When it comes to betting, an online sportsbook is like the greatest Vegas buffet in the world. There's plenty to choose from. You might overindulge, you'll probably enjoy making all your selections and it could cost you a little bit of money, but you won't quickly forget the experience. Here are some of my favorite offerings from the gambler's buffet.
Team totals
I'm an "Unders" football bettor most of the time, and many times it is because of my opinion that an offense will struggle against a defense that overwhelms. Where you can find yourself burned with this opinion, however, is when that defensive dominance results in defensive touchdowns. Think Alabama football in 2017. By narrowing down my focus to only betting a team's total points, it feels like fewer variables are in play.
Not every sportsbook will always allow you to do it if they deem the wagers correlated, but combining the three-way odds of a soccer game with the increased value of a parlay can give you some juicy payouts relative to the amount risked. Sportsbooks try to be vigilant in identifying when a correlation exists, but if you have a strong opinion that a team will be able to score two or three goals and the sportsbooks haven't deemed the side and total to be correlated, then you'll be able to make your single opinion a high-paying one.
There just isn't anything more American than betting some college football on a Saturday in the fall.
NBA team to score first
This is for the real gamblers. Take a sport where hundreds of points are scored in a game, with the most important coming in the second half, and you have a recipe for randomness when it comes to this bet. And yet I like to try and analyze who I think will win the tip and then provide his team with the first shot of the game. The limits aren't very high, but neither is my tolerance for losing on this wager.
Maybe I'm biased, because I've had some nice scores, but the PGA has such depth these days that being able to find the winner of an event at any stop can result in a nice payout. Futures odds inherently have a bit more juice than I like, but if you know the PGA Tour and the game of golf, there is value almost every week in these futures.
