How to Become a Sports Handicapper

Handicapping sports can be a very fun hobby. It can also turn out to be very lucrative. The most important part is first learning how to handicap correctly. I have been able to turn sports betting into a nearly full-time source of income. For others it can be a good way to have fun on the weekends.

Having a hobby that makes money is always a good thing! Some will say that "sports betting" is exactly that "betting" or "gambling". The same can be said with investing in stocks or really any other business for that matter. It's all a risk, but first you must make your calculations and see if the rewards out weigh the benefits.

Betting sports successfully is all about information, like all things. Knowing how to research is key. Luckily the internet is great for research. Chances are if you are reading this article you know how enough about computers to research sports or find a good betting system. You will want to look at the top sports websites that have stats on current teams and stats on previous games.

The most common type of bet, a bet "against the spread" is one in which one team must win by a certain amount of points for the bet to be a winner. This is to ensure that there is plenty of action on both sides of the bet. It is rare that any Sportsbook will have both teams as equals (often called even money). One team is the favorite and the other the underdog. The Sportsbooks requires the favorite team to not only win the game but also win by a certain amount of points.

When betting the spread you will often pay Interest or Juice to the book in the form of adjusted odds (most commonly -110 meaning you must bet $110 to win $100). The bettor is indeed charged a fee to make a spread bet. This supplement is commonly known as juice however most professional handicappers will only bet using point spreads as it is the "safer" in most cases. The sports books move the lines according to how the betting action is occurring. Their goal is to pay as many bets as are lost and keep the "juice".

These are all basics you must learn when attempting to bet successfully. All the words and terms may at first seem like a lot to comprehend, but you will learn more and more and you go!