Being a sports handicapper could put you in a pretty unique position as a sports bettor. Sports punting is pretty widespread and plenty of people all over the world bet on their favorite sports every day. Some do it casually while others have made it a way of life. Sports handicappers, though, are a cut above the rest.
The term handicapper, specific to sports betting, refers to someone who does deep analysis into sporting events in order to give themselves an advantage over the bookmakers. Pretty much anyone could become a handicapper and, whether you’d like to take it on in a professional fashion is up to you. There are both pro and amateur handicappers making bets on various sports every day. The former typically spends hours looking into figures, statistics, and just about anything that might give them an edge.
Serious handicappers take many things into account before betting on a particular event. Previous performances, injuries, player form, home and away stats, the ease or tightness of a schedule, and back-to-back games all form part of the analysis. Some even develop their own models to make this easier.
While many handicappers keep their findings to themselves, a great deal of them share their tips online. Sports analysis isn’t the only thing handicappers focus on, finding the best odds and deals could also offer the leg up. There are countless betting sites available online, with outlets like Youwager review among the most reputable.
Handicappers come in different forms. One group, referred to as “generalists,” dip into a number of sports and bet on whatever is happening at the time. But most handicappers specialize and focus on just one or two sports as it allows them to spend more time doing research.
Sports are seasonal events, with most campaigns lasting 8-9 months a year in professional leagues. Of course, this isn’t ideal for handicappers, especially if betting happens to be their chief source of income. One sport might be enough if there are off-season tournaments available. Take football, for example, you can almost always find international activity afoot after clubs break off for the summer. The World Cup comes about every four years but there’s also the Euros, which comes around every four years too but never the same year as the World Cup. Football handicappers can also get by on pre-season football, leaving them with enough to bet on while the official club season lies dormant.
You could find very profitable handicappers in both groups so it’s hard to say which group is better but specialists are likely to find more success as they could narrow their focus and concentrate on just one or two sports, which leaves them with more time to understand everything that goes into them.
Other groups will rely on data scraped by models they’ve developed themselves. While those are not foolproof, many of them are pretty accurate most of the time.
Yet another group makes their picks based on opinion. This does not mean that they simply guess – they still do the research. The difference is they prefer not to have systems guide their hands.
Handicappers take on just about every type of bet there is to make but some stick to particular types such as Money line, Over/Under, and Parlay Picks.
You might not have the time to put into handicapping yourself. Fortunately, you could make some decent money following a handicapper. Tailing a handicapper could leave you in just as great a position as the handicapper as you could take advantage of the many hours of analysis. This practice works out well for folks who, as mentioned above, simply don’t have the time. Also, they might not have the resources or know where to look, or they could just be new to betting.
There are plenty of tipsters offering free advice online but it’s worth making sure they have a winning track record. If you find one of those, they could have you ride in the green for years.
You could also find great handicapping guides online but we have a bit of advice right below that could set you on your way.
Mainly, do the research. The quicker you come to realize what you already know will get you nowhere when it comes to sports betting, the better. Every single game is different and, though anything can happen once that whistle blows, there are lots of factors leading up to any game that can give you a better chance of making the correct choice. You might decide to bet on a sport because you enjoy watching it but, once money gets involved, it pays to do your homework.
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