One thing that non-bettors sometimes fail to realise about betting is that – when done correctly – it is something of a scientific process. Of course, there is an element of luck involved in betting successfully. No bettor would deny that, just as no physicist would argue against the assertion that experiments are often changed in their course when a complicating factor arises which wasn’t in the abstract. If you want to bet well, you must learn as you go; if you’re not better at it some months down the line, you may ask yourself why not.
One of the first things a bettor should learn is when they should be placing bets. If you’d used non Gamstop sites like at bestnongamstopcasinos.net to bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl in 2022 back when the odds were first announced, you could have cashed out for a profit early in the third quarter of the game itself when they went 20-13 ahead. If you’d bet on them when they went ahead, you’d have lost your stake when Donovan Kupp caught the winning touchdown for the Rams. Below, we’ll look at when the best times to place a bet will be, and why those times are so beneficial.
#1: When the odds are first announced
Consider the initial price lines of a betting market to be like the demo version of a song. They’re not far from what they will go on to be, but there are bits here and there that need to be tweaked. Those lines will move, probably multiple times, before a ball is even kicked or a horse is shod for a race. This happens in no small part because bettors look at the odds and think “that’s way too generous a price”, and quickly place a bet before the line is adjusted. If you bet when the odds are first announced, you can benefit from the bookmaker’s unfinished work, so to speak.
#2: In the hour before the contest begins
This is particularly relevant for a soccer match given that an hour before kick-off is when the official team line-ups are released. If Real Madrid are playing Getafe, there would seem to be little point in backing the underdog – that’s more or less a guaranteed win for Los Merengues. But then, an hour before the match, you look at the team sheet and Karim Benzema’s not playing. A philosophical Zinedine Zidane reveals that Benzema’s hamstring was bothering him, and it’s not worth the risk with a big Champions League game next week. All of a sudden, Getafe look like a better bet against a team shorn of its talismanic striker. By kick-off, a lot of people will have noticed that, so now’s the time to back your hunch.
#3: During the contest itself
Not every sport is compatible with in-play betting, but for those that are it’s always useful to be watching a game with the betting app open beside you. To take another hypothetical, Novak Djokovic has gone two sets behind in the early rounds of a Grand Slam. His odds to win slide out to the point where he’s an underdog, or at least close to being one. But you know he tends to suddenly play like an immortal being when he looks defeated, and the movement in the odds is all the encouragement you need to back him for a 3-2 comeback win. Sometimes waiting for the right moment is the best strategy.
