Betting Guide: Value Betting Explained

In this guide we’re going to talk about value betting and will give you an understanding about what it is.

Value betting basically means when you believe that a certain team/player will perform better than their odds suggest. Value betting doesn’t always mean betting underdog, but more of betting against the bookies predictions when you potentially know about an event more than them or if they made a mistake when it comes to placing the odds on the event.

Bookies tend to normally be very knowledgeable, however even they tend to make mistakes and aren’t always correct 100% of the time. Sometimes they tend to give a team lower odds to win due to their recent performances without knowing that the opposition may be making a comeback and as a bettor your job is to predict the team that are labelled as the underdog to win the game to surprise the bookies with a win thus making your potential returns larger due to the higher odds.

Big time teams like the Boston Celtics, Real Madrid etc. tend to have a big reputation with star players and big fanbases and normally the bookies instinctively place them as the favourites to win, however if the bookies were to place huge odds like 10.00 against Real Madrid losing a game, but you were convinced that they’d lose you would place your bet against them and if you were to win your potential returns would be massive compared to the stake and that is what value betting is.

A good example of value betting would be when Leicester City played Chelsea in the 2015-16 season at home and were tipped as home underdogs at 3.40 whereas Chelsea were offered to win at 2.25 they came away with a 2-1 win and during that time Chelsea were defending champions, but were going through the roughest patch of form in about 2 decades whereas Leicester were making a shock title push and were on red hot form. With your knowledge that Leicester were on form and Chelsea were struggling prior to that game, you would place a bet on Leicester at higher odds which was a high value pick and in the end people that did make that bet came away with a big win.

The best way to learn to be successful is to have a deep knowledge about teams or players from top to bottom that you’re betting for or against. It may take some time to learn about each team, players etc. however with improved knowledge you now have a chance to outsmart the best online bookmakers. Best way to start is when the season hits the ground running because that is when you get a sense of how each team, players perform against each other and what to expect going forward, which teams will hit peak form, which teams will continue to struggle. It’s also key to make sure to be up to date with all the team news like trades, transfers and injuries because that always has a huge effect on teams and games.

Tipsters sometimes tend to mention in their picks what the real odds should be for certain games and it’s up to you to determine whether it’d make sense to place a bet on the odds given or wait for them to change LIVE or to avoid completely.

In the end it’s up to you whether you’re up to taking the risks with value betting because although there’s no guarantees there is a definite chance for you to make a large profit and it makes betting much more interesting.