Extremely 'NOOBISH' Questions Here

[rewls]

Hello,

Glad I found this forum. I've always been obsessed with football, and am going to start putting some bets down this season. I'm not someone who is looking to make a living by making bets, just want to make watching games even more exciting. There's a ton of industry lingo here, and as someone who hasn't ever made a bet I need to ask these questions in the noob forum.

I fully understand the spread, total and money line in sports betting. I'm personally only looking to make moneyline bets on wins/losses. What I don't understand with Bookmaker.com is when I go to place my bet, do I choose wager amount, to win amount, or risk amount? Those all seem like the same thing to me...

I don't want to go with any of these handicapping services, but I'm looking for something to explain all these abbreviations I'm always seeing. Any suggestions? Any strictly reference books out there? Magazines?

I'd really appreciate the help, and thanks!

[jgilmartin]

What I don't understand with Bookmaker.com is when I go to place my bet, do I choose wager amount, to win amount, or risk amount? Those all seem like the same thing to me...

To Win amount = It automatically calculates your risk amount based on the odds. If you enter '100' here and the odds are -110, you will be risking $110 to win a profit of $100

Risk amount = You risk this much, and then the profit you get if you win is based on the odds. If you enter '100' here and the odds are -110, you will risk $100, and your profit would be $90.91

Wager amount = It acts like 'to win' if you are betting a favorite (if the odds start with a minus sign), and acts like 'risk' if you are betting an underdog (if the odds start with a plus sign). For example, if you have '100' entered here and the odds are -110, you will be risking $110 to win $100. If you have '100' entered here and the odds are +110, you will be risking $100 to win $110.

Hopefully you are using American odds format, otherwise none of this is going to make any sense. Hehe

PS Should point out that sometimes you do have underdogs which are not plus money (i.e. -105 is an underdog if you are betting 20 cent lines), but hopefully you understand what I was getting at with the 'Wager amount' bit