Today, basketball games gather thousands of fans in front of their screens and in stadiums, and bettors are increasingly betting on them. The speed and intensity of emotions make this sport one the most interesting ones to watch and wager on. In this article, Bookmaker Ratings will introduce two popular strategies that will help you place basketball bets and earn profits.
Quarter Chase Betting Strategy
The chase betting strategy was developed for casinos, but later bettors began to use it for gambling in bookmakers. Now the chase system is very popular, as it is the most versatile approach to place bets on outcomes with equal probability.
Description of the tactics
Chase betting involves doubling the size of the pot after each loss until a win occurs, which will allow you to recover the losses and get an income. To play this system, you need to have a fairly large initial bank, otherwise, after a long series of failures, a situation will arise when there is simply not enough money to double the amount. Professionals recommend stocking up on money for 8-10 steps, where one step is equal to one bet.
In this case, the bettor should bet on outcomes with odds of 2.00. It is also possible to bet on events with odds of 1.80, but in this case, you have to calculate the size of the next one so that the winnings allow you to win back all the losses of the previous steps.
There is one more point to which you should pay attention. The fact is that the size of the next chase bet may exceed the limit set by the bookmaker, then you will not be able to make it on the required amount and win back. Therefore, it is recommended to choose companies with high limits.
Chase betting in basketball
Most often bettors use the chase system in basketball betting, including betting on the victory of a particular team in the quarter. In this case, the bet should be made on the victory of the losing team, which, however, is not the underdog. The odds are usually about 2.00 if the match for such a club is away.
If you’ve watched basketball games, you might have noticed that the underdog wins at least one of the quarters. This can happen in any of the four segments of the match, as the favorite sometimes gives himself a break.
Let’s look at the example of applying the tactics. We pay $20 on the victory of the second team in the first quarter at odds of 2.10. If we won, we no longer stay in this match and are looking for another basketball match. If we lose our money on this, you need to pay $40 on the victory of the second team in the second quarter. If this one also loses, we pay $80 on the third quarter. Suppose the visitors did not win in the third quarter, so we pay $160 on their victory in the last quarter at odds of 2.10.
If it wins, then the winning will be 160 × 2.10 = $336. Net profit 336 – 160 = 176. The previous three steps were unprofitable, the player lost 20 + 40 + 80 = 140. We subtract 140 from 176. It turns out that we have climbed into positive territory; the income was $36. It is unlikely, but the fourth one may also lose, then you should look for another match and bet $320 on the victory of the underdog in the first quarter.
Flat Strategy
This strategy is based on bankroll management. It is quite simple, so even novice bettors can use it.
Description of the strategy
The principle of the flat system is as follows: you need to wager on the same fixed amount every time. Whether you won or lost before, it doesn’t matter. The player chooses an amount for himself and puts it on each event that seems likely to him.
This strategy is basic and can be very effective when combined with more complex tactics. For example, it is quite often used with the Value Betting strategy.
An example of using the flat system in bets
We will use a fixed bet of $10, and we will pick events with the outcome of 2.00 for ease of understanding and simplification of calculations.
- $10 on the second team to win (-12.5) in the Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors game. Odds 2.00. Loss.
- $10 on TO 225 in the Detroit Pistons vs. Toronto Raptors game. Odds 2.00. Winning.
- $10 for Tim Hardway to score over 14.5 points in the Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Clippers Café game. Odds 2.00. Winning.
2 out of 3 bets won, which brought a profit of $10.
Can you make a profit using the flat strategy?
It is not worth expecting a large profit, since the size of the bet is the same, and the used algorithm does not allow getting superiority over the bookmaker company. Even if the bettor wins 50% of the time on bets with equal probabilities, he will go into the red because of the bookmaker’s margin (this is the commission that is included in each chances).
However, the indisputable advantage of the flat strategy is that it is almost unrealistic to lose the whole bank quickly, as in the case of chase betting. Getting a stable income from the strategy is possible if you will win more than 50% of the time, gambling on outcomes with odds from 2.00. It’s not that easy, but experienced analysts can use the flat system quite successfully with minimal risks.
Conclusion
Both strategies are risky, as are sports gambling in general. Therefore, we recommend gambling no more than 3-5% of the total bank, carefully choosing matches for bets, analyzing the statistics and shape of the teams, and staying cool so as not to make rash bets under the influence of emotions.
