The Best of It
Prior to kickoff of yesterday’s Hall of Fame Game, I was inspired by some interesting dialogue on twitter that got me thinking. As we all know, there’s a lot of misinformation out there regarding gambling terminology like “getting the best of the number” and what the phrase actually means. The short concise definition of the term is getting the most advantageous price in a given market for your side. For example if you liked Miami last night, betting them +1.5 would have been the top of the market rather than at -3 where the game closed. Conversely, if you liked Dallas betting them -1.5 on the open was a worst case scenario compared to +3 right before the game started.
Most of us have been trained to look for the 3,4,6,& 7 in football but there’s a lot more to understanding the concept of getting the best of the number than just that. Each line move, across certain thresholds, changes the expected value of a bet. It’s important to note that every sport is different so the thought process applied to betting football doesn’t apply to basketball where every half pt on both side and total can actually get sharp bettors off a game. When you’re betting football, certain line moves change the way you approach a wager. The line moving from PK to -1 or -1.5 to -2.5 during the regular season (in both college and pro) doesn’t change the handicap a fraction of what -2.5 to -3 or +3.5 to +3 does. Preseason is slightly different given that coaches will do everything they can to avoid a tie score late and also because they may try and work on special teams, 2 pt conversions, or a laundry list of other unique situations.
Getting the best of the number isn’t easy nor are there shortcuts for doing it consistently without perfect information or extensive handicapping experience. This will be a term thrown around all the time and while bets can still win, the most important thing is that a betting position should be adjusted on where in the market you’ve made your move. Sometimes during the learning process you get fixated on wins and losses while the practice of building good habits is much more important in the long term than short term wins and losses. I know this isn’t the easiest topic to digest but the goal is always about creating more informed bettors so when you come to expect attention to detail from all your sources for sports information, your game can move to the next level.
