Sports betting happen for a variety of reasons. While some bet on sports like soccer for entertainment, others for earning easy money and still others bet just for the thrill of it. This results in the formation of two distinct types of punters:
- The recreational punter who opts for easy and safe betting strategies like the under over, double chance etc., and
- The serious punter who likes to use complicated strategies to place bets and win them.
For the recreational punter winning or losing does not make much of a difference though they definitely feel happy on winning some amount of easy money. But the serious bettor likes to win and makes it a point to win big using strategies like the Asian handicap betting which are risky yet profitable. Consequently even the bookmakers understand this and thus the betting types prevalent today are a healthy mix of both so that all types of bettors can be catered to.
Some of the important betting types which are also very popular both with punters and bookies are:
- Bets dealing in full time results: This is one of the most straightforward and easiest betting strategies. There are several different ways by which one can bet on full time results like:
- Win-draw-win which is the traditional method and provides punters with 3 options to bet on.
- Double chance is a very safe option wherein a punter gets to pick any 2 outcomes out of the 3 possible outcomes of the game. This gives punters a double chance at winning.
- Draw no bet is another relatively safe bet wherein a punter has to pick one team out of the two to bet on. The option of a draw is not taken into consideration here and as is the case with Asian handicap soccer, the stakes get refunded in the event of a draw.
- The Asian handicap is a slightly complicated bet which to be thoroughly understood before a punter needs can opt for it. Herein of the two teams playing, one, who is a favourite, is awarded extra goals while the same get deducted from the other team, who are the underdogs. The Asian handicap betting makes for an excellent system to manage risks versus the rewards in a game of soccer.
- Correct score betting requires the punter to place a wager on the exact final score that is expected from the game. This is a very difficult guess to make and thus the odds are also very high. The rewards too are very high since the risks involved are quite high.
- Halftime and halftime/fulltime: As the names suggest, a halftime wager involves placing a bet on the expected result at halftime and with halftime/fulltime the wager needs to be placed for the expected results both at halftime and at fulltime of the game.
- First and last goal: This is comparatively easy to understand but most difficult to predict. Herein the punter places the wager on the players that he thinks will make the opening and the closing score of the game.
- Scorecasts: This type of soccer betting offer a combination for the punter to bet on, just like the mix parlay. Herein the punter has to predict both:
- The first player to score a goal and
- The correct final score.
But the success level for scorecasts is definitely not very high since it is extremely difficult for the punter to get both of them correct.
- Total goals: Commonly also known as under over, this betting type involves the fixation of a specific number as the goals to be scored in a soccer match. The punter will have to predict if the total goals scored in the game would be higher than or over this specified number or will be lower than or under the specified number. This is a very simple type of bet and is thus immensely popular with recreational punters and with newbies.
- BTTS: This is a new concept which has come into soccer but it is already a very popular betting type. It means “both teams to score” and as is evident from the name the punter needs to predict whether only 1 team would score or both the teams would score. This is thus a relatively simple betting strategy.
- Outrights and futures: These are long-term bets which involve betting on the outcome of the championship, league or cup as a whole. While this is a very difficult prediction to make, if one has the necessary statistics and has been following the performance of the team for the past few months or years, the maths become relatively easy. This bet is somewhat similar to predicting the correct score and betting on it.
- Specials and props: The word prop here refers to a proposition bet. Other names used to refer to this type of bet are the exotic bet, side bet, novelty bet etc. While both special and pros refer to the same betting system, the term “Specials” is generally used in Europe and United Kingdom which the US of A prefers to use “Props”.
- Accumulators: Also known as the mix parlay, this betting type happens to be extremely popular among bettors and punters. This bet is a combination bet wherein several small individual bets combine together to a single wager. In order for a punter to win this bet, all the individual selections made by him need to be correct. While this is a very risky bet to undertake, the payouts offered are so high that most punters happily try their luck from then.
- Live betting: This involves placing bets on soccer matches that are currently underway. Live betting is relatively easy since the wager is placed as the game progresses and the punter is able to access his chances easily.
While most punters choose one form of the betting or other, it is the familiarity, confidence, experience and understanding that one has of the bet which makes him take it up. But care should be taken with the Asian handicap soccer since it is quite different from the European counterpart and thus needs quite a lot of understanding to comprehend.