Sports bettors are on a constant search of a strategy or a system that will advance their betting skills and further their game. They want to become better in making predictions over sports games and of course they seek to optimize their profit potentials, with all the decisions and choices they make.
Bettors are confronting sportsbooks in their effort to improve their game. Every bookmaker across the world and every Malaysia betting site as well, is doing their own part in ensuring that they won’t lose money to punters and that they will maintain their profitability.
The most significant weapon sportsbooks have to maintain some control over their profitability is line movement. Betting lines are rarely constant. A particular game, let’s say, will have an opening line, which reflects oddsmakers’ perceptions of how the game is going to play out, but this line will most certainly change (move) as we head towards the actual game.
This is called line movement and obviously it is triggered by some substantial factors – whether these are external factors such as players’ injuries for example or they are the result of bookmakers’ efforts to bring some balance to unevenly wagered sides of a bet.
Tracking line movement has always been an approach utilized by the more advanced or more professional bettors. That is because the way the betting line moves can give them a lot of information and hints on what is going on and where the value stands. Eventually, tracking line movement helps them make more effective decisions.
If you want to learn how, just keep in mind two things:
First, line movement certainly means that something has changed. Now this can be a thing related to the upcoming game, but it can also be “not” about that. If for example a player is struggling with a serious injury -like Rafael Nadal is suffering – or an entire football team is dealing with issues known to the public, then the line will move against them.
But line movement can occur because the oddsmakers are trying to get more bets in one side that remains unpopular to bettors. If a moneyline bet for example concentrates all bets on the victory of one team, then the bookies will make the victory of the other team more attractive as an option for betting.
Now, if you want to bet on a match, knowing how line movement works is valuable. If you want to bet on the favorite, it’s better to place your wager in the beginning, before the line starts to move so as to retain value. As we approach the actual game, for either of the above reasons, the line can move against the favorite and you will end up with a bet that does not have much value.
If you want to bet on the underdog, it’s better to place your wager later on, as we are approaching the game. You give time for line movement to occur and reach a point where it is more valuable and preferable to you.
Second, line movement can occur because of the quality of the bets, not only the quantity. If sharp, professional punters put money on one side, then the oddsmakers assume that they might have an edge right there and they move the line to make sure that they don’t get to lose big.
Now, for you this means that you can search whether there are available odds (prior to line movement) to other books and bet on them because they most probably have value (since the sharp bettors preferred them).
Both ways of making sense of line movement are indeed very important in helping you make a more professional approach to your betting game.
