not be as predictable when it comes to rain and snow.
Really the best at handicapping totals are the bettors who best get inside the coach’s heads and understand tendencies. John Fox and Jeff Fisher coached teams are not going to score as many points as a favorite as other teams will, due to their much more conservative and by the book approach. These are coaches that would much rather attempt to pin an opponent deep than attempt a long field goal and risk field position should they miss. Also they’re much more likely to take the 3 points in a close game than to go for it on a high probability 4th and an inch from the 15. I could go on and on and on some more about this topic but by now I’m sure you’re getting my point. Much deeper analysis is needed than simple math.
Best Way to Beat Football Totals
Perhaps the best way to beat football totals is to realize for reasons covered in my article on Fade the Public, the betting markets at PinnacleSports.com (No US Players) are pretty close to efficient. From here what you should know is that a lot of amateur bettors tend to bet on the ‘over’. They typically expect and hope for an interesting game with a lot of points. As a result, even though betting markets are efficient, you’ll find US friendly recreational sportsbooks such as www.bovada.lv often shading the line such a way that the under becomes the much better bet.
Finally, perhaps the best way to profit from totals is to use them in correlated parlays. Please understand though, in all but rare cases totals should not be used in football teasers. However, as you can read about in my article on parlays there are times where parlaying a total with a spread make absolutely great sense.
Author & Professional: Jim Griffin
An over–under or over/under (O/U) bet is a wager in which a sportsbook will predict a number for a statistic in a given game[1] (usually the combined score of the two teams), and bettors wager that the actual number in the game will be either higher or lower than that number.[2][3] For example, in Super Bowl XXXIX, most Las Vegascasinos set the over–under for the score of the game at 46.0. A bettor could wager that the combined score of the two teams would be either more than or less than that number. Since the combined score of that game was 45, anyone who had bet on 'under' won.
Initial and final value[edit]
The goal of a sportsbook is to have an equal value of bets on both sides of the over–under. In theory, this means that the manager could set the value at zero and then re-adjust based on either the number of incoming bets and/or events that influence the potential outcome. In practice, the initial value is based on both quantitative (e.g. win–loss record, average points per game, etc.) and anecdotal information (e.g. media reports, injury status of players, etc.).
As with other types of bets where the odds of either outcome are meant to be even, the vigorish (or 'vig') is typically set at or about 5% of the total wager. Using American odds, this will result in both outcomes initially being quoted at -110 (i.e. bettors must risk $110 to win $100). If the amount bet on both outcomes is exactly even, using such odds would result in the sportsbook earning $5 in gross profit for every $110 wagered.
Of course, bettors will not necessarily risk the same amount of money on both outcomes every time. In such circumstances, there are two ways a sportsbook can mitigate the risk. The first is to adjust the O/U while keeping the odds of both at -110. For example, if the O/U for a football game is set at 45.5 and the action heavily favors the 'over' then the O/U could be adjusted to 46.5 to encourage bettors to take the 'under.' The risk here is that the sportsbook could lose a lot of money by being 'middled' - using the aforementioned example, if the final combined score is 46 then the sportsbook would be obligated to pay both the initial bettors who bet 'over' and the later bettors who bet 'under.'
The other method to mitigate risk is to adjust the odds on the initial O/U, which is slightly more complicated but eliminates the risk of being 'middled.' In the aforementioned example, the 'under' could be adjusted to -105 while the 'over' is changed to -115 (meaning bettors would have to risk $105 and $115 respectively to win $100) in order to make the original 'under' proposition more attractive (and the 'over' less so) to bettors. In actual scenarios, even adjustments of -100 (i.e. 'even money') and -120 are common place as sportsbooks typically endeavor to maintain steady margins and minimize risk.
Statistics[edit]
Though this bet is most commonly made with the combined score of the two teams, many other statistics can be used, including:
- In American football, a player's or team's total rushingyards or attempts, down conversions (first or third), interceptions, completions, field goal percentage, etc.
- In basketball, a player's or team's total assists, blocks, turnovers, steals, etc.
- In baseball, a player's or team's total number of home runs, RBIs, etc.
Dice[edit]
A variant of overunder betting, known as Under Over, is a dice game played at various festivals. The object of the game is to predict whether the dice will roll to a total of under 7, over 7, or at 7. The game is typically played with 2 dice.
What Is Over And Under In Football Betting Sites
A player typically places a wager on one of three spaces. These spaces are:
- Under 7 (usually pays 1–1)
- Over 7 (usually pays 1–1)
- 7 (usually pays 4–1)
For instance if one bets one dollar on under and the dealer rolls under, they gain a dollar as well as get their dollar back. If the dealer rolls a seven and one bets on it, they make four dollars. Once all the bets have been placed the attendant closes the betting board with a screen and then puts the dice through the chute. Players then get paid accordingly.
One variation of Under Over involves foam dice, two of which are thrown in the middle of the players; in another variation, two balls are thrown into a giant wheel consisting of twelve spaces of numbers ranging from 1–6. No wire fence is used to block the bets in that case.
What Is Over And Under In Football Betting Odds
References[edit]
- ^Kochan, M. (2013). Secrets of Professional Sports Betting. Cardoza Publishing. p. 12. ISBN978-1-58042-438-7. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
- ^Williams, L.V.; Siegel, D.S. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Gambling. Oxford Handbooks in Economics Series. OUP USA. p. 205. ISBN978-0-19-979791-2.
- ^Fodor's Las Vegas 2015. Full-color Travel Guide. Fodor's Travel Publications. 2014. ISBN978-0-8041-4300-4.