The word, “sharp”, is often used in betting parlance. Often it is mistaken for “shark”.
Sports betting is complicated and it can be intimidating as a new bettor. We’re here to help.
Noor: it is time for bet-ology where we break down betting terminology now Doug ever since I’ve been doing this there’s one question I get over and over and over again and people are asking what is this shark money that people keep talking about what are these sharks now in gambling we’ve heard of Wales we did not know that there’s sharks are there hammerhead sharks is it a great white but
Doug: baby shark
Noor: but what we understand is shark money is very respected but we don’t know what it is please tell me what shark money is
Doug: well it’s not a shark I don’t want to burst your boat that is disappointing I know it’s sharp with a p
Noor: not with a k
Doug: no scissors are sharp
Noor: now hear me out what what what shark what do you well they are sharks they are
Doug: because they’re betting professionals
Noor: right
Doug: who hunt
Noor: exactly
Doug: and circle
Noor: exactly
Doug: Sports books and wait for the right line
Noor: swimming through the water waiting for the right time
Doug: they devour yeah so they should be they should be but it’s it’s slang like any industry that is like you said complimentary towards professional slash respected money it’s just a shortened abbreviation uh or less syllables so it’s Wise Guys which has connotations in other ways right what that means is the Smart Bettors right sharp is a positive like that that’s a sharp person right he’s a sharp better meaning he’s wise he’s smart he’s he’s looking for that edge and finds the edge so professional betters or respected betters meaning and nowadays every account or at the counter any bet over I think 500 you have to swipe a player’s card so you can’t make a wager without getting some sort of electronic trail right and it’s either in your account on your phone at home and so what they do like I know a book in town that is as seven different tiers of players oh so they rank and profile based on your your track record your performance not on the bottom line but when do you bet do you get the best of the number things like that and so they’ll put you in categories so when you bet again they take that information and use it to either move the market or not move the market so it’s how the people behind the counter oddsmakers and gather information they gather information by their own sort of data by watching games and stats but they also use respected Bettors or sharp Bettors to influence how they sort of handicap or or make a number on a game and their bets come in during the week when limits are low right and they use that those Wagers to move the number accordingly and then once the weekend arrives and the masses bet they’re cool with the two-way action but they use some of the respected betters or even Sunday when those respected Bettors bet they’re willing to move the market and every Sunday you’ll see numbers move significantly not every game but a couple moves significantly in One Direction it’s because the sharp betters are waiting for the max bet the limits to go up higher on game day and then they bet nice so sometimes they get it early in the week and then sometimes they wait till like Sunday for an NFL game and they’re really competing against each other they’re not competing against the house so they’re all sort of waiting it’s a game of chicken a little bit like a standoff how late are you willing to wait and some Bettors are against each other like not every sharp is on the same game now sometimes that’ll line up accordingly and they call that Pros versus Joe’s Average Joe’s and professional betters but it’s sharp money is the is the term Wise Guy money um respected money and you know and everyone’s sort of different degrees like I said one book has seven different tiers not all books but that’s how that’s how elaborate it all is but unfortunately no sharks but just Sharps
Noor: well while I’m sad that there’s no sharks I had a whole list of hammerhead names and all Hammerhead that bet I mean there was so much there
Doug: but I’ll still allow if you want to throw that out I appreciate that
Noor: I appreciate that but that’s a very interesting take and now it helps us out a lot and now you know what sharp money is thanks to bet-ology
