Half time betting
Half time betting
Imagine that you are settling in to watch the Super Bowl, and after days of handicapping you think you have it figured out: the Saints are favored by six points and you are convinced they are going to cover. At the half, the Saints are winning by 10 points, and the sports books offer a pick em for the second half. From the way things have been going in the first half, the Saints are the right side for the second half.
The art of half time betting is very tricky, and a fine line for a sports bettor to straddle. On one hand, you can really capitalize on what you may perceive as a soft line. However, you may also find yourself frustrated and chasing a losing bet. The worst case scenario of half time betting, though, is losing both sides.
Scenario A – The Saints win by less than 10 points. You break even as your overall bet wins but your second half bet loses.
Scenario B – The Saints win by 11 or more points. You not only win your original bet, but you also double up on the Saints’ second half performance.
Scenario C – The Saints lose. Now, not only have you lost your second half bet, but you have also lost your original bet, and are down twice as much as you would have been if you had not touched the half time line.
While Scenario B is optimal and Scenario A is not even too bad, Scenario C can be disastrous. A loss can send you off betting on a random game that you have not researched and instead find yourself deeper and deeper into the hole, throwing money management out the window and trying to make up for your losses.
The best way to capitalize on a soft line for the second half is to really take into consideration how the first half has played out. If your team was favored by seven points but is down seven points because of a few fluke fumbles or kicks returned for touchdowns, you might want to consider betting on them for the second half. In essence, if your team has been outplaying their opponents but have gotten unlucky so far, it might be a good time to put a little more on the second half line.
Often, sports books will put up a line after the first half has been lopsided thinking that the game will even itself out in the second half. If the Saints are blowing out their opponents by 35 in the first half, they will likely take their foot off the gas in the second half and may even allow the other team to outscore them. To beat the second half lines, you have to think like a coach. Coaches will not go for a touchdown if their team is up 21 points late in the game, even if you need them to score to cover the point spread.
