The start of the 2014 NRL season is quickly approaching. Bookmakers are hard at work determining the odds and handicaps of coming games. While there is no sure-fire way to guarantee returns, a combination of luck, research, and smart NRL betting can make your season more profitable than simply “following your gut.” The first thing you need to understand before you lay your money down is how many options you currently have to place a bet. In fact, there are over ten popular areas that punters can place bets on. Knowing where your strengths lie can increase your odds of coming out on top at the end of the season.
Head-to-Head Bets: Diversify Your Strategy
One option for NRL betting is the standard match-specific, “head-to-head” wager. You bet on the team to win and receive the dividends based upon the odds set for that winning team. The key here is to diversify your betting and put more than one selection together to maximise your returns. The same can be said for putting all your eggs in one basket. The odds are that you’re going to win some of the time. The secret is in hedging towards the games with higher payout so as to increase the value of the bets you’re most likely going to win. This doesn’t guarantee a profit, but it does increase your understanding of which match should be bet more heavily.
When to Account for a Streak
As the rounds progress, teams develop patterns of winning and losing. When NRL betting on head-to-head matches, remember that the previous outcomes can affect your choice in upcoming matches. Even with the 50/50 odds of determining the result of a coin toss, you’ll notice patterns; there will sometimes be streaks of either heads or tails. In the NRL, these are more easily seen because the players and the teams have greater power over the outcome of a match. Head-to-head NRL betting isn’t 50/50 and is governed more by the momentum of a team’s drive, unlike the toss of a coin. You should always take streaks into consideration when hedging your bets.
Picking Margins Isn’t Easy, but Offers Value
Remember that you can bet on the margin of points at various moments in the game: half-time, 80th minute, and final score. This style of NRL betting gives more drama to the action since you have a vested interest at different times during the game. Placing key bets for the margin and the outcome at half time can double your returns and diversify your risk on a single game. In other words, you receive the advantage of smaller but more frequent wins of your various bets.
Exotic Betting May Favour Your Odds
Exotic NRL betting is becoming more popular these days. Punters can place money on whether the first score comes from a penalty or a field goal rather than a try. Money can be placed on whether a field goal is scored during the match at all. Bets can also be placed on whether a kick will travel from behind a team’s 40m line beyond the opposing team’s 20m line. Consider betting on the first player to score a try; this is a risky but profitable wager, for sure. With all of these smaller odds, the game takes on a completely different dimension for the well-seasoned punter. If you follow the idea of diversification, you spread your risk and benefits over a wider margin of areas. Don’t forget to put down your futures NRL betting selection on who will emerge either at the top or the bottom of the league, and which team will have the highest number of season wins. This is a great value bet and the pinnacle of your betting prowess. Every decent punter has a thing or two to say about the final outcome, starting even now.
Handicap and Line Betting Even the Odds
In order to balance out the odds between two unevenly matched teams, bookmakers give starting points to the deficient team. This is to make for more excitement and defeat the “sure thing” that some games will produce. This, however, can greatly hamper a punter’s ability to clean up, so beware of the margin and play appropriately. Again, consider the principles behind the momentum of a certain team. When balanced with a wary eye towards the point margin required to pay off, you may reconsider what you expect to be a “sure thing.”
These are only a few of the many areas where betting is possible, so discover which lend themselves to your strengths. You are the only indicator of how heavily and how frequently you place a wager. If you know your players, then focus your betting on individual players. If you’re more of a “big picture” punter, then focus on futures. Whatever your choice, the action of the NRL will take on a considerably more interesting and dramatic personality, and your ability to maximise your returns will increase as the seasons go by.
