PROVIDING YOU WITH ALL THE BEST BETS
Bettors who don’t shop for the best odds and limit themselves to a single bookie are cheating themselves out of the best prices available to them. There are many bookies that you can find online with different odds and prices, and it is a waste of an opportunity to not shop for lines. Thanks to the internet, line shopping has changed the market drastically.
Lines are more consistent, and any bookie who is left behind will lose many customers and their ability to compete in the market. Even if the lines are more consistent with only minor differences, this is no reason to slack off and not shop for the best lines possible. Profits go a long way with only a dollar difference in the long term.
Letting the opportunity to win a dollar more is already a massive loss to your profit. That said, line shopping requires time and effort. Profit is already hard enough to come by, so doing a little bit of work is a considerable investment for your future in sports betting.
What is Line Shopping?
If you haven’t heard of line shopping before, then we don’t blame you. In fact, you may have already done it before. Line shopping means looking for the best odds and payout available in the market before placing a wager. If you think about it, line shopping is just finding the best price for a product you want to buy.
If you found the product in a specific store, the best way to make sure you are getting the most out of your money is to search for the product online and compare the prices. Failure to line shop can turn astute bettors into losers at a moment’s notice.
Let’s take an example.
Say you are betting on a game between the Patriots and Bills and thinking that the Bills is a solid bet. One bookie is offering +6.5 for the Bills while another offers +7. Of course, the best choice is to pick the +7 bet because it maximizes the handicap against the Patriot by having more points to cover. And if they win the game with an exact 7 points difference, your money will be refunded. If you have instead chosen to pick the bookie offered +6.5, you will have lost a bet.
Is It Worth It to Shop Lines?
Absolutely. Any veteran bettor who regularly shops for lines will tell you to do line shopping no matter how small the difference can be. To an experienced bettor, a -5 difference between -110 and -115 is a small thing.
However, if you are a regular bettor, these points would add up, and your losses would theoretically become bigger. Every dollar that you lose will accumulate over time, and as a bettor who wants to capitalize their win, you have to make every single dollar count.
Line Shopping for Point Spread
As mentioned earlier, the spread is very consistent among bookies. You will rarely see a single bookie that has a point difference compared to the others. However, even though they are rare, they can still happen. Always remember that every bookie has different factors when calculating its spread. Half points only happen sometimes, but they can make a difference in your bets when they do.
Moneyline Line Shopping
The importance of line shopping is more apparent in money lines in all sports. Bookies tend to tweak their odds to balance the incoming bets. Money lines are constantly fluctuating, which you can take advantage of. By shopping lines and choosing the bookie with the best payout, you can win more in your bets.
Steam Chasing
Steam chasing happens when a huge number of bets are placed in a short amount of time. It will cause the lines to shift, and the bookies are trying to even out the playing field by typically adding a point to the favourite. The bets will quickly avalanche, and if you’re not focused enough, you won’t have the chance to place a good bet.
If you’re lucky enough to place your bet before a big steam move (shift in the line) arrives, you will have the option to hedge your bet with the best odds. Of course, you can still transfer your bets during a steam move, but you will have to lose your bet that already has good odds.
So what should you do?
To be honest, nothing. If you think a big steam move will happen and you already placed a bet, consider yourself lucky. If you want to transfer your bet to another bookie during a steam move, then we suggest you don’t. Also, if you’re looking for a reliable online sports betting site with sports odds, here is the page on FanDuel.
A big steam move is typically started by main bookies, which many smaller bookies will follow. If you decide to transfer your bet to another bookie while a big steam move is happening, you will be caught in a steam avalanche.
Takeaway
In the past, placing bets was much easier. Nowadays, due to the many new bookies popping up, lines are getting more complicated since everyone is trying to keep up with the market value with their lines. This makes line shopping a lot more complicated but a lot more fun.