New to forum, betting - help please? how to read odds

[sxsfou]

Hi everyone from Sydney Australia.
Placed my first bets today and made $70 lol but basically I just did it on intuition and a little bit of knowledge on the teams. I bet only on NBA.
However, I've found this site/forum and just wondering how do you read the odds on the predictions?

Examples of today include:
My Pick: 2-team 4 ½ point teaser, Bulls -5 & UNDER 192
My Pick: Thunder 1H -4 ½
My Pick: OVER 196 ½


What do these mean? Can someone please break it down with the format please?
I bet using sportsbet and sometimes they have score over 200, player with X amount of pts/rb etc
Or first to 10 points, first half most points etc
and they might say 1.87, meaning if I bet $10 and win, I will win $18.70 which makes sense.
So the things on the betting sites are all pretty much self explanatory and easy to use to bet on, however I have no idea how to read 'predictions' and 'odds.'
edit; oh except 'handicaps' what do they mean and how does this work?


Any help is much appreciated!! Please and thanks!

[shari91]

Welcome to SBR sxsfou!

A handicap line like -4 1/2 means that this team needs to beat the other by 5 points or more for your bet to win. Conversely if the line is +4 1/2 your team needs to lose by less than 5 points for you to win. Because handicap bets are typically pay around $1.91, many people prefer them when taking a favourite instead of only getting odds of say $1.45 if you took that team just to win straight up. Just like many people prefer to take the +4.5 for an underdog because even if your team doesn't win outright you still have a chance of getting paid.

In your first example: A teaser is a bet where you buy points to get your teams or the over/under total into a more favourable position for you. So the normal handicap line for the Bulls would've been -9.5 and the normal over/under line would've been 196.5. Instead you're in a spot where they need to win by less for you to cash your ticket. You can also do it the other way with underdogs by adding points on to the regular handicap. The catch is though that both elements of the bet have to win ie the Bulls have to cover the handicap and the game has to go over. If only one of those things happens you don't win anything.

2nd example: Thunder needs to be leading whomever they're playing by more than 5 points at the end of the first half for you to win.

3rd example: Total points both teams scored in the game including overtime must be at least 197 for you to win your bet. You just add up the score of both sides to see where you stand.

Hope that helps a bit.