Bet-ology: Steam 🎥

“Steam” is used in betting vernacular as a noun and verb. So what exactly does it mean?

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Sports betting is complicated and it can be intimidating as a new bettor. We’re here to help.

Mariah
Class is in session. This is Betology 101 with Professor Doug. I’m gonna ask Doug basically a betting term. He’s gonna break it down. It’s betting terminology speaks for itself. Okay, so we are discussing today steam, which was a new one for me too.

Doug
Okay, really?

Mariah
Yes.

Doug
So it means just movement, betting action that moves the market. So which 99 times out of 100 is respected money or professional money that comes in. So if a number or point spread moves from three to four, you can use it as a verb. It got steamed from three to four, or it’s steaming in that direction to the towards the favorite, or you could use it as a noun and say, yeah, there’s some steam on the Eagles. They’re now minus four, they were minus three.

So that’s all it means, because it, it movement of the line, things like that. And you can also use this sort of like, I anticipate some steam coming in then because certain, uh, professional betting groups bet on certain days in a football week, because the closer you get to Sunday, the higher the limits are. So they may not bet early in the week because the limits are so low. So it just means, you know, but you, you know, sometimes this, the, this vernacular can be a little intimidating and you hear a word and you just kind of check out, but that’s all it is. It just means some respected money or some professional money.

Now, if a number moves because, let’s say in the NBA, someone’s announced out, that’s not steam. That’s just an adjustment to the number. But if action, actual wagering from people that are respected betters moved the number, then it got steamed.

Mariah
Does it have to be a large movement or it moves by like 45?

Doug
That’s a good question. Yeah, I would say you don’t hear it very often moving when it’s a little bit. It’s usually like, depending on the sport, is like and depending on the number of you know this world everything’s nuanced so the number three in the NFL is so key so if it got moved from three to four then that would consider that steam for sure. In the NBA it’s tough because the steam might come in because someone’s announced out so like you know you may think like a center in football is not a big deal but maybe professional betters think or a left guard so let’s say someone’s ruled out like a great left tackle.

Slider (02:00.541)
depending on the sport, because like, and depending on the number, but you know, in this world, everything’s nuanced. So the number three in the NFL is so key. So if it got moved from three to four, then that would consider that steam for sure. In the NBA, it’s tough because the steam might come in because someone’s announced out. So like, you know, you may think like a center in football is not a big deal, but maybe professional betters think or a left guard. So let’s say someone’s ruled out like a great left tackle and the oddsmakers don’t move it, but a bet comes in because of that news, it got steamed because of a bet, not because of the injury news, even though they overlapped a little bit.

Mariah
Okay.

Doug
But in terms of the size of the move, I would say no, but you don’t want to just throw it around every time there’s a half point move. I would say, especially the NBA or something like that, but I would say there’s just soft numbers like UConn and the NCAA tournament. Some of those numbers got steamed over a couple of days because they don’t play every day. So when there’s a couple of days apart and you see some movement, yeah, that’s, that’s definitely steam.

Mariah
Okay, so there you have it. Just a reminder that you at home betting, that’s not steam. You’re not moving the lines unless you are a respected bettor and your watching this then okay ya I guess that applies to you. But okay there you have it for steam under today’s topic in betology.