What does 'chasing steam' mean?

**Dunder** · 03-17-10, 01:45 PM

Where a line has moved significantly at most books but remained the same (or moved only slightly) at the book you bet with. Betting the side that all the money is on is "chasing steam".

Books don´t like it because on most occasions you would have a mathematical edge on them.

**moonbeam** · 03-22-10, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by Dunder

Where a line has moved significantly at most books but remained the same (or moved only slightly) at the book you bet with. Betting the side that all the money is on is "chasing steam".

Books don´t like it because on most occasions you would have a mathematical edge on them.

Good explanation. But I still don´t understand it.
So the better books call it a "steam" and the worse one´s a "bad line"?

**Dunder** · 03-22-10, 05:44 PM

Originally posted by moonbeam

Good explanation. But I still don´t understand it.
So the better books call it a "steam" and the worse one´s a "bad line"?

Not really. A line that is off-market because the book has been slow to react is not going to be called as a bad line (unless we are talking about in-play/live betting). I would term such a line as "stale".

The bad books too often call it a bad line when their initial/early odds are off-market, whereas the better ones do this generally, when it is a genuine mistake.

**moonbeam** · 03-22-10, 06:20 PM

Hm, I guess that is what I meant