Live Betting Guide
Live betting has revolutionised the way people bet as it allows you to scope out the lay of the land before deciding where to put your money. In fact, there isn’t a sports betting market that has changed the face of wagering more than in-play betting has over the years. Basically, with live betting, you are able to keep your powder dry without having to commit to a bet before a fixture has started which wasn’t the case for most of the sports betting history. In times gone by, you were locked into a bet from the start and were at the mercy of the events that were to follow.
In other words, the die was cast, and there was no way of sampling a piece of the live-action before deciding where to bet. Of course, this wouldn’t really matter when a walkover was predicted, but for the games that were too close to call, a little taster of how proceedings were going to play out would help provide the insight needed to place an informed bet.
Needless to say, this all changed when live in-play betting arrived, as it gave punters a chance to do exactly that; watch the action unfold before making a decision on what they would like to bet on. These days, the in-play betting markets are vast and provide live betting odds on almost any eventuality over the course of a match. This means that the power has very much been handed back to the discerning sports fan.
Live Betting Football
As far as the most popular in-play markets go, live football betting is undoubtedly the most sought-after, given how globally adored the game is. Every fan feels that they have a sixth sense with regard to how a match will usually play out, which is why millions of fans search for live football betting. That’s all well and good, but what is an in-play bet, and why has it become available?
Ok, so let’s say Real Madrid is playing Barcelona in El Clasico, these days, the form of both Spanish giants has become harder to predict, and in reality, this game could go either way.
Now, instead of placing a bet on the match outcome before it begins, in-play live football betting gives you the option to let kick-off take place, which you could use as a chance to spot a pattern emerging before placing a bet.
So let’s say that Barca continues to look like a shell of their former selves after the first 15 minutes, and it’s clear their arch-rivals are going to beat them at a canter. The smart choice would then be to head to the in-play market for La Liga betting and bet on Los Blancos to win the match by selecting the live odds offered. This way, you have protected yourself from betting on an unpredictable Barcelona and have used the in-play betting market to your advantage.
Alternatively, it could be that both teams look equally as bad, with the only winner set to be goals after some disastrous early defending. In that case, you wouldn’t delay by heading over to the value-packed live in-play betting odds by selecting over 2.5 goals being scored.
Live Betting Odds
Given how quickly a game can change, it won’t come as a surprise to learn that the real-time sports odds continuously change. For instance, if Norwich wins a corner against Manchester United shortly after kick-off, the odds of the Canaries scoring first will drop. Similarly, the odds will drop on Manchester United scoring first if they win a free kick in a dangerous area. The long and short of it is that live odds fluctuate depending on the flow of the game.
Interestingly, the odds of a team winning or even drawing will skyrocket if the end of the game is approaching and they are still trailing. It should be said that it gets really interesting when the better team is losing, and the clock is counting down towards the end of the game. This is because the live-in-play odds will offer good value on them being able to come away with a result regardless of the seemingly impossible mountain they have to climb. Think back to Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and how often the Red Devils were able to score in the dying embers to rescue a result.
In those days, there would have been many punters who would have capitalised on the live odds of Manchester United finding a way to win. This phenomenon isn’t just exclusive to football, though, given that comebacks are a part of the sport as a whole and the reason why we love it so much. In this sense, live betting goes hand in hand with sports and gives you the power to decide how a game will end, even if the result at the time seems to suggest otherwise.
Live Betting Tips
As we’ve touched on, the beauty of live betting is that you can change course after the game starts if you notice that the script is about to be ripped up. With this in mind, though, it’s always best to go into the game having still done your homework on what is likely to happen. One way to do this is to keep track of the latest betting tips and predictions which will provide a solid foundation of what to expect and which players are in good form. This will help guard against any impulse betting if the underdogs take an early lead.
A preview of any game will pinpoint whether teams are likely to overcome early setbacks or whether they tend to score most of their goals in the second half. There are, of course, times when the formbook goes out the window, and an upset occurs. But there really is no substitute for doing your due diligence on the likely outcome. Once you’ve done that, you can hand it over to your sixth sense after the first whistle as you monitor events with an eagle eye in order to make the most informed live bet.