Betting doesn't have to be all about picking a winner. In
fact, a lot of bettors do very well while only rarely betting on one
team or another. Instead they bet on totals, doing something that is
also called over / under betting. Basically, over / under betting is
betting on the number of points, runs or goals the two teams in a game
are going to combine to score.
How it works is pretty simple. The oddsmakers will set a total for each
game. The job of the bettor is to decide if the two teams involved in
the game are going to score more points than the total (or 'go over'),
or score fewer than the total (or 'go under'). Typically, the price for
either the under or the over is -110, which means that a bettor would
have to bet $110 to make a profit of $100 on a winning bet. The
bookmakers can adjust that price if bettors are betting too much on one
side and not enough on the other.
Over / under betting is usually available for every game in the NBA,
MLB, NFL, and pretty much every other sport. They all
work the same basic way, though the totals are obviously much higher
for the NBA than they are for football, and higher for the NFL than
baseball. Each sport also requires a slightly different approach to be
successful.
We'll start with the NFL because it's the most popular sport to bet on
in North America. The totals in football can vary wildly over the
course of a season - you can see totals in the low 30s or the high 50s
depending upon the teams involved. Successful over / under betting in
the NFL requires the consideration of many factors that can affect the
score of a game including the quality of the offenses and defenses of
both games, how the offenses match up with the opposing defenses, the
health of the key starters for both teams, the form that the two teams
have, whether the game is played indoors or out, the weather and wind
conditions of the game, what has historically happened when the two
teams play, and more. Some teams have a tendency to go under more often
than most, and they will consequently face generally low totals.
Others, like the Colts in their prime, score a ton of points and don't
play a lot of defense, so they face much larger totals and tend to go
over more often.
Over / under betting in the NBA is harder because it deals with much
bigger numbers, but it has the benefit of having fewer factors to worry
about. Totals can, at times, be well over 200 for a game if both teams
are offensive minded, though much lower totals are also possible in
defensive battles. There are fewer player matchups to worry about in
basketball than football, and you don't have to worry about things like
weather, wind or field conditions. You also have the advantage of
seeing teams play many more games than in football, so more significant
trends can emerge. That doesn't mean that over / under betting in the
NBA is easy, but for some people it works well.
Betting the over / under in baseball takes a very different mindset
than the previous two sports. The totals are usually so low - typically
between five and 12 - that one run can make a big difference. Many of
the same things are applicable to baseball as to football, but by far
the single biggest factor . A team can very likely allow just a run or
two if they have a top ace on the mound, while the same team could be
likely to allow several runs if they are forced to start a fifth
starter or a pitcher from the bullpen or the minors if they have injury
problems.
Over / under betting is also almost always available on soccer , football and basketball. The same basic factors are involved in college
as the pros, though the totals are often higher in college football
than the NFL, and always lower in college basketball than the NBA
because they play shorter games. In college basketball the style of
play is also more of a factor because the same team is sometimes
capable of scoring 50 points or 90 in a game depending upon their style
and the style of their opponents. NHL bettors can also bet totals, and
they have to focus on the quality of the goaltenders as they play such
a huge role in hockey.
