Prop Betting Guide

Have you ever studied an upcoming sports fixture and been none the wiser to a potential outcome, despite looking at the match from every possible angle? You’re certainly not alone if you have. Every discerning sports fan will know that some fixtures are just too close to call. The good news is that proposition bets allow you to enjoy a punt on the action without having to decide if there will be a winner or a draw. Read on to find out why they’re such a useful addition when it comes to making an informed bet.

What is a prop bet?

In essence, prop bets take the pressure off having to pick a winner or a draw. So let’s say Chelsea are going up against Manchester City and the Premier League odds for the upcoming games have the Blues priced at 11/10 whilst the Citizens are at 5/6. What’s more, both teams are in form and won’t give an inch in a match that the whole world will be watching, meaning that it could be quite a cagey affair that is settled by a mistake or even set-piece. Indeed, Thomas Tuchel’s pragmatism is likely to thwart Pep Guardiola’s pizazz, which suggests that you should give this fixture a wide berth in terms of picking a winner. But with the information that we have on hand, we know that it will in all likelihood, be a low scoring game. How then, do you transfer that knowledge into winning bets? Two words: prop betting.

Instead of picking a match-winner, you can dive into the various proposition bets and look for the over/under goals option. In this case, you could select under 2.5 goals to occur in the match which is a far more informed option. All you need to do now is sit back and hope for a slow game with very little goalmouth activity in order to be paid out. Indeed, never has a 0-0 snoozefest made for such pulsating viewing.

Crucially, prop betting doesn’t have to be limited to making a selection before the game begins as you can also make prop bets in-play. In fact, in-play prop betting is one of the most popular markets as it gives you the chance to observe the action before deciding which prop bet to make. So let’s say you were watching a rugby union match between South Africa and England and the Springboks scored a try in the first minute. On top of that, you notice that the South Africans have started the game well and look in the mood to score more than 30 points after some devastating fluid play in the early exchanges. With this information, you could head to the in-play prop bets and punt on the Springboks to score more than 30 team points by the end of the game.

Different types of prop betting

Prop bets involve anything to do with certain occurrences in a game that doesn’t involve picking a win, loss or draw, such as the number of goals, corners, touchdowns, home runs or even tries in a match. Naturally, that is just to mention a few as your options are extensive when it comes to placing prop bets online. Indeed, in addition to the over/under prop betting on offer that we’ve just highlighted in the paragraph above, you can also choose from individual player markets which do provide huge value even if they can be a bit speculative at times.

So, let’s say you woke up with a hunch that Harry Maguire would score the first goal in the Manchester derby, as an example, you would probably find these odds to be around 10/1. Sure, your friends may laugh at you for making this prop bet but you’ll be laughing last after the big centre back rises highest to open the scoring from a corner. As mentioned, they can be a bit speculative but that’s the beauty of prop sports betting.

The benefits of prop betting

The benefits of prop bets are numerous. To start with, they provide you with a host of different options that can reward you as long as you have a good understanding of a certain sport. In other words, the win/lose/draw market is just the tip of the iceberg but with prop bets, you’re not forced into a corner by having to decide on such narrow options. Instead, you can use your wealth of knowledge to your advantage by perusing all the different proposition bet markets.

It’s always beneficial to focus on a team’s strengths, whether it be defence or attack, alternatively, you can also focus on a team’s vulnerabilities. So let’s say a particular team has a poor defence, you would then head to the latest sports betting and find the prop markets, from there, you can bet on them to concede goals, touchdowns, tries or whatever form of scoring your chosen sport uses.

Prop betting is all about capitalising on the backdrop that a game is being played in. As long as you have your finger on the pulse, you can make proposition betting work for you.

Prop betting tips

As initially alluded to, it’s all about staying on top of what is going on in the world of sport and in particular, your chosen league or team. In addition to this, it’s never a bad option to put some time into reading the most recent betting tips as a way of sampling what the experts are predicting. Once you’ve done this, you can add their voices to your encyclopedic sporting brain in an effort to make the best possible call.

For instance, if you know that Giannis Antetokounmpo is on a hot streak for the Milwaukee Bucks, then it would make sense to head to the latest NBA betting markets after taking in the latest betting tips to find his upcoming match. You could place a prop bet on him scoring more than 26.5 individual points in his next game. But on the other hand, if the man that is affectionately called the ‘Greek Freak’ was coming back from injury and not the word on the street was that he wasn’t up to match fitness, you would stay away from making such a bet.

Basically, it’s all about striking whilst the iron is hot and the best way to do that is by knowing who is in form, who is scoring goals for fun and who is letting them in freely. When you have that information then you will know how to bet on prop bets effectively.