Betting Guides > Value betting and how to make a profit?

Value betting and how to make a profit

Now that you understand the gambling odds, it’s time to learn how to get the most out of every bet you play. It might take some time and some research on your part, but once you’ve demonstrated the value of the bet, you could be on your way to something epic.
Quite simply, value betting means that you believe for whatever reason that a particular team/player might perform better than the odds suggest.
Contrary to popular belief, value betting does not mean betting on the underdog, but rather betting against the perceived predictions of the bookmakers. They may have made a mistake or maybe simply because you know more than they do on this occasion.

Greatly Knowledgeable Bookmakers

Highly knowledgeable Bookmakers are not always right 100% of the time and often set their odds by a team’s recent scores and performance.
However, they may not take into account that a less popular team might make an effort to come back.
Your task when value betting is to accurately predict when that particular team might surprise the bookmaker with a win, beating the odds and increasing your returns.

High-level well-known teams

High-profile well-known teams around the world, such as Manchester United, New York Yankees and New England Patriots, have built a solid reputation and huge fan bases due to their winning streaks and superstar players. As such, they will win. But if the bookmaker offers odds of 20/1 (21.0 in the decimal system) for the Patriots to lose but you are convinced that they will face defeat, you place your wager accordingly – aka value betting.

For example:

In American football last year, one team, the Carolina Panthers, was unbeaten all season. The first match they lost was the title game, the Super Bowl. If you’d bet against an undefeated team like the Panthers using your own foresight and they lost the big game, you’d have won a lot. This is the value of betting on odds.

How to be successful in betting?

The best way to succeed is to develop solid and insightful knowledge about the teams or players you are betting for or against. It takes time and research to learn the ins and outs of your chosen teams or sports, but in doing so, you may gain an advantage over the bookmakers.
The best time to start, for obvious reasons, is at the beginning of the season. See how teams and players are performing against each other, try to figure out when a particular team might peak and also make sure you keep track of any changes in the team’s roster – players being traded, injured, retired, etc.
Bookmakers often state in their choices analysis that this bet is valuable and includes what they believe is the real odds.
This should help you see if it makes sense to place your bet on the odds that are currently available to you.
Value betting can work outside sports betting as well, so be sure to look for the same strengths and weaknesses in your opponents in games like poker.
Now that you’ve had value betting explained, it is entirely up to you whether or not to increase the risks you take in order to improve the rewards. There are no guarantees, but it certainly makes sports betting more interesting – not to mention profitable if you know what you’re doing.