Betting Hockey Tips
By Ron Raymond
Like many procrastinators at the beginning of the New Year, my New Years resolution was to read more books on inspiration and leadership. In fact, I found a great quote from Thane Yost, which should be on every handicappers signature line; “The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare”. So, the next time you lose a bad beat, take a look at your preparation of your picks and ask yourself if you put in the time and research necessary to come up with your selections.
Depending on the time of year and how hectic your personal and business life may be, it’s very tough to handicap 2 or 3 sports at the same time of year, because the preparation time might not have been included in your picks. Here are some tips on betting hockey that might save you some headaches down the road.
The “Golden Rule” of betting hockey or any sport for that matter is the have your own number vs. the set number the bookmaker has put out. Everybody has an opinion on their formula, but I would suggest you take the most important aspect of a game and figure a formula on getting your number to include offense and defensive categories.
One of the more important factors when betting a road team is to either play the puck or money line. It’s very difficult to lay a hook with a road team these days, as there are only 11 teams in the NHL with a winning road record as of Feb 16th and only 3 of those teams are in the double-digit area. Depending on the matchup, I would recommend to wager up too –120 to –125 with the hook and make sure the team has a winning road record of over 5 games. However, there may be times when there’s different situations attached to a game, so play accordingly.
The “Revenge Factor” use to be a great motivator in the old division system when division teams were playing each other 8 times a year, but now the only “revenge factor” advantage seems to be in College and Pro football. However, there will be times when a popular or talented player gets traded to another team and there’s a big hype on his first return vs. his old team, but I normally play against this situation if the player is facing his old team on their turf. For some reason, old teammates don’t like losing at home in this situation, but I like to play on the traded player once he plays his old team in his barns, as the players put more money on the board to get his revenge vs. his old organization.
It’s starting to look we might not have a 50 goal scorer this season and the league is very concern on the lack of goals being scored in the league, as the average goals being scored per game is 5.2. Therefore, I think it’s very risky to play the over when the line is 5.5, because you need 6 goals to cover your wager. Whereas, if you lay the under on 5.0, your chances on getting a push are more likely considering the average goals per game is 5.2. I’m mostly a under player in every sport, as the public and media are always hyping the offense in today’s game, but the talent pool seems to be diminishing in every sport, as you can witness by the number of teams now involved in every league and more teams and coaches are paying more attention to defense.
Also, one of the biggest obstacles each player runs into when reviewing his stats matchups, is when to lay off or jump on a streak. Streaks are very hard to figure out and my recommendation on streaks is like a poker hand. Know when to fold them and know when to hold them! Unless you’ve started the streak at the very beginning, either a winning or losing one, react accordingly. If you’ve been riding a team for more than 3 games and they’ve cashed you a ticket in each game, I would lay off them in the 4th game, but depending on your risk level, some players will ride them to a lost. Again, depends on your risk level.
One of the biggest tips I normally give out when betting on the underdog in hockey, if the puck line has some plus money attached to it, don’t get sucked into the big moneyline. Every bettors objective is to make a profit, so if the line is +0.5 +140 on the puck line and the money line is PK +190, consider the +0.5 (hook) as AFLAC insurance, as a tie game will get you dog money as well.
As I keep my resolution going for the New Year, I found this great quote that can be used towards sports betting; “The rules of a holes; when you’re in one, stop digging.”
Good luck and take the Lightning as a Futures wager to win the Stanley Cup!
Ron Raymond
By Ron Raymond
Like many procrastinators at the beginning of the New Year, my New Years resolution was to read more books on inspiration and leadership. In fact, I found a great quote from Thane Yost, which should be on every handicappers signature line; “The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare”. So, the next time you lose a bad beat, take a look at your preparation of your picks and ask yourself if you put in the time and research necessary to come up with your selections.
Depending on the time of year and how hectic your personal and business life may be, it’s very tough to handicap 2 or 3 sports at the same time of year, because the preparation time might not have been included in your picks. Here are some tips on betting hockey that might save you some headaches down the road.
The “Golden Rule” of betting hockey or any sport for that matter is the have your own number vs. the set number the bookmaker has put out. Everybody has an opinion on their formula, but I would suggest you take the most important aspect of a game and figure a formula on getting your number to include offense and defensive categories.
One of the more important factors when betting a road team is to either play the puck or money line. It’s very difficult to lay a hook with a road team these days, as there are only 11 teams in the NHL with a winning road record as of Feb 16th and only 3 of those teams are in the double-digit area. Depending on the matchup, I would recommend to wager up too –120 to –125 with the hook and make sure the team has a winning road record of over 5 games. However, there may be times when there’s different situations attached to a game, so play accordingly.
The “Revenge Factor” use to be a great motivator in the old division system when division teams were playing each other 8 times a year, but now the only “revenge factor” advantage seems to be in College and Pro football. However, there will be times when a popular or talented player gets traded to another team and there’s a big hype on his first return vs. his old team, but I normally play against this situation if the player is facing his old team on their turf. For some reason, old teammates don’t like losing at home in this situation, but I like to play on the traded player once he plays his old team in his barns, as the players put more money on the board to get his revenge vs. his old organization.
It’s starting to look we might not have a 50 goal scorer this season and the league is very concern on the lack of goals being scored in the league, as the average goals being scored per game is 5.2. Therefore, I think it’s very risky to play the over when the line is 5.5, because you need 6 goals to cover your wager. Whereas, if you lay the under on 5.0, your chances on getting a push are more likely considering the average goals per game is 5.2. I’m mostly a under player in every sport, as the public and media are always hyping the offense in today’s game, but the talent pool seems to be diminishing in every sport, as you can witness by the number of teams now involved in every league and more teams and coaches are paying more attention to defense.
Also, one of the biggest obstacles each player runs into when reviewing his stats matchups, is when to lay off or jump on a streak. Streaks are very hard to figure out and my recommendation on streaks is like a poker hand. Know when to fold them and know when to hold them! Unless you’ve started the streak at the very beginning, either a winning or losing one, react accordingly. If you’ve been riding a team for more than 3 games and they’ve cashed you a ticket in each game, I would lay off them in the 4th game, but depending on your risk level, some players will ride them to a lost. Again, depends on your risk level.
One of the biggest tips I normally give out when betting on the underdog in hockey, if the puck line has some plus money attached to it, don’t get sucked into the big moneyline. Every bettors objective is to make a profit, so if the line is +0.5 +140 on the puck line and the money line is PK +190, consider the +0.5 (hook) as AFLAC insurance, as a tie game will get you dog money as well.
As I keep my resolution going for the New Year, I found this great quote that can be used towards sports betting; “The rules of a holes; when you’re in one, stop digging.”
Good luck and take the Lightning as a Futures wager to win the Stanley Cup!
Ron Raymond
