When many people bet on football, they target their favorite teams. They bet on their teams as a show of loyalty or because they think it can help them win. However, professional punters spend hours researching and analyzing statistics prior to placing bets.
The professional’s way of predicting football is the best way to go about it, but the process can be tedious and time-consuming. Crunching numbers, assessing each player, and searching for betting trends can be daunting. Fortunately, there are numerous tools and websites that can help you find profitable baseball, basketball, hockey or NFL betting picks.
This article will explain how betting picks work and how you can take advantage of them for a profitable sports betting experience in 2022.
What Are Betting Picks
Before explaining how betting picks work, it would be best that we first demystify the concept of betting tips.
Sports betting picks are typically play suggestions for different matches and events. Picks are often sold by handicappers or touts. You can also find free picks at capping sites. The same way anyone can become a betting handicapper, anyone can offer sports betting picks.
For instance, a friend can suggest that you bet on the New Orleans Saints +150 moneyline against Tampa Bay. In this case, your friend’s suggestion is considered a pick. When you come across picks online, it is probably because someone is selling their plays to the general public.
Professional touts and handicappers sell sports betting picks because they consider themselves experts at picking the best plays.
The Different Types of Sports Betting Picks
Betting picks come in all shapes and sizes. From multi-game parlays to single moneyline bets, you will never run out of options. Most capping sites offer picks covering all types of wagers. Below are the different forms of betting picks that you will find online:
Single Bets
These are arguably the easiest and most popular kinds of betting picks. Handicappers and touts select the teams that they believe have the best chance of winning matches or covering the stipulated spread.
Parlays
These are picks that allow you to wager on multiple matches on a single slip. However, for your parlay bet to pay out, every individual bet on the bet slip must win.
Parlay picks are popular and more appealing because they offer higher returns than single bets. On the flip side, the trade-off is that they are often less likely to win. You can use an odds calculator to see how parlays impact betting odds.
Teasers
Teasers are a special type of parlay bets where you can tweak the odds to favor you, but for a smaller payout. Like with an ordinary parlay bet, teasers spot opportunities on multiple events.
Same-Game Parlays
While most parlays entail making multiple bets on different matches, same-game parlays allow you a chance to make multiple bets on one match. It could be a combination of totals, spreads, prop bets, and a host of other wagers.
Are Betting Picks Free?
That will depend on where you are sourcing your sports betting picks. There are people who will charge you for betting picks, but others offer them free of charge.
You can easily find websites that offer the best value from your sports betting activities without charging you a dime. The problem with buying picks is that you are never guaranteed that the picks will payout.
Even if you win after buying betting picks, a portion of your bankroll will get eaten up. The top handicapping sites understand this dilemma. To make the experience worth your while, they invest in state-of-the-art data analysis technologies to bring you profitable odds.
Always Look for Value and Not Winners
This might sound illogical at first but hang in there. It makes absolute sense that you should not try to just pick winners but to establish value in the picks. This somewhat contradictory concept is crucial to your success in sports betting.
It is possible to have a winning sports betting record (more wins than losses), and still be losing money. Not all wagers are the same, especially when it comes to payouts. If you are wagering on big favorites, you will likely win more, but you might not really make money.
When betting on underdogs, though, you are less likely to win, but you might get paid more when your bet wins. This is all true because of spread margins.
Can You Trust Betting Picks?
There are websites that offer free betting picks as an introductory bonus to their main offering simply because they want to appreciate you as a customer. While free picks are enticing, it’s best that you only use them if the information and stats are well researched.
Why is the handicapper suggesting that specific play? Why pick a specific team as the favorites and the other an underdog? Do they give justification for picking those specific plays? These are some of the questions that you should ask yourself to establish whether a tout is to be trusted.
Remember that anyone can offer betting picks online these days. Some are amateurs and others are distinguished professionals. You want to sign up with professionals to enhance your winning chances.
Betting picks are only useful if you need something to back up your plays. Therefore, you should always conduct your own research before looking for betting picks online.
Tips for Selecting the Best Betting Picks Site
The first best practice is to choose sites that have been endorsed by reputable authorities. It’s also easier to trust a picks site that has been in the business for a longer period, with a track record of offering useful picks.
Always do your homework before buying betting picks. Even when a site is offering betting picks for free, you want to be sure that you are not setting yourself up right into the hands of online scammers.
The best online picks sites are those that offer a breakdown of the methods they use to arrive at the picks they offer. Also, take the initiative to go through the site’s win records to establish whether it is legit.
The more information a site gives about its logic and its customers, the better. You should also understand that a majority of capping sites claim to have high win percentages, but only a few will genuinely deliver.
