Over Under betting (also referred to as totals betting in some instances) is an option for punters who want to bet on a game but don’t necessarily want to bet on a winner. In Australia, these bets are extremely popular and can pretty much be made on any sport at this point, including favourites such as Aussie rules football and rugby league.
If you are looking to learn more about making over under bets, all you need to do is keep reading our. Here we go into all the things you need to know to make successful over unders on a regular basis. This includes providing sports betting strategies and the advantages and disadvantages to keep in mind when making this bet.
Best Over Under Betting Sites 2020
What Does Over Under Mean in Sports Betting?
Over Unders bets (also known as totals) are wagers in which punters attempt to predict the final score of the match they would like to bet on. Punters can bet on whether the final score will be over or under a predicted score set by a sportsbook.
An example of how this might work is that a sports betting site might set multiple scorelines for a soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea. One of the lines may be set at 2.5 goals. Punters can then choose to bet that there will be more than 2.5 goals in the match or less.
It doesn’t matter who wins, depending on whether the punter bet over or under the line, teams will need to score fewer than or more than 2.5 goals in the match up. Essentially, you can cheer for both teams involved in the match up if you like.
Some sports allow punters to place over under bets on other aspects of the game. For example, in golf, players can make these bets on the number of birdies or eagles scored. Others may even allow the same for fouls and penalties. It all depends on the sport in question.
Over Under Strategies
There are a few betting strategies Australian punters can focus on when making over under bets. Some important tips include the following:
- Focus on the Mode, Not the Mean – with regards to over unders, our guide suggests it is more beneficial to look at the scoreline that appears most often rather than the average of points scored in a game. Always remember that an irregular result can confound data and make it appear that more or less points are being scored in matches on average when this isn’t true.
- Don’t Focus Too Much on the Last Score – while it’s good to look at past scores, we don’t recommend that you focus on the last result too much when making an over under bet. For example, in the English Premier League, Chelsea may have beaten Huddersfield Town 6-0 last week, but this doesn’t mean that Chelsea is going to put six past Manchester City this week when they play them.
- Don’t Make Too Many Exotic Bets – while a sportsbook may offer betting options that are highly likely to occur at insane odds, this does not mean you should take these bets. The reason for this is that you’ll probably lose your money on such wagers. This includes making multi bets that include several multiple over under bets.
- Focus on the Data – if you really want to get in on making good over under bets, you need to look at a whole load of data outside of scorelines. This includes shots for and against, goals for and against as well as conversion rates.
Advantages of Over Under Bets
There are a few advantages to be had with making over under bets online. Some of our favourites include the following:
- The Match Result is Irrelevant – if you don’t like trying to predict the score of a match up, over under bets may be for you. With these bets it doesn’t matter who wins or loses or even if the match ends in a draw. As long as you bet correctly on a scoreline, you are guaranteed to be paid out.
- Two Possible Outcomes – in these bets, there are only two possible outcomes. Either a match’s scoreline is over a particular number or it is under. With so few options, it makes these bets easier to predict.
- Widely Available – these bets are pretty much available in all sports in some variation. It doesn’t matter whether you want to bet on an individual or team sport, you are sure to be able to make these bets and profit from them.
- Easy to Understand – along with moneyline bets, over unders are pretty easy to understand and make. All you need to do is predict a scoreline. There are no other factors involved with this bet type as opposed to multi bets or futures.
Disadvantages of Over Unders
All things that have advantages tend to have disadvantages too or else everyone would just be placing over under bets at Australian sportsbooks online. Thus, we’ve listed some of the disadvantages in our guide to take note of when making these bets. Some of the most important include the following:
- As they are pretty easy to win, many sportsbooks tend to attach rather high bookmaker margins on them. This means that you’ll probably win less money making these bets than if you made a moneyline bet on the same game.
- If you are an avid bettor and have previously focused on making moneyline and line bets, you’ll probably focus too much on who is going to win the game rather than the factors that will affect the match’s overall score. Remember punters tend to focus on different aspects of the game when trying to predict who is going to win rather than what the final score will be.
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